Hi All,
Over the years I have been identifying and researching Livingstones of highland Argyllshire origin who are known to have settled beginning in the late 1700's and early 1800's in what was then British North America and years later became known as Canada. Early on I compiled started to compile a list. I decided recently to create a brief summary on the Forum of the earliest Argyllshire Livingstones that I am aware of to settle in British North America. Prior to American Revolution, highland Scots were being encouraged to settle in the American colonies with North Carolina being a popular location for settlement. After the Revolution and the independence from Britain of the former 13 Colonies in America, the British were encouraging settlement of the remaining possessions that had in North America including what became known as Nova Scotia, PEI and Upper and Lower Canada. Here then my work in progress list of Argyllshire Livingstones who first settled in British North America. It may take a bit of time to complete and probably will do one Livingstone at a time.
1. Daniel (Donald) Livingstone Augusta, Grenville and Leeds County, Johnston District, Upper Canada 1784
It is not known precisely where or when Daniel (Donald) Livingston was born, but it is believed he was born in the 1730's in Argyllshire. Some in the past have speculated that he might have born in Southern Argyllshire on the Isle of Islay possibly in Kildalton Parish where some Livingstons are known to have been located in the early 1700's.
In 1757 or thereabouts Donald (Daniel) Livingston joined Simon Fraser's Highland regiment the 78th Regiment of Foot (Fraser's Highlanders) and served for almost 7 years in the miltary in North America during the French and Indian Wars. In 1763 with the end of the war the regiment was disbanded. Private Donald Livingston subsequently received a land grant in America in the Province of New York by the Crown and the Governor of New York for having served in Colonial America during the period of the French and Indian Wars. Danie back in his early military years with the British Army is interestingly referred to as Donald Livingston in Miltary records. Daniel's son John Livingston years later in an 1835 land petition to the Government of Upper Canada mentions that his Father Daniel was actually referred to as Donald Livingston by the English and Daniel Livingstone by Scots and and thus Daniel is referred to as Donald Livingston in Alexander Campbell's Company of the 78th Regiment of Foot during the French and Indian Wars and his subsequent Military Grant of land in 1765 as a discharged soldier of the 78th Regiment disbanded with the end of the French and Indian War.
1.Document 41 E 1835 Upper Canada Land Petitions
Home District
John Livingston of Hickory Township Island off Gananoque being duly sworn deposeth and saith that he is well known to Daniel on the U.E. List and Donald Livingston who was granted land in the Province of New York being one and same person that the said Daniel or Donald was a highlander by birth and called Donald by his Scotch friends and Daniel by the English - that the two names are synonmynous. Known to any ___ ___ with the Scotch settlement of the Province (of New York) that he this deponent has heard him called as much by one man and the other and that he this deponent was with him at the surrender of Burgoyne's Army.
John Livingston
Sworn before me at Toronto
this 25th of June 1835
James ________
What we do know for certain about Daniel (Donald) Livingston's early military in the 1750's and 1760's in Colonial America prior to settling in Upper Canada in the late 1700's is based largely on a surviving British military record indicating his service with the British Army in Colonial America during the French and Indian Wars that was kept for many years by Daniel and later in the early 1800's in possession of his son John Livingston in Upper Canada until John sent to the Government of Upper Canada with a land petition for a land grant as documented proof of his Father's early military service to the Crown in Colonial America.
This military record from 1765 was a grant of land in then Province of New York from King George the Second for Private Donald (Daniel) Livingston's military service during the French and Indian Wars having served the duration of this War with the 78th Regiment of Foot also known as Fraser's Highlanders. Lieutenant Col. Simon Fraser raised in Inverness-shire in 1757 a highland regiment of the British Army which subsequently became known as the 78th regiment arrived in Nova Scotia with Frasers Highlanders in 1757. Donald (Daniel) Livingston likely served in the 78th Regiment (Fraser's Highlanders) in 1758 when the British laid siege to Louisburg, the plains of Abraham in 1759 and Montreal in 1760. With the Victory of the British against the French in this campaign by 1763 the regiment was disbanded in Quebec.
