My Livingston(e) Line

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi GInger,

The whole situation with the DNA is a little bit complicated and the problem with Ballachulish as in elsewhere in Argyllshire when intrepreting the DNA results for the Livingstons is clearly and simply that we are not all descended from the same ancient highland Livingston or McCLea descendant. Anotherwards if you were somehow able to go back in a timemachine even to 1775 and test all the Livingstons at Ballachulish some might match but not all indicating they are not all descended from the same family line though we all would refer to ourselves in the 1770's as highland Livingstones. If the other Livingston's ancestor lived in the Ballachulish Glencoe area clearly they are not related to you all according to the test results. If you look a the bigger picture the test results themselves if you go to the web site you will see alot of livingstons that dont match at all and alot that are close matches to one another. So all I am saying is dont be disappointed if another Livingston does not match your DNA whatsoever. THe same thing happened with my Livingston cousin's test results. Fortunately there are a few are relatively close and one very close with PEI and Morvern Argyll roots. Anyways the more people tested the more matches there will be and are. So there are Livingstones out there who will be a close match and they will eventually join the project to be sure.

I think that Andrew stated that the Australian Livingston with a ancestral connection to a Ballachulish family is actually more closely connected to the Parker Livingston Group of which my cousin is a part. It is true that I assumed based on St. John's church records that all the Livingstons associated with Ballachulish might be related but obviously that is not neccessarily the case. Clearly what we do know is that your family were living in the Ballachulish area as far back as the early 1800's because we know that Donald was born in 1802 in Ballachulish and from the Church information records Angus Livingston of Ballachulish having three more children baptised in the early 1800's at the Ballachulish church where he was buried in 1839 according to the church records.

regards,

Donald

[Canadian Livingstone]

HI Roberta,

Interestingly that Donald Livingstone and Christian Campbell in the Lismore Parish records had a son Myles Livingstone you may have noticed baptised in 1775. According to Lord Selkirk's Red River records my ancestor Miles Livingston was born abt. 1775 but in his marriage record he states that he and his wife were natives of neighbouring Morvern and not of nearby Island of Lismore. It is truly a strange coincidence and bit of a mystery I must admit. Could Miles have been mistaken about his place of birth? Who knows. The name Miles Livingston was curiously enough uncommon but showed up off an on in the records at you guessed it Morvern and Lismore Parish as the late Baron Alastair Livingston first pointed out to a late cousin a number of years ago now. I only wish everyone had the luck of Ginger at finding their highland Livingston ancestor information.

regards,

Donald

[beadmom]

and as a random afterthought....there are probably some cases where children that lost parents in a disaster of some magnitude were adopted by Livingstones and took the name thus carrying the name into history with a totally separate DNA. They could easily show up in Census records as Livingstones. Other than birth records and/or family story I would think there would be no way to distinguish them.

That is what happened with my Clark side of the family. Two of the children were adopted by William Clark (of Lewis & Clark) after Indians killed their parents. They adopted the Clark name, but as it turned out in DNA testing a few years ago, we are not direct descendants of William Clark. Which caused some confusion until that story surfaced from an elderly relative after the DNA testing.

Ginger

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Ginger,

Due to the complexities of the DNA project I have long since learned not to jump to conclusions or assume or try to predict anything regarding the tests. Some interesting groups have emerged from the results and think the more that are tested the easier it will be match participants in the project with one another and make sense of the various Livingston groups. At this point I am putting the speculation on hold and seeing what we can do to get more highland Livingston descendants in the project. I think we will be in a better position to speculate in the future when we have tested a greater number. In time we will have a better sense of things. Clan adoptions were common practice among the powerful Argyllshire Campbell clan; I dont know about our Mclea-Livingstons in the highlands. THere is no information on this happening. Adoptions or some sort of formal merging of other families in ancient times with our clan if indeed it ever happened is not documented.

regards,

Donald

[Roberta Ann]

Hi Donald and Ginger;

Ballachulish and Corran of Ardour, Argyll

Ann Livingston m Alexander McDonald Sept. 25, 1841

Mary Livingston m Alexander McKenzie Dec. 5, 1852

John Livingston m Ann McInnis. Dec. 22, 1839

Ann Livingstone m Duncan McColl July 25, 1846

Jane Livingston m John Gillies July 9, 1866

Mary Livingston m James McGillivray Feb. 26, 1857

Margaret Livingston m James McPherson July 29, 1869

Gotta go, Curling has started!!!

