Alexander Livingston

[Livingstone_PEI]

Hi All

Of interest in this family history is the connection to Maine. We had a recent discussion about John and Sarah Livingston of PEI. Their son Malcolm was born in Maine, but we know very little about the Livingston families in Maine. John and Sarah later returned to PEI as well. There is a possible connection we should be looking for and the coincidence there is a PEI, Maine, Cape Breton, and Massachusetts connection. Do we have any census or family history information from Maine? The 1820 to 1850 Maine Livingston families would be of interest to me. Especially the family members born in Canada.

Barry

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Barry,

Dont know that the threads as yet clearly connect the John and Sarah Livingston of early 19th century PEI you speak of to the Whycocomagh, Inverness County, Cape Breton,Nova Scotia Livingstons but more tangible is the fact that your ancestor's Colin Livingstone's PEI obituary from the 1860's states that Colin was originally a resident of Whycocomagh, Inverness County, Cape Breton. As this Whycocomagh info was obviously supplied by your ancestor's next of kin to the newspaper there is little reason to doubt your ancestor's connection to the Whycocomagh Livingstons. At the time of Colin's death and in the decade thereafter there was only one Livingston farmer at Whycocomagh and that was Joannes ancestor Alexander Livingston b. abt. 1814 and his wife Ann Livingston. Dr. St. Clair the Cape Breton historian of Mabou,Mull RIver is also related to Alexander and Ann Livingston.

The other thing to note is that John and Sarah Livingston were early pioneer settlers circa 1803 in PEI while the Mull RIver/Whycocomagh settlers are connected to the Mull Argyllshire Livingstons that arrived in 1820's at Mull River from Scotland. In some of the historical information out there there is some confusion regarding when the Mull RIver/WHycocomagh Livingstons first arrived in this part of Inverness County, but I think that Dr. St. Clair agreed that it was not before 1820's. There were of course Livingston families in INverness County prior to the 1820's the closest to the Mull river/Whycocomagh Livingstons being John Livingston and his wife Isabella McDonald at Judique whose family lived at Judique and subsequently at nearby Port Hood. They were at Judique in Inverness County as early as 1803 or 1806 but there is no known connection between the Mull River/Whycocomagh Livingstons and the Judique/Port Hood Livingstones though I think there relatively close proximity to one another may have tempted some to assume a family connection in the past. Indeed the DNA Project may in the future be able to tell us whether or not the Mull RIver and Whycocomagh Livingstons are ancestrally connected back in highland Argyllshire with other families that settled in Cape Breton and PEI. In certainly has helped me to determine that my highlands Livingstones were closely related a some point to the old Nine Mile Creek, Queens County, Prince Edward Island Livingston famiy from Mull and Morvern that settled there in 1806.

regards,

Donald

[Livingstone_PEI]

I am in complete agreement with those statements. I find shreds of evidence that points in the direction. There is alot more to be learned about the relationships between Cape Breton and PEI Livingstons, but nothing conclusive. The most notable relationship I think is the fact that the Presbyterian Minister that would go to Cape Breton to do baptisms and etc in Cape Breton was from the Selkirk Settlers Church, St. Johns Presbyterian, here in my area. There are many baptisms listed in the records for residents of Cape Breton. I have gone through the records at the Archives in Charlottetown and there is no mention of Livingstons, but that doesn't mean that some didn't come from here. I guess this goes back to the theory that there may have been Livingstons in the Selkirk settlers, but because of no complete passenger lists we have no proof. I hope that someday all of this will be much clearer and as more and more Livingston descendents find this site we will slowly put more of the pieces together. I keep hunting and hopefully I can find a connection, but so far it is just supposition. I have found where other Selkirk settlers moved to Cape Breton, but not Livingstons, so it was going on, where they were moving there.

Barry

[Roberta Ann]

Hi Barry;

The baptisms you looked into were non-Roman Catholic? If so, can you look into where the Roman Catholics were baptised.

Regards;

Roberta

[Livingstone_PEI]

The baptisms are from the St. John's Presbyterian Church in Belfast, PEI. The minster here I guess was like a circuit riding preacher and he made regular journeys to Cape Breton to baptise those that were Presbyterians in Cape Breton. I would have to lookup the story behind this. Seems to me I read a book about this. Now I'll have to find this.

I believe the Catholics had their own church in Cape Breton. I believe Donald mentioned that there are quite a few Presbyterians in Cape Breton that changed to Catholic because of the fact they did not have a Presbyterian Church there in the early years. I'm sure Donald can add more to this.