1765 Military Land Grant of Daniel Livingston of land situated in Albany County, Province of New York
John Livingston son of Daniel (Donald) Livingston submitted with a petition for land an original copy of his father Daniel's Livingston's 1765 military land grant of land in the Province of New York in the year 1765 granted to him after he had completed his Regiment has disbanded in 1763 with the end of the French and Indian Wars in America. It was issued to him as Donald Livingston. It states:
"King George the Third by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith and so forth: To all to whom these Presents shall come Greetings: Know ye that of our special grace, certain knowledge and meer motion We have given, granted, ratified and confirmed and do by these presents for us our Heirs and Successors, Give, Grant, Ratify and confirm unto our loving subjects Donald Livingston, Alan? McArthur and John McDonald being disbanded soldiers having served in North America during the late war and last belonging to our 78th Regiment of Foot All that certain tract of parcel of land situate lying and being on the East side of Hudson's River in the County of Albany within our Province of New York Beginning st the Southeast corner of a tract of land surveyed from Donald McGilvray and the others and runs then west twenty nine chains and seventy six links , then South fifty two chains and seventy five links theh East twenty chains and seventy nine links and then north fifty two chains and seventy five links to the place where this tract began containing one hundred and fifty acres of land and the usual allowance of highways.
Witness our truly and well beloved Cadwallader Colson Esquire Our Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of our Province of New York and the Territories defending thereon in America.In Pursuance of our Royal Proclamation of the Seventh day of October in the third year of our Reign at our Fort in our City of New York the thirteenth day of May - One THousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Five in the fifth year of Our Reign."
Further proof of Daniel (Donald) Livingston's military service as a young man in the 1750's and 1760's with the 78th Regiment (Fraser's Highlanders) during the French and Indian Wars in America can also be found years later when Daniel Livingston of New York State who arrived in 1784 in Upper Canada submits a petition seeking a land grant as an American Loyalist to the Crown to the Government of Upper Canada a few years later in 1793. In it he states:
Daniel Livingston 1793
Late of Charlotte County and Province of New York
Most Respectively
Sheweth
That your Petitioner has served seven years in his Majesties 78th Regiment of foot now begs leave to become (a) settler on his Majesty's vacant land ____ for the _____ of Loyalists
According to historian and researcher Andrew Paterson
" At the conclusion of the (French and Indian) war, all the officers and men in the (77th Regiment of Foot) Montgomery's and (78th Regiment of Foot) Fraser's regiments who chose to settle in America were discharged, each receiving a grant of land in proportion to his rank; the rest were sent home and discharged in Scotland."
1765 Military Land Grant of Daniel Livingston, in Albany County, Province of New York
John Livingston includes quite amazingly submitted with his 1835 petition an original copy of his father Daniel's Livingston's 1765 military land grant of land in the Province of New York in the year 1765 granted to him after he had completed his Regiment has disbanded in 1763 with the end of the French and Indian Wars in America. The odds that such an old document of old Daniel's would be found years later is quite great. It states:
"King George the Third by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith and so forth: To all to whom these Presents shall come Greetings: Know ye that of our special grace, certain knowledge and meer motion We have given, granted, ratified and confirmed and do by these presents for us our Heirs and Successors, Give, Grant, Ratify and confirm unto our loving subjects Donald (Daniel) Livingston, Alan McArthur and John McDonald being disbanded soldiers having served in North America during the late war and last belonging to our 78th Regiment of Foot All that certain tract of parcel of land situate lying and being on the East side of Hudson's River in the County of Albany within our Province of New York Beginning st the Southeast corner of a tract of land surveyed from Donald McGilvray and the others and runs then west twenty nine chains and seventy six links , then South fifty two chains and seventy five links theh East twenty chains and seventy nine links and then north fifty two chains and seventy five links to the place where this tract began containing one hundred and fifty acres of land and the usual allowance of highways.
