Info

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Canadian Livingstone
Posts: 2763
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:00 pm

Re: Info

Post by Canadian Livingstone »

Hi Jm vleasa,

I cant tell you much about the early life of Miles Livingston b. 1775 in Morvern Parish according to his 1812 marriage record because the Morvern Parish records are missing before the year 1804. So for me the story of Miles Livingston begins with that Bowmore Church of Scotland, Killarrow Parish, Isle of Islay marriage record you mentioned a minister's entry from the old Bowmore Round Church dated June 20 1812 which states that Miles Livingston and his wife Janet Livingston (perhaps as cousin) were both not from Islay and were natives of Morvern, Argyllshire. Also the minister mentions that they were heading for America by which he meant British North America and Lord Selkirks Red River settlement in what was then situated in Hudsons Bay Territory. Land which the Hudsons Bay Company had granted to Lord Selkirk for his ambitious colony scheme. Just a day or two after their marriage Miles and Janet boarded a schooner the Staffa with other Islay settlers including a cousin? Donald Livingston (1791-1876) also a originally hired by a highland recruiter of Lord Selkirk to be a boatbuilder for his settlement as was Miles originally. The schooner Staffa took the Livingston some other Islay settlers, McLeans from Mull and others to Sligo Ireland where a Hudsons Bay Company vessel the Robert Taylor was awaiting them With some Irish settlers already aboard the settler group from the Staffa boarded the RObert Taylor after being greeted and bid farewell by Lord Selkirk and on June 24th began a journey to a Hudsons Bay port and outpost and from there they then had to endure a 700 or 800 mile small boat journey south till they arrived at the forks of the Red RIver where they eventually arrived in October of 1812 and were greeted by the settlement leader appointed by Lord Selkirk who was Miles McDonnell.

What I can tell you without hesitation is that Nancy Livingston (Mrs John Utter Clink) the eldest child and only daughter of Miles Livingston was born and baptized in the year 1813 at the Red River Colony of Lord Selkirk. Her father Miles Livingston b. abt. 1775 in Morvern Parish, Argyllshire and his second wife Janet Livingston along with a son Donald Livingston (1796-1862) from his first marriage and a cousin? Donald Livingston (1791-1876) from the Isle of Islay in Arygll but also a native of Morvern Argll, arrived at the Red River Colony in then Hudsons Bay Territory, British North America in the fall of 1812.

Years later in the 1871 Ontario, Canada Census, Nancy states that she is of Scottish ancestry and was born in Hudsons Bay Territory. There is also an original Colony baptismal document which was copied over the years which is a list of the children of the first settlers at Red River before 1815 who were baptized by the settlement leader Miles McDonnell because there was no minister at the settlement at this time. On this list I have seen it recorded that Nancy Livingston was baptized in the year 1813 and her brother Hugh Livingston baptized in 1814. No information on Nancy's brother Hugh he died in his youth and never married in Ontario. The Miles Livingston family did not stay very long at Lord Selkirk's Red River Settlement and left the settlement in June of 1815 with a large party of settlers who had been persuaded or coerced into leaving the settlement for Upper Canada (Ontario) by Lord Selkirk's enemies and Red River Settlement opponents in the North West Company.

After what was a terribly long canoe trip for young Nancy and her infant brother Hugh Livingston and the rest of the family from Lord Selkirk's Red River Settlement via lake, river and portage routes through dense forests, I know that Miles Livingston and his family upon arriving in 1815 settled in Upper Canada in York County, Etobicoke Township where close to Lake ontario he found work as a boatbuilder. Later in 1819 he was among a group of Scots who petitioned the Government of Upper Canada for a land grant which he received in Esquesing Township, Halton County, Upper Canada. THere is not much info on him in Esquesing Township, Halton County. I know that he and his wife Janet had two more Children in Upper Canada, a son John Livingston I think born abt. 1818 probably in Etobicoke Township, York County and a son Daniel livingston born abt. 1820 or 1821 probably in Esquesing Township, Halton County. Later he sells his farmland in Esquesing Township and I think he moves to the village of Acton in Esquesing Township where an 1842 Census I think suggests he was living with his youngest son Daniel and working as a Cooper (barrel maker) in the village of Action. THen all information on him disappears so I dont know when he died. His son Daniel Livingston worked at the mill in Acton for many years and around 1870 he and his family settled in Saginaw County, Michigan.

Nancy Livingston married John Utter Clink I believe in the 1830's in Esquesing Township, Halton County, Ontario. There are no surviving marriage records. Off the top of my head their eldest son David Livingston Clink was born abt. 1835 and left Ontario for California in the 1850's. Daniel Livingston Clink was born abt. 1839 and went out to Western Canada about 1870 with my great-grandfather George Ira Clink( 1857-1911) one of the youngest son of John Utter Clink and Nancy Livingston. There were others that slip my mind for the moment. John Livingston Clink and his younger brother Hugh Livingston left about 1869 or 1870 I think it was for Michigan. Another younger brother Stephen Clink also ended up in Michigan. Some or all of these three became Lawyers in the State of Michigan. There were other children. John Clink and Mile's daughter Nancy Livingston had a large family as was common in those time, but all their names slips my mind for the moment without my notes.

