Dalhousie Township, Lanark County, Ontario Livingstons

[jae47]

Unfortunately, I don't know the location of the original that the typescript was based on, or how to determine if the "e" ending of Livingstone was added by the typist. I suspect it was typed up by a Purdon relation in Brandon, Manitoba in the late 1940s or 1950s. We have similar-looking typed copies of the wills of Isabella Gillespie Purdon and her husband Robert Purdon, and they both died in the 1940s. (Robert Purdon, d. 1946, was a grandson of Alexander Livingston whose will is under discussion). I have noticed that several descendents born from circa 1890 and through the 20th century have middle names "Livingstone", so a shift in usage could have influenced the typist.

I assume witness John Livingston was Alexander's brother (b. about 1792), married to Catherine Sinclair, and still residing in Lanark County in the 1861 census. There were 9 children in this family, but I have not traced their descendents. (I have no proof they were brothers.) Other witnesses were relations: Donald McKellar was married to his wife's aunt, Duncan Stewart was Alexander's brother-in-law. Jean Livingston (also believed to be a sister of Alexander) was married to a Neil McNiel (also of Mull), so the witness Donald McNiel may also be a relation. The John Currie mentioned was almost certainly the brother of Alexander's wife, Mary.

Unrelated to the will questions you raised -- but relevant to this thread: I've been unable to trace Alexander's widow (Mary Currie Livingston) or his son Duncan (b. about 1831) (and wife Effie/Euphemia) beyond the 1861 census. I believe the index to the 1871 census entry for a Duncan who died in the year preceding the census is for *this* Duncan, and that death was recorded in the Hibbert Twsp., Perth County census. He didn't necessarily die there, but this is where Duncan's sisters Barbara Purdon and Christina McKellar lived -- and Duncan's sons Alex and John appear to have been split up and are each in one aunt's household. I have to assume that Duncan and his wife and mother all died by 1871. Alex (born 1861) and John (born 1863) are difficult to trace beyond 1871 as well, so perhaps descendents of their will find this forum!

[jae47]

Two new leads on the family of Alexander Livingston(e) of Dalhousie, Lanark County.

Via an older posting to an online bulletin board (for Faribault Co., Minnesota), I found this quotation of a death notice from the Perth Courier (Lanark Co., Ontario):

Tue May 27 22:53:45 1997
From the Perth Courier, issue March 26, 1869 (Perth, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada): "DEATH - Suddenly, 31 January, 1869 in the Twp. of Jo Davis, Faribault Cty., Minn., Mary CURRIE, widow of the late Alexander LIVINGSTONE, aged 73 years. A native of Argyll, Scotland, she came to Canada in 1822 and resided in Dalhousie Twp., Lanark Cty. until 1866 when she moved to Minnesota."

This might indicate that Duncan Livingston and family (inlcuding his mother Mary, who was living with them at the 1861 cenus, cited in previous messages) relocated to southern Minnesota in 1866.

In support of this, I did locate a US Land Grant of July 1870, to a Duncan Livingston, in Faribault County, MN.

Nevertheless, I do suspect Duncan died shortly afterwards -- and his wife Euphemia was probably dead by 1871 as well, given that sons Alex and John landed with aunts back in Perth Co., Ontario.

(By the way, the US Land Grant has Livingston with no "e", as do most 19th century documents I have located. The 1840 headstone of Alexander Livingstone at Highland Line Cemetery, Lanark Co., definitely has the "e".) http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onlan ... y_Four.htm (scroll down 1/4 of the way -- alphabetical list.)

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi James,
That is a great find and one major piece in the puzzle of what became of Mary Currie wife of Alexander Livingston of Dalhousie Township, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada after the 1851 Dalhousie Township Census recorded her as residing with her son Duncan Livingston on their farm. Alot of folks in Ontario settled in the neighouring states of the United States in the 1870's. Both my Clink relatives and their Livingston kin chose to settle in the State of Michigan in the 1870's. There obviously must of have employment opportunities and land available to them there and in other neighbouring State near to Ontario. Two or three of my Livingston-Clink great-Uncles became lawyers or Judges in their new home of Michigan. Other family members found work in lumbering in Northern Michigan in the late 1800's. Our branch of the family is one of the few that remained in Canada.

My ancestor Miles Livingston b.abt. 1775, Parish of Morvern or Lismore in Western Argyllshire came to what was British North America in the fall of 1812 with his second wife Janet (nickname Jessie) Livingston both according to their 1812 marriage record "natives of Morvern". They arrived in October of 1812 to Lord Selkirks Red River Colony with Miles teenage son Donald from his first marriage who became a laborer for the colony and an apparent cousin Donald Livingston also born in MOrvern, Argyllshire a boatbuilder in what was then a portion of Hudsons Bay Territory acquired by Lord Selkirk for settlement. Miles was originally recruited with a cousin Donald Livingston as a boatbuilder but for most part focused on farming. He and his wife Janet and family left the settlement in 1815 for Upper Canada (Ontario).

It was no easy trip in 1812 to the Red River Settlement for the settlers. Miles and the others sailed aboard the Hudsons Bay Company vessel "The Robert Taylor" in June of 1812 from the Port of Sligo, Ireland after serveral weeks eventually arriving at a Hudsons Bay fort and from there they journied by canoe and small boat 700 mile south to the forks of the Red River. As luck would have it a physician aboard the RObert Taylor a few years later wrote a book on the voyage to Hudsons Bay and I managed to acquire an original copy of it. One of my prized possessions. An iceberg very nearly ripped off the copper plating beneath the ship and that probably would have been the end of my poor highland Livingstons, but as luck would have it the ship did not end up sinking and all the Livingstons arrived safely. There were alots of icebergs encountered as they reached the vicinity of Hudsons Bay and contact with some eskimos that must of been interesting to the highlanders. The Doctor mentions how the highland Scots entertained themselves with a highland fiddler that accompnaied the McLeans and had dancing parties aboard the ship. Miles and Janet welcomed the arrival of their first child born at the Red River Settlement in 1813 a daughter Nancy Livingston who was baptised at Lord Selkirk's settlement by settlement leader Miles McDonnell as no Presbyterian minister was present at the settlement. Mile's daughter Nancy Livingston later married my ancestor John Clink in Upper Canada in the 1830's.