Witness our truly and well beloved Cadwallader Colson Esquire Our Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief of our Province of New York and the Territories defending thereon in America.In Pursuance of our Royal Proclamation of the Seventh day of October in the third year of our Reign at our Fort in our City of New York the thirteenth day of May - One THousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Five in the fifth year of Our Reign.
The 1765 British Military land grant of 150 acres East of the Hudson River in then Albany County later in 1772 Charlotte County appears to be located on a very large acreage of land known as the Argyle Patent of 1764. It was name Argyle because of the large number of Highland Scots of Argyll County origin whose were granted land in this area. In addition to those earlier Scottish settlers part of settlement from Islay, Argyll had received land in the Argyle Patent in 1764, other Scots including those former soldiers of the 78th Regiment (Fraser's Highlanders) including Private Donald (Daniel) Livingston who received a land grant in the Argyle Patent from the Crown for Military service during the French and Indian Wars in America. Years later his son John Livingston refers to the location where his father lived before coming to Upper Canada as the "Scotch Settlement" almost certainly he is referring to the the large Argyle Patent opened up to Scottish settlers beginning in the year 1764 where lArgyle Township was situated and where Daniel Livingston and family had resided before coming to Canada.
One area of potential confusion for Canadian Daniel Livingston family descendants researching Daniel Livingston's earlier days in Argyle Township in (Albany) (Charlotte) later known as Washington County is that while there is little doubt that Private Donald (Daniel) Livingston who served for almost 7 years in the British 78th Regiment of Foot Fraser's Highlanders during the French and Indian Wars received 150 acres in the Scotch settlement known as the Argyll Patent a very large tract of land east of the Hudson river in 1765 which included the present day Township of Argyle, what is not commonly known is the fact that in the previous year 1764 after many years of waiting for a land grant a large group of highland Islay, Argyll Scottish settlers which included an Isabella (McQuaig) Livingston of Islay, Argyll wife of the late Donald Livingston of Islay who had arrived in the then Province of New York earlier in 1739 as part of Islay Argyllshire settlement group hoping to receive land grants from the Crown in the then Province of New York. For some reason back in 1739 when Donald and his wife Isabella first arrived in the Province of New York with their Islay Argyll settlement group the Governor of New York failed to honour his promise to settle these highlanders with land grants and it was not until 1764 that the original settlers or a surviving family member were granted by the Province of New York a land grant in the newly opened Argyll Patent. It is important to note and that the Livingstons who were granted land in the eastern part of the Argyll Patent near the border with Salem as of 1764 in what later became known Argyll Township, (Charlotte) Washington County are not known to be related to the Daniel Livingston former British soldier who received his grant the following year 1765 also in the Argyle Patent.
Donald Livingston, his wife Isabella McQuaig and sons originally arrived with an Islay, Argyll Scotland settlement group led by Captain Lachlan Campbell in the year 1739 in the Province of New York anticipating they would be settled and receive a land grant from the Province of New York. Instead Donald's widow Isabella years later in 1764 finally received 250 acres at Lot 66. In later maps of Argyle Township it is evident that this Lot 66 originally granted in 1764 to Isabella Livingston widow you can see that the Lot 66 of the Original Argyll Patent land is a part of Greenwich Township and situated very close to that part of the old Argyle Patent the became known as Argyle Township. The former soldier Daniel (Donald) Livingston who settles in 1784 in Upper Canada states in a later 1794 Upper Canada Petition that he was formally a resident of Argyle Township in New State.
