Clan Name

[Donald (Livingston) Clink]

It would be interesting to know whether the Isle of lismore McLea's joined James Livingston and supported his Lowland Livingston family in the 1640's and 1650's in their Royalist cause. Regarding another example of an old Argyle clan that changed its name in the 1600's, there is the MacIver's. Iver of Azknish and Strathshiray lost his estate for supporting in 1685 the Earl of Argyll. After 1688 and James II had been removed from the throne,the Earl's son restored the MacIver estates to Duncan MacIver on the understanding that he and his descendants would in return become Campbells. The Argyll branch of the clan apparently changed their to Campbell or at least most of them and Duncan Iver was the last clan chief of the Argyll MacIvers In the case of the Livingstone name change there may have been some sort of formal agreement and an official decree, but obviously not all MacLeas felt bound by it. There are too many unanswered questions and much speculation as to how it all came about. One source stated that there is an 18 century Livingstone grave stone with a family coat of arms on it showing the Dalraidric lion at Kilcolm Cemetery in Movern. I have not been able to locate this cemetery at Movern and I am wondering if this is a mistake. If any one can locate this stone I would appreciate it.

[Bachuil]

Donald, I had to argue this case in written correspondence with the Lord Lyon.  The situation as understood by us, and now accepted by Lyon, is that Our name Livingstone is an anglicised version of the more ancient Gaelic name MacLea.  In the 1751 Valuation Roll for the Parish of Lismore and Appin the ancient home of the family, Bachuil, is shown as the property of Duncan M’lea.  We know that his son John was born at Bachuil in 1745, married in 1771 and had a son Coll in 1773.  Yet when Coll’s birth is registered in the first extant volume of the Register of Births, etc. of Lismore in the years 1773 – 1775 John used the surname Livingstone of Bachuil and is recorded as Baron of Bachuil. The most plausible theory as to how this “Anglicisation” came about is that it was adopted as a defensive measure after the 1647 massacre of Dunavertie, in which many McLeas were killed.  In 1641 King Charles I had granted James Livingston of Skirling, Baron of Biel, Keeper of the Privy Purse a lease of the lands and teinds of the bishoprics of Argyll and the Isles.  Note that these were the Diocese lands  - not our ancient abbey lands.  In 1200 John Scotus, Bishop of Dunkeld made application to the Pope to have his See divided into two, detaching that part of it which lay in Argyll. The Pope granted the bishop s request and appointed Harald as the first bishop of the new See.  Initially based at Muckairn on Loch Etive, in 1236 the seat was moved to Lismore, even though at this time it was technically in Norway.  This Roman Catholic Diocese was poorly endowed with only 25 merks. In 1648, when the King was a prisoner in England, they both found it wise to assign the lease to the victorious Marquis of Argyll who had been present at the Dunavertie massacre. At this time the McLeas adopted the practice of using the name Livingston when in the lowlands. The eminent historian Duke Niall of Argyll maintained that the M’leas or MacLeas name evolved from Maconleas; who were originally Mac Dhunnshleibhe. “The ‘d’ disappears through euphonistic elision in Gaelic and there is little doubt that their eponymic ancestor was Dunsleve, the son of Aedh Alain”.  The conventional view, therefore, is that Dunsleve was the son of Aedh Alain who was the son of Aedh Anradhan, the O’Neill prince who married a Princess of Dalriada, inheriting her lands of Cowal and Knapdale.  Anradan was descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Ireland in the fifth century, and who was supposedly descended from Milesius of Spain.  Milesius was given the hand of Scota in marriage, for his services to her father the Pharaoh Nectonibus.  It is from Scota that we get the name Scotland. It is from Aedh Alain that the old Argyll families of Lamont, MacSorley, MacEwen of Otter, MacSweeney, McCorquodale, Maclachlan, Macmillan and the MacNeills of both Gigha and Barra are supposed to descend.  The Maclachlans and Scrymgours were descended from Dunsleph’s brother Gillacrist.  Anradan is said to have married a Princess of Cowall having carried out unspecified campaigns.  The McDougalls of Dunollie maintained in at the beginning of the 1700s that the McLeas were one of the oldest families in Argyll, having arrived in Lorn three hundred years before them and “are at this time so old that they are almost worn out”.  The McDougalls descend from Somerled. Sir Ian Moncreiffe thought it probable that Somerled was descended from a daughter of Alpin, King of Argyll (father of Kenneth mac Alpin) who married Godfrey mac Fergus, Prince of Oriel.  Godfrey died as “Toiseach of the Isles” in 853 having sailed over from Ireland to help Kenneth. As this is getting a bit long putting rest on a new posting Regards, Niall

