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Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 2:30 pm
by Canadian Livingstone
Hi All,

I am doing research on Livingston family emigration and migration from Argyllshire, Scotland during the years 1846 to 1856 to Canada, the United States and Australia/New Zealand and would be interested in hearing from anyone from Australia/New Zealand whose Livingston ancestors left their tenant farm and parish in highland Argyll, Scotland during this period and settled in Australia. Or for that matter anyone who has 19th century family history information they would like to share regarding Livingston/Livingstone settlers from Argyll that settled in Australia between the years 1846 and 1856.

regards,

Donald (Livingstone) Clink
Historian
Clan Maclea Livingstone Society

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:05 am
by Canadian Livingstone
Hi All,

I found this interesting. Alexander Livingston age given 30, born abt. 1819? occupation Shepherd a native of Argyllshire son of Angus and Nancy Livingston according to details included on the list, arrived in Australia aboard the vessel Maria Somes on July 19, 1849 apparently on his own. What is odd is that there is another passenger list that is dated July 6, 1852 and it appears the same Alexander Livingston listed again at age of about 30 and from that it was deduced that this Alexander Livingston was born abt. 1822 and travelling aboard the the same vessel Maria Somes. Additional info I found indicates that he actually married in 1849 in Dumbarton, Scotland to an Isabella McLachlan and they both died in Australia. I did not however find her listed on the 1849 passenger list and the 1852 list records him as being single. Some Passenger lists include Argyllshire Livingstons in the mid 1800's and later that arrived in North America and Australia, but many unfortunately many have not survived or have not been located. Recently though there were a couple of passenger lists found for Argyllshire Livingstons that settled in North America including an Appin, Argyll Livingston family that I had been researching that proved to be helpful.

Alexander Livingston appears to be the Alexander Livingston of Glenmore, Ardnamurchan son of Angus Livingston and his Ann (Nancy) Cameron actually baptized Feb. 20, 1815. Another list that a descendant of Alexander's brother Hugh had a list that referred to Hugh as being born in 1819. In any event I am certain this Alexander is an Uncle of Hugh Livingston Jr. who settled in Australia in 1879 who was a grandson of Angus Livingston and Ann (Nancy) Cameron of Glenmore, Ardnamurchan. The age 30 is likely just an approximate age recorded at the time of passage and off by a few years. This family of Angus Livingston and Ann (Nancy) Cameron has a known Australian family connection because their son Hugh had a son Hugh who settled in Australia in 1879. Hugh's descendant has been in contact with the forum and shared his family history with us in the past and roots and family history connecting him to Ardnamurchan, Argyll and Australia. This Alexander Livington who settled in Australia in 1849 is probably a relative of his ancestor who came to Australia years later and who also kin to Angus Livingston and Ann (Nancy) Cameron. The other interesting thing is that Alexander's younger brother Hugh Livingston was also a shepherd by occupation and lived at Glenmore, Ardnamurchan. It was Hugh' s son Hugh born abt. 1854 if I understand correctly that went to Australia in 1879. Alexander is not living at home at Glenmore, Ardnamurchan in the 1841 Census before he left for Australia in 1849.

One other clue that I have that this is Alexander is the son of Angus Livingston of Glenmore, Ardnamurchan Argyll and Ann (Nancy) Cameron is that it states in the 1849 Passenger list info for Alexander Livingston that in regards to his parents only his mother is living in Argyll which would have been the case because he father was an elderly man when the 1841 Census recorded him and by 1851 Census only the mother Ann is living according to that census.


regards,

Donald

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:59 pm
by Canadian Livingstone
James Livingston of West Laroch, Ballachullish slate miner and his wife Isabel Clark and family travelled to Australia in 1852 aboard the Marco Polo
1851 Census
James Livingston 45 Appin
Isabel Livingston 41 Appin (Isabel Clark)
John Livingston 13 Appin
Duncan Livingston 11
Ann Livingston 8
James Livingston 6
Mary Livingston 4