Private Daniel (Donald) Livingston of the 78th Regiment of Foot, Frasers Regiment who settled in Upper Canada received his grant in 1765 but I have not been locate the number of his Lot in the Argyll Patent in the old records so far. I am really not certain then where he was precisely located in the Argyll Patent. All I know is from Daniel's own statement in a 1793 Petiton to the Government of Upper Canada in which he states that he was a resident of Argyle Township in (Charlotte) Washington County, New York State before settling in Upper Canada. That much we know for certain from Daniel's own later Upper Canada records and that is about. Any later Information from family researchers suggesting he resided in Greenwich Township also part of the original Argyll Patent like that of Isabella Livingston and other Livingstons connected to her and her late husband or near nearby Salem can not really be backed up I don't think by original documents. I do not have any information of what Daniel's lot number was and precisely where his original lot granted to him in 1765 was in the Argyle Patent Beyond the research of Canadian Edwin A. Livingston history of Daniel Livingston regarding Daniel's location In Argyle Township, I would to eventually like to see if I can locate records in New York State pertaining to Daniel (Donald) Livingston and find out specifically what Lot number in the Argyll Patent he was located on in 1765 and more proof of precise location in Argyle Township. This is really the only way I can be certain whether he resided in the GreenwichTownship area or nearby in what became Argyle Township as he himself states in 1793. The Livingston family that earlier received the land grant in 1764 according to maps showing where lot 66 is located where clearly located on land which eventually became a part of Greenwich Township, (Charlotte) Washington County where as Daniel Livingston who settled in Upper Canada in 1784 stated he had been a resident of Argyle Township in New York State prior to his arrival in Upper Canada in 1784.
Albany County was broken into smaller Counties including Charlotte County in 1772 where Daniel Livingston and his family resided before departing for Upper Canada by 1784 after the Revolutionary War ended in 1783. According to his land petitions of Daniel and son John Livingston, Daniel was a loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution and in final years in America served with one of the Regiments under the Command of General Burgoyne in 1777 and was at Saratoga with British and Loyalist American regiments when British General Burgoyne and his Army was defeated.
Daniel Livingston and his sons arrived in Upper Canada from Washington County, New York State formerly Charlotte County in 1784 settling firstly at Augusta Grenville and Leeds County, Johnston District, Upper Canada. The 1784 arrival in Upper Canada is verified years later by a document from 1835 written to the Government of Upper Canada by a R. Sherwood.
6. 41 C and 41D
I hereby certify that the bearer John Livingston is the reputed eldest son of Daniel Livingston of Augusta in the Johnstown District of Upper Canada having known the whole family from the time of their first settlement in Augusta in 1784 ....
R. Sherwood Late Captain of Guides and ______ of ____ in Upper and Lower Canada
Rideau Lake 6th of June 1835
Daniel Livingston is said to have died after petitioning for his 1793 grant of land and apparently in 1793 hit by a falling tree. I have not found any original records to confirm this death date however. I not find any original records confirming who Daniel's wife was, so have not included that information here. In recent years a number of descendants of Daniel Livingston who settled in Upper Canada in 1784 have contacted the Forum.
2. Malcolm Livingstone Merigomish, Pictou County, Nova Scotia 1791
It not clear in what year Malcolm Livingston was born. Possibly in the 1750's in Argyllshire, but no birth or baptism records for him survive. All that is known of earlier years in Scotland is that there are birth records of some of his children indicating in the 1780's and prior to he and his family settling in Nova Scotia in 1791 that he resided at Garvan in Kilmallie Parish in the Ardgour Lochaber District of Argyll near Loch Eil and not far from the border with Argyllshire and Inverness-shire a few miles from Fort William in Inverness-shire.
Malcolm Livingstone of Garvan, Kilmalie Parish, Ardgour Lochaber District, Argyll with his wife and 9 children arrived in Sept. of 1791 originally in Merigomish, Pictou County, Nova Scotia according to his 1792 Nova Scotia Land petition with a group settlers brought over by Simon Frazer. Years later his son Duncan's 1880 obituary indicates his was born at sea on the ship "The Ann or Anne" but I could find no record of a ship of that name that arrived in 1791 or 1790 in Nova Scotia or neighbouring PEI or a passenger list with Malcolm Livingston listed. I assume then that a record of the ship and their arrival has not survived as is quite often the case. Malcolm Livington was one of the earliest known highland Argyllshire Livingstons to settle in Nova Scotia. Upon the Livingston family's arrival Malcolm first located and purchased land at Merigomish in Pictou County and subsequently in 1792 petitioned the Lieut. Governor John Wentworth of Nova Scotia for a grant of additional land. According to a 1794 Pictou County Poll Tax list Malcolm is at this time located at Little Bank which is in the Merogomish area of Pictou County.