They originally arrived in British North America at Lord Selkirk's settlement in 1812 with a group of Mull Mcleans among others from Islay in Argyllshire and some Irish. A Red River Colony clerk assumed Miles and other Livingstons in his group were from Mull and recorded that in his entry. Actually they had been living on the Island of Islay where Miles and his apparent relative Donald were likely employed probably as carpenters, barrelmakers and boatbuilders but their own records from the early 1800's indicates that they were originally from neighbouring Morvern Parish and not from one of the Parishes at Mull. Since my great-great-great grandfather Miles Livingston arrived in Etobicoke, York County Upper Canada subsequently in 1815 and a few years later received a land grant in Esquesing Township, Halton County, Upper Canada at the "Scotch Block". I am making note of all Livingstons who settled in Upper Canada in those early times including your ancestor who arrived with other Livingstons in Lanark County, Upper Canada a few years later.

Yes in the early 19th century Scottish census records most seem to be recorded as Livingston rather than Livingstone, but in fact
highland Livingstones have over the years spelt their name both Livingston and Livingstone. The Clan Chief's Bachuil Lismore family has pretty much always spelt it Livingstone. That I think was clearly their preference. Others highland Livingstones have spelt it as Livingston. My own Livingston family spelt it for the most part as Livingston though sometimes it was recorded as Livingstone. I personally prefer the Livingstone spelling. As you study the 19th records you may find that many families spelt it both ways or the township clerks, census takers did. The early records of Dr. Livingstone's family indicate that Dr. Livingstone and his family spelt it as Livingston or at least it was always recorded as that prior to the 1850;s when it is clear that Dr. Livingstone upon his first return from Africa signed his correspondence as "Livingstone". There are a couple of stories out there regarding the reasons for the change of spelling. We do know that Dr. Livingstone was aware that the Chief's family spelt it "Livingstone" and he and his father may have both decided to go with the preferred spelling of Baron Livingstone and his family. Dr. Livingstone does not however state in his surviving correspondence his reasons so I really dont know for certain. Many Livingstons of course in the 19th century were in admiration of the missionary explorer from their clan and I think this motivated quite a few Livingstons to add the e. But as I say with others it was simply personal choice or that of the census taker, church minister and record clerk. Most of the records I am going through were infact recorded by someone else other than the family though for certain they must of in most cases consulted with the Livingstons or Livingstones regarding their preferred spelling. You also may come across the spelling Levingston. So when doing research search on Livingstons its wise to search all the possible spellings and there are a few.

regards,

Donald

[jae47]

Greetings --
I've again neglected this forum too long, and just found you've made some relevant postings (Dec. 2016!) on the Livingstons of Mull that settled in Dalhousie, Lanark Co., Ontario. (I'll comment on that thread shortly.)

Regarding Mary (Currie) Livingston(e), widow of Alexander from Mull, I now have a headstone photograph, thanks to another Currie researcher who made the trip to Blue Earth, MN last year:

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tr ... ?pgn=32909

She was unable to turn up further leads on Mary and Alexander's son Duncan Livingston, who moved his family there (to Minnesota) then disappeared from the record. There are no surviving local newspapers, or other records at the cemetery.
This (later) cemetery index card indicates burial of a David next to Mary, and we know of no Davids in the family. It could be an error and refer to her son Duncan, or it could be an infant son of Duncan's whose birth record does not survive.
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tr ... 6/media/27

There are (scanty) records of a Duncan Livingston and a Hugh Livingston (Canadian-born) serving from MN in the American Civil War. There is not yet strong reason to believe these are *our* Duncan and Hugh Livingston brothers (sons of Alexander from Mull), but it's possible. They served in different regiments. A Hugh Livingston died (destitute) in a Minneapolis soldiers' home in 1898 (single, age about 60). It's very possible this is one of Alexander's sons. Further notes are attached to my "ancestry.com" tree, as "stories".

James Eason

[jae47]

P.S. -- I'll add this "note to self" I just re-encountered:

A Civil War enlistment for a Duncan Livingston of Blue Earth, Fairibault County, MN, has been located. He enlisted in Company G of the First MN infantry battalion, in March 1865 and was discharged the end of May 1865. Birthplace noted as Canada, and age given as 29. If "our" Duncan, he would have actually been about 34.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi James,

I would think that could be Alexander's son Duncan and the age is wrong unless there were two Canadian Duncan Livingstons in that County of Minnesota at the time. Not sure why the age info would be incorrect, but I see that all the time in Livingston census records, so it is not impossible that is Alex's son Duncan. I could not find Duncan in the 1860 U.S Census in Minnesota. When did Duncan and his Mother go to the U.S? from Canada. I realize it was sometime after 1851. You may probably told me, but off the top of my head, I can recall the exact date. I was hoping that there might be some descendant still carrying the family name Livingston in Canada or the U.S, descended from the sons of Alexander and his wife to perhaps participate in our genealogy DNA project to verify that Alexander and his father Duncan Livingston were actually related to Dr. Livingstone's grandfather. Looks like we have too much luck connecting with descendants of Alexander's son Duncan as he seems to have disappeared from the records after his military discharge after the end of the Civil War.

regards,

Donald