Passenger List Marco Polo arrived Sept 25, 1852 Melbourne Australia
James Livingston 38
Isabel 36
Duncan 12
Ann 10
James 8
Mary 5

James Livingston born abt. 1805 died in 1885 at Kerang, Victoria, Australia
Father unknown Mother Mary Fraser
Note: James Livingston like a number of other Ballachulish area Livingstons were Episcopalians and as such some of the church records do not survive. There does not appear to be a birth or baptism record for James and it be in the Church of Scotland parish record collection. The 1851 Census info is confusing somewhat referring to James and family as being born in Appin likely does not mean he and his family were born in Appin Parish, but in the district of Appin which at one time include Duror and included the area of Ballachulish where James Lived and was likely born.

Interesting information on the passenger ship Marco Polo
https://westerndistrictfamilies.com/tag/marco-polo/


regards,

Donald

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:11 am
by Canadian Livingstone
Catharine Livingston born abt. 1801 in Ensay or Treshnish, Mull d. 1857 Australia m. Archibald McCalman July 18, 1826 Ensay, Mull
Catharine Livingston was a daughter of Donald Livingston and Janet Campbell of Ensay and Treshnish, Mull
Children of Catharine LIvngston and Archibald McCalman
1. Archibald born abt. 1831
2. Donald born abt. 1833
3. Dugald born abt 1835
4. Niel born abt. 1837
5. Janet born abt. 1839
6. John born abt. 1843

IN 1841 the family of Catharine Livingston and her husband Archibald Mc Calman lived in the Village of Iona in Iona Parish, Mull In 1851 they and their family resided at Iona West, Iona Parish, Mull

In 1852 Archibald McCalman, his wife Catharine Livingston and children Archibald Jr. Donald, Dugald, Neil and John on the vessel "Flora" departed from Liverpool and on Aug. 23, 1852 arrived at Port Henry, Victoria County, Australia.

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 6:26 pm
by jmlivingstone
Donald,

I remember reading somewhere, that it was better to be transported to Australia as a convict, rather than as a fare paying passenger.

Apparently ship owners were paid per head of living convicts arriving in Australia, so it was important to get as many living, & presumably healthy convicts as possible delivered, to ensure payment.

Paying passengers had paid for their passage before they left the UK, so it was totally immaterial if they managed to survive the voyage or not, the ship owner had his money one way or the other,

John.

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 8:00 pm
by jmlivingstone
Donald,

The link below is for Peter McArthur & family, who emigrated to Australia, around 1851 I believe, Peter was married to Cirsty Livingstone,

http://www.swvic.org/carapook/names/mcarthur_peter.htm,

John

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 9:23 pm
by Canadian Livingstone
Hi John,
Thank-you for passing on the information on Peter McAuthur and Cirsty Livingston his wife who settled in Australia.

Regarding the less fortunate Livingston sent to the penal colony at Van Diemen's Land, I noticed an Alexander Livingston (not the one from the Glenmore, Ardnamurchan) was from Glasgow sent as a convict in 1852 to Van Diemen's Land for six years. Definitely not a holiday camp. Van Diems Land later became Tasmania. Interesting info below regarding the history of Van Diemen's Land for those of us not familiar with Australian history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Diemen%27s_Land

For the impoverished and cleared highland crofters treated only a little better than those convicts, on the ships heading to Australia there was always the possibility, during that lengthy journey, they would come down with T.B. or typhoid before they even arrived at their destination, given the horrendous, unsanitary conditions aboard those ships in the 1840's and 1850's.

When the famine began in the highlands in 1846 with the potato blight that was causing terrible misery in Ireland reaching the highlands there were some significant efforts to help the already impoverished and now malnourished crofters but by the early 1850's the prevailing view was that no amount of public assistance would be of any help to the poor unproductive and unprofitable tenant farmers, that were far too many of them on the land living a near starvation existence, dependent on private or public charity to survive and that they were being done a great favour being compelled to settle in North America or Australia where they had an opportunity to live a more prosperous life and own their own farm. Canada had been the favoured destination and many highlanders had relatives that had already settled there, but in the 1850's Australian settlement was being encouraged and many went there at that time.There were some voices of opposition in Scotland in the 1840's and 1850's to both the clearances and the policy of encouraging displaced tenant farmers and landless crofters alike to emigrate but for most part those in positions of power in the government,clergymen, the landowners in the highlands and the newspapers did not speak out in the mid 1800's against the policy of depopulation of crofters in the highlands and turning their former farms where some tenant families had lived for centuries into pasture land for sheep.

