Searching for connections to John Livingstone b 1777

[Kevin Livingston1]

Hi Niall and all. Congratulations on being brave enough to step into an area that may have great consequences. An open forum of this nature will be benificial to a great number of people. I am looking for connections to the above mentioned John Livingstone born Lettermore Mull approx 13 April 1777.  My family has a long belief that we are connected with this family but lack documentation before 1800. I am also looking for a place/property name  of Mary Hill/ Maryvale/Marydale in connection with the John Livingstone. If anyone can help I would appreciate it greatly Kind regards to all Kevin Livingston

[Andrew Lancaster5]

Dear Kevin Based on Rob Livingstone's site, I think several families claim a link to this John, wheras Rob says he is not yet sure where John, the uncle of the missionary, got to. My particular Livingstone family understands that John became a stationer in Dundee. His son moved to Australia, and here is a short description based on notes I have collected from distant relatives:- David Peter LIVING (LIVINGSTONE) Birth: 11 Aug 1814 in Kinettles Forfarshire, (near Dundee) Baptism: 10 Sep 1814 SCOTLAND. Baptized Presbyterian. LIVING/LEVING at time of marriage 1838. Sailed 24/8/1838 as assisted passengers to Sydney on "Portland". Became orchardist Windsor. Late 1850s moved south to Cambawarra new Nowra. Death: 14 Feb 1899 in Liverpool Asylum, New South Wales. AUSTRALIA. Ref: 2125 Was admitted 24 April 1898 with influenza. One relative wrote: "After living at Glebe then at Dural they moved to the NSW South coast at Cambewarra and Broughton Creek a tributary of the Shoalhaven River. Lily died at Broughton Creek in 1877 and is interred in the Berry Anglican Cemetery. David remarried after the death of his first wife and left his farm at Dural to the children of his second marriage. Second wife was Mary Ann Cooper, aged 16 of Cambewarra. According to David's death certificate registration No 2125, he was born at Glasgow, Scotland. His details on the shipping list when he sailed from Scotland in 1838 he was aged 21, which means that he was born in 1817 not 1814 as shown on his death certificate. His occupation is listed as Groom and House Servant and he could read and write. Religion Presberterian. The entry on the shipping list showing David was baptised on 10/9/1814 rather confirms that his date of birth was 1/8/1814. Further information on the shipping list indicates that his father lived in Dundee and David Peter was born in Kinsill, Forfarshire, Scotland. Interred  February 15, 1899 Presbyterian Portion, Liverpool Cemetrey" (I shall tell my sources about this site, and maybe that can give more informed comments.) I recently heard from one relative who said that within her lifetime, people in my family still remembered seeing a book that had been sent to Australia from their famous relative in Africa. In other words, it seems that the families kept in contact. I am still trying to find more such anecdotes, and I suppose that DNA testing will be interesting as well. I have asked our host to pass my email address to you off list, but let's also discuss the broad outlines on the internet in the hope of finding more! I never heard of Mary Hill/Vale/Dale before. What is the connection? Best Regards Andrew

[Kevin Livingston1]

Dear Andrew Thank you for answering my posting on the MacLea’s Discussion board. My apologies for not answering immediately as you did. I‘ve been very busy. My first reason for asking about Mary Hill is that I came a cross an article on the Livingstone(L) bulletin Board that mentioned in passing that John Livingstone was supposed to have lived at Mary(’s) Hill near Tobermory on the Island of Mull. This made sense to me as the place of birth of John Livingstone was Lettermore (beside a Loch Frisa between Ulva and Tobermory). The second reason is that for a long time now in our verbal history (even as far away as from South Africa from a relative whom we have not had contact for approx 100 years) it has always been claimed that our GGG Grandfather James Livingston (born in ?, Scotland about 1795) was supposed to be the son of John Livingstone in a union with Mary Lawson, [Livingstone sometimes spelt Levingstone] (b1777 at Lettermore Mull) second son of Neil Livingstone & Mary Morrison, being an uncle of Dr David Livingstone. This information has been carried down through the generations and each new arm of the family that I come across not having met before tell the same story. I found a marriage registration of this union on the Island on Mull Genealogy records site. The third reason is that the following passage was written about James by a neighbour and has only just been received by me: “James Livingston, whose estate “Maryvale” in Scotland had been in the Family since about 1748, was a cousin of David Livingstone of African fame, but because one of David Livingstone’s brothers was anything but an honourable and honest citizen and never attended church, he decided to dissociate himself from that branch by dropping the ‘e’ from his name.” By Mrs. Lois Nyman. These are the reason behind the enquiry. Rob Livingstone’s (California)  research show that James was married to an Elizabeth Lees, and the records in Edinburgh back this up, but did not show James or Elizabeth ‘s (whom we knew as Robinson) birth dates. He has assumed a birth date for James(found in a record)and traced back a family to Tranent origins. But there is no proven birth record for James as records are lost and the death notice in our local paper does not help. Even TAMIOT records from our Tasmanian Family History Society records and other official Cemetry records do not show any more information. Regards Kevin Livingston Tasmania, Australia