Dr David Livingstone's DNA Profile

[Rob Livingston2]

Testing has recently been completed on the DNA of Trevor Livingston, an individual from Australia descended from Donald Livingston (born circa 1804 in Argyll), purportedly a second cousin to the famous explorer.

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

That may well be the case. Dr. Livingstone's 1857 autobiography only briefly touches upon his familie's highland origins and makes no mention a family connection with the Barons of Bachuil. Subsequent biographers in the 19th century did likewise, until Dr. Carmichael in 1907 came up with extensive research on the Highland Livingstones that in a published article stated as a fact that Dr. Livingstone was a descendant of the Barons of Bachuil. He also tied the Doctor's ancestors to historical events involving the Maconlea/Livingstones of Western Argyll. Finally, he challenged the story that Dr. Livingstone had been told as a boy by his grandfather that the Doctor's great-grandfather had been killed at the Battle of Culloden. Now presumingly Carmichael was confident enough with his sources to make these claims.What all those sources were, I am not entirely clear. Evidently, not all the scholars at the time accepted Carmichael's research without question. Those later scholars and biographers that accepted among other things a tradition among the locals that Dr. Livingstone was descended from the Barons of Bachuil and the view that Dr. Livingstone got it wrong about his great-grandfather dying at the Battle of Culloden. To be fair to the late Doctor he only wrote a brief account of his family origins, but it seems to me unlikely his memory failed him or that his grandfather or father had passed on to him a correct account of his great-grandfather dying at the Battle of Culloden. Errors occur in every book and newspaper, but chances are this was not an error on the part of Dr. Livingstone. Anyways getting back to Dr. Livingstone and his connection to the Baron's family perhaps the DNA tests will shed some light. I don't know one way or the other and for my part I would like to learn more about Dr.Carmichael's early twentieth century research into the Livingstones and how he came to be so certain about the Doctor's family connection to the Barons of Bachuil. It is however unlikely I will find that out.THere are still many blank spaces in my family history

[Bachuil]

I think that it is difficult for us today to understand the extent of the Victorian Hero-Worship that was direct at Dr David Livingstone.

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

Ok what I would like to see is a DNA analysis of male Livingstones currently residing at Mull/Morvern/Isle of Lismore/Benderlock including the Baron and Niall. Hopefully a representative sampling from this small local group would give us a some inkling as to the origins of these people. From this sampling I assume someone can tell us whether or not this local group have DNA characteristics of gaels, norse or anglosaxons. I realize that our people were despersed to Canada, the United States and Australia in the years following 1745, but I would like to derive some basic understanding of what if any common DNA characteristics the families calling themselves Livingstones possess that currently remain in the Mull/Morvern/Isle of Lismore/Benderlock. I hope you see where I am going with this. I think its healthy that we examine all the research and discuss and debate those areas of contention. One would find it unlikely that Dr. Carmichael would weave stories of Dr. Livingstones kin into local legends for his article. No doubt a version of these Livingstone tales with the Doctor's kin mentioned were told to Carmichael at some point in time. But questions still remain in my mind about that article.

[Bachuil]

You can see the results here http://www.familytreedna.com/public/liv ... lea%5Fdna/

[Kyle2 MacLea]

The Young Bachuil wrote: "What is of great interest to me is the loosely defined group of MacLeas and McCauleys.

[Andrew Lancaster4]

Dear Rob When you write "not a blood relative" you mean "not related via paternal lines". For example the Baron and the Doctor might have been related by their mothers, or grand mothers etc. In fact just on a probablity basis, everyone in western Scotland at the turn of the 19th century was probably related to some reasonable extent by blood. For example everyone born in 1900 would have about 65000 positions in their family tree for ancestors born about 1500. Obviously given the small population of the highlands and isles at certain times, the same people must have been in everyone's trees many times over. Best Regards Andrew

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

Hi Andrew, The whole point was to determine whether Dr. Livingstone's male ancestors and the Baron's are of the same family. Or at least one of the objectives. This is really the big question. Prior to Carmichael in the early 1900's i dont know that there was any written account linking Dr. Livingstone's family to the Baron. There however seems to have definitely been some Livingstones or other folks in Argyll at the time of Carmichael's article that believed there was a family connection and perhaps Carmichael took this information to be factually accurate. I think alot of us will be a bit surprised if a testing of Maconlea/Livingstones whose ancestors originated from various villages in our Argyll locality dont have DNA characteristics similar to the Isle of Lismore Livingstones. Donald

[Andrew Lancaster4]

I understand the interest in determining whether Dr Livingstone and the Barons have the same paternal blood line. But on the other hand, if they don't then that will still mean that they could be closely related and have similar "DNA characteristics" - only not on the Y chromsome. I suppose that it would be normal to expect that people affiliated to a single clan in a single region will be related, have similar DNA, but still not all be from the same paternal line. Do you agree?

[Donald Livingstone Clink]

Absolutely. There could be a couple of things at play here such as the fact that some families may have been adopted into the Maconlea clan and may have a slightly different paternal DNA pattern. You certainly would find this in some cases with for example the Campbell Clan where some smaller clans were absorbed by them. No doubt these Maconlea/Livinstones may show up as being from different paternal lines. Someone will have to figure that one out, but yes its possible I suppose. The female line I agree should not be ignored and infact in my research I have pretty good idea which local families in the Morvern area probably are related to my ancestor Miles Livingstone through his mother's family. Miles may have a connection to the Isle of Lismore Livingstones, but until I can find a Livingstone cousin for a DNA sample, all I can do is speculate. It would be interesting to compare the DNA of Morvern Livingstones with that of those of the Isle of Lismore if it has not been done already.