Our branch of the family in the 1950's came into contact with two people from the related Michigan families. One was a daughter of the late John Livingston Clink of Michigan who was Anna M. Pugsley (Mrs. L.D. Pugsley of Corning, California) who seems to have been something of a family historian in those times, although she had some of the details not exactly correct. Her father was my great-grandfather's older brother residing in Michigan. Also my Dad's Uncle informed him in the 1950's that they had been visited by a Lulu Tobey (Mrs. F.E. Tobey) who was also interested in the family history and stated that her father was the late Hugh Livngston Clink who also had lived in Michigan. Lulu Tobey invited my Dad's Uncle Lloyd to come to the their family reunion picnic on July 12th 1953 at Yale Park, Yale Michigan. Uncle Lloyd's father was George Ira Clink (1857-1911) a younger brother of Lulu's father Hugh Livingston Clink and that John Livingston Clink I mentioned. At one time I think both Hugh Livingston Clink and John Livingston Clink resided in Lynn Township, St. Clair County, Michigan. Lulu Tobey (Mrs. FE. Tobey) in 1953 resided Brown City, Michigan. I suspect you may be related to the late Lulu Tobey.

I don't really know when Nancy Livingston (Mrs. John U. Clink) died. It has been assumed that she died about 1880 but my suspicion is that is an estimate based on the fact she is not with her husband John Clink when is recorded in the 1880 Census residing with his son Hugh Livingston in Lynn Township, St. Clair, Michigan. It was speculated that she may have died just before her husband John went to live with son Hugh in Michigan and was buried in the same cemetery in Lambton County, Ontario as her younger brother John Livingston, but there is no information of her being buried there with her brother John. Adding to the mystery of when Nancy died is a photo of an elderly man and his wife said to be John Livingston and his wife Nancy that seems to be taken in the 1880's rather than the 1870's. I am wondering if she was just visiting another relative at the time of the Michigan census and just not recorded that day the census taken in Lynn Township. In any event when Nancy Livingston died is a big mystery and I don't really accept without proof 1880 as her death date. I do assume she died either sometime before 1880 or a few years after. All I really know is she was alive and living with husband John in Lambton County, Ontario at the 1871 Census in the Township of Bosanquet I think and that is the last census she is recorded. Her husband John Clink then appears in the 1880 U.S. Census residing with son Hugh Livingston Clink where Hugh lives in Lynn Township, St. Clair County.

John Utter Clink has no surviving death record from St. Clair County, Michigan and all that I know is that there is a marker stone in the ground beside his son Hugh Livingston Clink in the Lynn Township Cemetery in Lynn Township, St. Clair County, Michigan. I think the marker states that John U. Clink was born in 1815 and died in 1887. So that is how it is known that JOhn died in 1887. If not the marker we would not even know that. Also the birth date of 1815 is incorrect. John Utter Clink was born in 1810 in New York State about a year after his parents Stephen Clink or Clinck at that time and Christianna Utter were married in Bethlehem Township, Albany County, New York State in 1809. John was the eldest child of Stephen and Christie (Christianna and the only one born in the United States in New York States. The others Margaret, David Thornton, Jane, and Stephen Jr. were all born in Upper Canada (Ontario).

Lulu Tobey a daughter of Hugh Livingston Clink from Brown City, Michigan mentioned here would have been a first Cousin of my grandfather.

The last Census (1871) of Nancy Livingston took place in Bosanquet Township, Lambton County, Ontario (She does not appear in the 1881 Ontario Can. Census or U.S. Census. in 1880/1881.
John Clink age 61 born abt. 1810 United States Ethnic Origin German
Nancy Clink age 57 born abt. 1814 Hudsons Bay Territory Ethnic Origin Scottish (Nancy Livingston born at Red River Settlement, Hudsons Bay Territory, British North AMerica)
Elisha Clink age 13 born abt. 1858 Ontario Ethnic origin German (son)
Ellen Jane Green age 10 born abt. 1861 Ontario Ethnic origin Irish (granddaughter)



regards,

Donald
jmvleasa
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 11:56 pm
Location: Michigan, USA

Re: Info

Post by jmvleasa »

Thank you for the information. What you have said agrees with the info that I have. Hugh Clink was my Great Great grandfather, The Lulu Tobey you mentioned was one of Hughes daughters and in the family she was known as Aunt Dot, as best I can remember she died in the early 1970's and is buried in the Lynn township cemetery not far from her parents. John Utter Clink is buried in the same part of the cemetery as his son and several of his grandchildren and their spouses. My Great grandmother was Lenora (Flossie) Collins she died June 24th 1988. There is a family of Clinks that were Lawyers in northern Michigan in a town called East Jordan in fact I graduated from high school with one in Gaylord. We believe that we are related but nobody in his family has done the genealogy. Him and I have talked a bit and his family is from the same part of Canada and Upstate New York but I have no proof other than anecdotal at this point. My great grandmother did tell me in the early 1980's when I was in high school that she never knew her grandmother (Nancy) and that her father had told her she had died before his father moved to Michigan. You have filled in some blanks for me as far as Myles and Nancy go thank you very much.
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