In 1812 my great-great-great grandfather Miles Livingston a boatbuilder was recruited by a highland agent of Lord Selkirk along with a Livingston cousin to build boats and become a part of a new Colony that Lord Selkirk was to begin to establish in 1812 on land he had acquired from the Hudsons Bay Company in Hudson's Bay Territory, his Red River Colony. Selkirk had also some year earlier established a successful colony in Prince Edward Island in British North America.

Selkirk was troubled by the extreme poverty he saw in the highlands and was one of the first aristocrats in 19th century Scotland to advocate emigration as a solution to what he saw as a humanitarian crisis in Scotland of poverty and overpopulation which had been increasing in his time and the source of much misery for the highland people in that century. He published a book in the early 1800's of which I have a copy of, that supported the notion by his subsequent schemes for emigration in the highlands but at this time the landlords in Scotland saw the policy of emigration of poor tenant farmers that Selkirk was suggesting as a threat to their own prosperity as at the time large scale sheep farming was only beginning to make its way into the highlands and the highland landowners still had a need and use for their subsistence tenants. Their response to Selkirk's book was to denounce Lord Selkirk and his emigration and settlement schemes.

At this time there was such fear among landowners in the highlands that their tenants would start emigrating in great numbers that the government was compelled to create legislation to discourage tenants from leaving their tenant farms. Some of the landlords found that getting their tenants working in the kelp industry both benefited the landlord and helped their subsistence tenant farmers financially but eventually these same landlords attracted by the more profitable sheep farming eventually found there was little financial incentive to keep subsistence tenant farmers and paupers on their land and many felt they could not afford to keep impoverished tenants and paupers on their land in the decades that followed the death of Lord Selkirk in the 1820's there were certainly highland landlords that were becoming much more comfortable with the idea of some of their tenants emigrating, particularly those who were clearing tenants from their land for sheep grazing.

The clearances and the removal of the crofters in the highlands some of whom went to North America, Australia, New Zealand or migrated to the lowlands reshaped the highlands in a dramatic way. A number of parishes in Western Argyll such as my Livingston ancestors parish of Morvern and your ancestors Ross of Mull and neighbouring Colonsay saw most of their tenant residents in the second half of the 19th century cleared off their farms and compelled to either emigrate or migrate to the lowlands. Eventually some tenants in the highlands tried to resist the evictions and as sympathy for the plight of tenants began to grow and some sense of the injustice of what had occurred, the government held an inquiry in the 1880's which led to some measures to protect the rights of the remaining tenants, but by then in the later years of the 1800's, many of the remaining tenants continued to emigrate from the Townlands. In Morvern Parish in Argyll for example between the 1841 and the 1901 Census, most of the Livingston families that had lived in Morvern as tenants for close to 400 years had left and if the 1901 Scottish Census info is accurate all that is left in Morvern Parish of our clan members are 3 Livingstons and 6 Livingstones some of which according to the census info were not born in Morvern. In comparison in the 1841 Census a total of 89 Livingstons were recorded as residing in the Parish of Movern at that time.

As a student of 18th and 19th Argyllshire history and I read more about the history of the clearances and emigration issues in Argyllshire I am only now learning of the impact the 19th century clearances and emigration had and continues to have in Scotland and the differing opinions in the 19th century and even today regarding the clearances and land use and ownership then and today in the Highlands. As the clearances and emigration of the 19th century had a dramatic impact on our Livingston ancestors and their families I think it is worth trying to understand how it affected specific Livingston families in highland Argyllshire. There are those who saw it at the time as being unfortunate but inevitable and that those affected tenants improved their standard of living by leaving the highlands and that there was no other option for them and their families. Others however eventually saw it as it as a tragic injustice inflicted upon the highland people and a reason to consider implementing land reform in Scotland.