Barry

[Livingstone_PEI]

Here is the site if you want to have a look at the baptisms for St. John's Presbyterian Church.

http://www.islandregister.com/stjohns/stjohnsindex.html

Barry

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Barry and Roberta,

Not my theory but has been suggested that given that the Mull, Argyllshire Livingstones back in Scotland were almost all Presbyterian that John Livingstone who settled in Judique, Inverness County, Cape Breton around 1803 converted to the religion of his wife Isabella McDonald which was Roman Catholic at the time of their marriage. It is possible that some Cape Breton Livingstons converted but dont know however if that was the case and unfortunately there does not seem be any Mull Catholic church records from the period of the 18th century to check if there were infact any Livingstons in Mull and Western Argyllshire who were of the Catholic faith.

Following the 1745 rebellion and Bonnie Prince Charlies defeat, the British government fearing priests would encourage Jacobitism and another rebellion in the highlands searched hi and low for priests and attempted to discourage the practice of the Catholic religion among the highland people. The very remoteness of some parts of the highlands however in many cases helped to keep many a family from being converted by Presbyterian ministers. Some highland Clans such as McDonalds are known to be both Catholic and Protestant. And sometimes a Clan Chief practiced a different religion than that of his clan. Some Clan Chiefs threatened their clan members with eviction from their tenant holdings if they did not convert to the PResbyterian faith.

I dont know of a PEI connection to the Cape Breton Livingston families in any detail. That is not to say that there isnt a connection between some of the families. Clearly your great-great grandfather Colin Livingston who lived in a farm in PEI before he died in the 1860's but prior to that lived at Whycocomagh, Inverness County, Cape Breton would be a more recent example of PEI resident with a Cape Breton connection. As far as a Cape Breton resident with a PEI family connection I think the most obvious to my mind is that of "Old Kate" of MUll River married to JOhn Livingston JR. of Mull River and her younger sister Ann Livingston married to Alexander Livingston of nearby SKye Mountain, Whycocomagh, Inverness County, Cape Breton. There census records indicate that both Old Kate Catharine Livingston and her sister Anne Livingston wife of Alexander Livingston were born in Prince Edward Island. Now I believe that there is information to suggest that Catharine and her sister Ann of Cape Breton whose maiden name was also Livingston as their husbands were likely grandaughters of pioneer settler Donald Livingstone b.1750 native of Morvern Parish,Argyllshire who came to PEI in 1806 from Mull, Argyllshire with his wife and sons and settled at nine mile Creek, Queens County, PEI. Someone apparently stated this in the past but I dont know whether this was fact or someone's speculation. It does seem quite plausible.

regards,

Donald

[sandylivingston]

Hi There Jo-Ann,

Our families are likely related and my ancestors came from Whycocomagh too. If you go through the "Nova Scotia/PEI Livingstone Research" thread this family was discussed at length. My grandfather was named John Duncan Livingstone, so I'm pretty sure I have a Duncan in my family history. We know very little about the Whycocomagh Livingstone's and any input into the families here is appreciated. My Great Great Grandfather was Colin Livingstone. He was born in 1818 and as far as we can gather he was the brother of Alexander of Whycocomagh, and John of Mull River. Alexander and John's wives were sisters from Prince Edward Island. We are pretty sure we know who Alexander, John and Colin's father was, but we cannot find proof.

Barry

http://www.mullgenealogy.co.uk/MullSear ... v_no=31772

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Sandy,

I think Colin Livingston of Whycocomagh,Inverness County, Cape Breton and later Forest, PEI was born around 1817 rather than 1818 in Kilninian Parish, Mull. Alexander Livingston of Whycocomagh Farmer was born abt. 1814 also likely in Kilninian Parish, Mull. Very soon DNA test results on a descendant of Colin Livingston will tell us whether or not Alexander and Colin Livingston both said to live in Whycocomagh area in the mid 1850's were infact brothers as I am suggesting. Probably sometime in September I am hoping. I am not certain of the exact distance between Whycocomagh and Mull River but I will try an figure that out. A good map of Inverness County, Cape Breton would be helpful for this research.

regards,

Donald

[jmlivingstone]

Hi Donald,

Scotlands People has a Colin Livingstone b. 01 Sept. 1818 & an Alexander, b. 10 June1814 both at Kilninian, parents John Livingstone & Catherine Campbell,

John