Regards;

Roberta

[beadmom]

After all the trouble it took to find Donald and Mary in Colorado I am still amazed at how blessed I have been to have all the information that everyone has found backwards. I can see how fortunate I am in that.

I actually started down this path after finding almost nothing after looking for 4 years in Ireland. Really all I did was provide information to the genealogy centers over there, which I was happy to do. After this last trip I thought maybe I am looking on the wrong side...How little did I know!

It does seem strange that Donald and Ann do not show as buried at St John’s Episcopal Churchyard, Ballachulish, Glencoe considering we know for sure that three of their children are buried there. I plan to find out in person in the fall! After all the fun I've had in Ireland with almost nothing I cannot begin to imagine what fun I will have in Scotland with what I have!

I am also looking forward to representing us at some of the games this summer.

Oh..and quarriers am I counting correctly 5 generations?...gr grandfather "Jack" John W. Livingston (went home from college to Lyons to work in the quarry for approx a year after gr-gr grandfather Donald's passing), gr-gr grandfather Donald, gr-gr-gr grandfather Dugald, gr-gr-gr-gr grandfather Donald and gr-gr-gr-gr-gr grandfather Stewart (Ann's father).

According to his journal Mary Livingstone's brother, James Lowe, was a quarrier who traveled around the country quite a bit in the 1880's, eventually settling in Lyons, CO. I think it is possible that is how Donald met Mary. My fortune continues in that Mrs. LaVern is connecting me with my cousin, Judy, James Lowe's granddaughter, who provided the journal. It is possible she has more information on the Livingstones.

Not only is this a lot of fun, it is bringing great joy to my grandfather in his later years and that alone brings me great joy.

Ginger

[beadmom]

The line of quarriers ended with Grandpa Jack. (Great Grandfather John William Livingston).
It was a nice long run!

Ginger

[beadmom]

I wish I could take all of you with me.

Ginger

[beadmom]

WOW! That's great....

"One more thing has been found. This is it I swear. "
Don't worry...Please feel free to find anything else

I'll add it to the book, which at present I am revamping to include pictures and more of the message board dialog that shows how we got to where we are.

I am also starting on a short history, as I gather it, of each person. Of course mostly it will expand in details from the Livingstones of Colorado forward.

I have surely begun to reconsider being cremated and scattered to the winds, as it was so important for me to find the burial places of my Livingstones. What if 200 years from now someone wants to find me? I suppose I should at least find a place and leave a marker.."Ginger died on ____? and was scattered around Sierra Madre, CA, San Diego, CA, JOhnson Valley, CA, Oregon, France, Ireland and Scotland....but never ever in Eugene, OR as she despised the place". I suppose I'll be a lot like "Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral". I hope people have a lot of fun doing it!

Ginger

[beadmom]

"I try not to think of the here after. Just make the best of my life now and take care of the people who are a part of my life. "

Me too.

I hadn't really considered it until I had to start looking for dead people! Really, who would have thought in 1916 someone would haul a person 45 miles from Lyons to Denver? On a good day in a car it is over an hour drive.....

I am still trying to get any information I can from the Freemasons. I am pretty sure they had something to do with it.

There is possibly another really bright side to all of this I had not considered. According to my uncle who is a grand poobah of something in the Masons, if gr, gr grandpa Donald was important enough to take all that way to the nicest cemetery around and it was the Mason's doing, with a large insignia like that, it is possible he was also some kind of grand poobah...which, even so far back, makes my children eligible for scholarships. (How's that for a run on sentence?) One is about to go for her Masters and another thinking continuing on to her Engineering degree. That would be quite helpful to them!

A high reward for all my efforts in Colorado.

Ginger