[Bachuil]

Donald, Here you will see old Livingstone/McLea lands being acquired by Campbells Lands According to Professor GWS Barrow Appin literally means “the jurisdiction of, and hence territory owned or ruled by, an ab or abbot, chief dignitary of a monastic community in the pre-twelfth century Celtic Church”.  The Coarb of St Moluag will have ruled this land, which at one time was very extensive including the ancient parish of Lismore which embraced Appin, Eilean Mund (the parish of Eilean Mund covered a large section of Inverness-shire, including Onich, Mamore, and seven merklands and a half of the lands of Glenevis, the boundary approximating the course of the burns Altkeiran, Treig, and Nevis) and Kingairloch and Morvern districts (it was not until 1891 the Boundary Commission transferred the Kingairloch and Morvern part of the parish of Lismore to that of Kilmallie). In the Middle Ages, our ancestor An Gorm Mor, as Baron a Bachuil and Coarb of St Moluag, fought and killed a bull that was terrorising the population of Morvern and preventing them attending church, and that he was eventually buried in Leac a Ghuirm Mhoir (the lair of ‘the big blue’) in Lismore graveyard and where the elaborately carved gravestone still lies.   This tends to support the idea that Morvern was considered part of the abbey lands.  It is notable that Cuduilig, Abbot of Lismore circa 1150, the progenitor of the Macleans was able to appanage his heirs in Morvern.  The lordship of Lorn totals 700 merks of land.  Lismore itself comprises 80 merks.  Taking into account the lands around Loch Etive, described below in the section on Cadets, it looks as though the clan had a very substantial portion of the lands of Lorne - well in excess of a third. Cadets As you might expect the main strength of the clan was in Lorn, centred on the old abbey lands.  There was a large grouping around Loch Etive where we find McLea of Achnacree, McLea of Lochnell (who had the forty merk land of Lochnell) and McLea of Achnacloich (Stonefield) in Muckairn.  The McLeas of Achnacree seem to have been the principal cadets owning substantial tracts of land on the North Shore of Loch Etive from Achnacree at the Mouth of the Loch in Benderloch right up to Dalness, near Glencoe.  In 1557 the McLeas of Achnacree were almost wiped out, losing 80 men supporting the McDougalls of Lorn against the Campbells of Inverawe in a clan battle. “Donald Livingstone, Bun-a-mhuilinn, Morvern, was of the Livingstones of Achnacree, Benderloch. These Livingstones of Achnacree had been the keepers of the Royal Forest of Dail-an-eas till this was wrested from them by the Macdonalds of Glencoe. The Livingstones of Achnacree were of the same line as the Livingstones of Bachuill, Lismore, keepers of the Staff of Saint Moluag. The two families separated many centuries ago, yet they still resemble one another, physically, mentally, and characteristically.” The Celtic Review Volume VI July 1909 pp340-348, Incidents of the Jacobite Risings “There were also the McLeas of Achnacree of whom the family of Lindsaig is descended, who were possest of the Lands of Achnacree for a long time, and who made the longest appearance in that corner of any of the McLeas there….. But before this happened, they tell a story that happened above more than one hundred years ago, as there were at and before that time in Cowal feuds betwixt several families in the Highlands, so the then McDugald and the family of Inveraw were at variance, and both the familys brought all their sons and strength to the field to fight it fairly and to decide their quarrell by the sword. And both McDougalds and Inveraw with their families friends and followers having taken the field, the McLeas being the followers of McDugald, McLea of Achnacree brought with him four score of the McLeas to McDugald's assistance against Inveraw. …. Achnacree and his fourscore McLeas were killed that day upon that spot, and from that day to this time, the McLeas never made any head or appearance, and this was a very great loss to them, so many of them to be killed in one day.” McLea manuscript in Lyon Office McLea of Lochnell (2m East of Oban 5 m S of Loch Etive) The forty merk land of Lochnell belonged to McLea of Lochnell who, not having issue of his own, disponed his Lands of Lochnell to a son of the family of Argyle who was called John Gorm Campbell. (McLea Manuscript) This was a substantial tract of land amounting to approx 8 square miles. McLea of Achnacloich (South Shore Loch Etive) A McLea of Stonefield (formerly called Achnacloich) in Muckairn who, wanting children, gave his lands to a son of Campbell of Lochnell's who was fostered in the house.  (McLea Manuscript) A second grouping emerged in Cowal.  The McLeas of Lindsaig, descend from the McLeas of Achnacree.  On 26 December 1634 Archibald M'Enlay obtained from Lord Lorn a precept for infefting him in the six merk land of Lindsaig in Cowal overlooking Loch Fyne near Otter.  McLea of Achnaskioch held, a five merk land property in Cowal.  For several generations they were Physicians in Ordinary to the Family of Lamont of Inveryn. A third grouping settled in Strathconnon.  According to some sources they migrated there from Appin in the early fifteenth century.  The main lands were lost when a McLea of Strathconnon died leaving no sons and the Earl of Seaforth married the heiress.  The McLeas of Achilty were overwhelmed in the Great Battle of Bealach nam Broig in 1452. The Arms In his article on West Highland Heraldry Alastair Campbell of Airds, Unicorn Pursuivant of Arms, says “There is one earlier example of Highland Livingstone heraldry in the district - in Kilcolmkill churchyard, in Morvern, where an 18c tombstone displays a quartered coat which includes the lion rampant”.  This is the tombstone erected by Donald Livingstone (hairy Donald) who saved the Stewart Standard at Culloden.  It is not possible to identify the colours of the shield. The first quarter is clearly the lion rampant.  The second is feint but could well be the remains of a cross.  We had thought they were Garbs in Chevron – but this makes little sense. The third quarter is the Stewart Fessy (a differencing mark?) and the fourth quarter has been over-written.