Malcolm Livingston's 1792 Nova Scotia land petition one of the Scottish colonists brought over in the year 1791 by Simon Fraser who was in fact a son of a Lieutenant John Fraser of the 82nd British Regiment. Historian Colin MacDonald in 1932 suggested to the Nova Scotia Historical Society that two ships, one probably the "Dunkeld" in the Summer of 1791 brought a large number of highland settlers from the Hebrides to Pictou, Nova Scotia with many of them ending up in neighbouring ANtigonish County. Perhaps significantly No other ships are mentioned for Pictou area settlers for the year 1791. It is clear however that Malcolm Livingston and his family was one of the early 1790's settlers arriving at Pictou. Malcolm however may have settled however on John Fraser's land in the Merigomish area around this time or one his fellow soldiers who received land in the 1780's. This John Fraser in the year 1785 received 700 acres at Merigomish in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. The 82nd Regiment participated in the Revolutionary War in America and also ended up in Halifax, Nova Scotia where they were disbanded in 1783. Officers, Non Commissioned Officers and inlisted men received land grants in Pictou County and there grants became referred to in Nova Scotia as the 82nd Grants. Scattered settlements sprung up as scottish settlers ended up on original land grants of the 82nd regiment. There is no information to suggest that Malcolm Livingstone served with the 82nd and from what I can tell he was one probably as stated one of highland settlers encouraged to settle in Nova Scotia after the 82nd regiment had received their grants and began clearing the land for settlement.
In the years after arriving in Pictou County, Malcolm and his sons received land grants and resided in the Cape George area of Antigonish County, Nova Scotia.
Malcolm Livingstone and his wife Katharine McPhee came to Merigomish, Pictou, Nova Scotia in 1791 with 9
Children.
Malcolm Livingstone received a land grant in 1810 in the Cape George, Antgonish County area with son John and Allan? Malcolm is thought to have died in 1814.
Known Children of Malcolm Livingston and wife Catharine McPhee (A work in progress)
1. John Livingston b. abt. 1777 died April 16,1821 (Grantee Cape George South Side 1818)
2. Catharine Livingston b. March 1, 1778
3. Angus Livingston b. April 30,1780 in Garvan, Kilmallie Parish, Lochaber, Argyll. (Grantee Cape George South Side 1814)
4. Dougald Livingston b. Feb.18,1786 at Garvan,Kilmallie parish Ardgour, Arygyll d.May 27, 1850 m. Margaret b.abt.1796 d. June 13, 1875 (Cape George ( Dougald Livington Grantee Cape George South Side 1809 from John Campbell)
5. Janet Livingston b. Sept 1 1788 Garvan,Kilmallie Parish, Ardgour, Argyll d. 1885 m. John Campbell
6. Allan Livingston b.abt. 1790 in Kilmallie Parish, Lochaber, Argyll, Scotland d. August 20, 1854 Cape George, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia (Grantee land at Meromish, Pictou County 1809, Grantee land Cape George South Side 1814) 1809 land correctly records states Allan Livingston arrived 18 years earlier. According to his gravestone located in St. David's United Church Cemetery, Cape George, Allan Livingston was a native of Lochaber, Scotland who died Aug. 20, 1854 age 73 years. His wife Margaret died June 13, 1874 age 79 years.
7. Duncan Livingston born 1791 at sea on the "Ann" on the way to Pictou County, Nova Scotia
(Grantee: Cape George South Side 1814) d. Dec. 8 1880 Livingstone's Cove Cape George, Antgonish County, N.S.
8. Malcolm Livingston b.? Kilmallie Parish, Argyll, Scotland d. 1830? Nova Scotia
9. Colin Livingston b. ? Kilmallie Parish, Argyll, Scotland? d. Nova Scotia (Grantee Cape George South Side 1814)
10. Christine Livingston 1796-1896? unmarried resident of Cape George, Antigonish County, 1871 Census
regards,
DOnald
Earliest Argyllshire Livingstones to settle in British North America (Canada)
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