[Keith Livingstone Australia]

Here is a link to a similar sounding cemetery, not in Morvern, but at the southern tip of the Argyll and Bute isthmus. http://my.execpc.com/~haroldr/cemetery.htm The home page for that link was http://my.execpc.com/~haroldr/index.html Cheers!

[Bachuil]

Columcille is one of the names given to St. Columba of Iona. Colum means dove. With the suffix cille this means "dove of the Church."  Kilcolmkeil simply means the Church of the dove of the Church and there are many churches with that name – as there are many churches called Kilmoluag. I find Columcille a strange name for a man with a reputation for arrogance and high temper who was banished from Ireland for causing the deaths of three thousand men. He copied St. Finnian's psalter without permission. Finnian took the matter to the High King, Dermott, for judgement. Dermott judged in favour of Finnian, stating "to every cow its calf; to every book its copy". Columba refused to hand over the copy, and thousands were killed at the battle of Cooldrevny in 561 between Columba’s Hi Neill forces and the High Kings. Columba was first excommunicated but this was lifted in favour of banishment from Ireland and the requirement to bring the same number of souls to Christ that he had caused to die as penance. There is no evidence that he achieved this. Although Columba is made famous by the writings of Adamnan, it was our St Moluag that is celebrated in the Stowe missal as the founder of 100 monasteries, and who is the patron saint of Lorn.

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

Hi Niell, Yes I thought there was probably more than one cemetery. Do you have any idea then where this 18th century stone is with the family crest. Clearly the Movern Livingstones identified with this crest and wore one of the highland tartans prior to 1800, possibly of the scarlet and green or Scarlet and black variety that some West Argyll clans might have worn at Culloden.

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

Hi Niall, Thanks again for the info; I found the information on this 18th century stone particularly interesting as it is a Livingstone buried at Morvern. Rob was told that there weren't any of my Morvern Livingstones currently living there or at least according the locals that talked with him in the Savary area. The Lord Selkirk book is in the mail and should arrive in a week or two hopefully. You'll notice in the book, that the two rival fur trading companys, Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company were both operated by persons of Scottish origin. Hudson's Bay Company also employed a lot of Orkney men because they were tough and could withstand the harsh climate. The Scots came to what became Canada in large numbers and many of them prospered in the new land in a way they never could have had they remained in the highlands. They came as explorers, fur traders, farmers, businessmen and of course the first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. McDonald was a Scot.  

[Bachuil]

This has rather a good article on the Kiel Church http://www.brand-dd.com/stones/other/morvern.html

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

Hi Niell, I noticed that some researchers stated that Keil Church was at Savary and that Jacobite Donald Livingstone and his family was buried there. Other sources state that he is buried at Kiel Cemetery, Lochaline. My understanding is that he lived at Savary and perhaps that is where the confusion lies. Can you help me on this one?

[Bachuil]

Without recourse to references, and speaking off the top of my head, my understanding is that Donald erected a stone to his parents at Lochaline. Of that I am 90% certain.  I am not sure that Donald was buried there. Regards, Niall