One thing which I have found to be quite appalling was a prevailing attitude in the 19th century towards the highland people as being backward,lazy and somehow responsible for their impoverished situation. This seems to some degree rooted in earlier prejudices of the 18th century common in England at that time and among some in lowland Scotland regarding highland celts as being barbaric and uncivilized. Certainly the Jacobite Rebellions of the 18th century was a source of some of this animosity and negativity towards the highland people, many who had been supporters of or in sympathy with the Old and Young Pretender James Stuart and his son Charles Edward Stuart and their efforts to restore their exiled family to the throne. It is also somewhat surprising how few newspaper at the time were sympathetic to the plight of the highland tenants in the mid 1800's.

regards,

Donald

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:23 pm
by Canadian Livingstone
Hi All,
Another Argyll Livingston who settled in Australia in the mid 1800's was Donald Livingston born 1788 a tenant in Knapdale, Argyll d. August 23,1867 in Glencoe, Australia
Donald Livingston married his first wife Ann Mcfadden on Dec. 11, 1819 in South Knapdale, Argyll
Children
1. Catharine b. Dec. 2, 1820 Morvern,Argyll
2. John b. Feb. 25, 1823 Oban, Argyll d. Feb. 26, 1886 Arno, Victoria, Australia
3. Donald b. 1826 Knapdale, Argyll
4. Malcolm b. 1832 Knapdale, Argyll
5. Duncan b. Feb. 1, 1836 Craignish, Argyll d. Dec. 28,1885 Adelaide, South Australia
6. Neil b. 1838 Kilmartin, Argyll d. 1841
7. Dugald b. 1838
8. Ann b. Aug. 20, 1846 Knapdale, Argyll
Ann McFadden b. abt. 1801 died sometime between 1846 and 1850 in North Knapdale, Argyll
Donald Livingston married Christian (Christina) Darroch North Knapdale July 5, 1850
9. son Archibald born in 1849/1850 ?
Donald Livingston and his second wife Christian (Christina) Darroch and son Malcolm, Duncan, Dugald, daughter Ann and a son Archiba
Archibald and a Bell (Isabel) Livingston age 21 (not known) sailed on the Prince Regent on Nov. 8, 1850 from London or Plymouth, England to Port Adelaide, Australia which they reached on March 5, 1851

regards,

Donald

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 10:19 am
by jmlivingstone
Hi Donald,

Below is a post from 2011, from Wayne Matheson ref. Duncan, son of Angus, emigrating to Australia in 1850, with wife & 6 children, there is probably quite a large family to be found there, unfortunately, no further info on Duncan or family till now.

I don't know if Wayne still looks in on the forum, if he does, Shiaba & Sheabach are both acceptable spelling for the same village, along with two or three others,

John.


by Matheson ยป Dec 14th, '11, 11:46

Hi,

I have been reading through the threads of this email exchange and would like to provide some info I have regarding the Livingstone's and other families that left Mull for South Australia in the 1840s on wards.

Firstly I found a record that indicates a Cristy Livingstone Born at Sheabach Ross of Mull, 29 Oct 1809, daughter of Angus Livingstone born Sheabach 1775 (son of Neil ) and Margret Hall; married Peter McArthur (born Iona in 1827) they had two children Ann 1829 & John 1831 .Cirsty died and Peter remarried 1833 5 more children remarried again 1842 5 more children
They all emigrated to Mt Gambier South Australia in 1852.

I am related to Cirsty Livingstone's brother Duncan ( born Sheabach 1812) who emigrated with his wife and 6 children to Mt Gambier in 1850.

I am not sure of the link between the Neil of Colonsay and the Neil and his two sons Angus and Donald, shown living at Sheabach on the 1779 Ross of Mull Census.


Regards
Wayne
Matheson


http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/archivaldocs/ ... eslist.pdf

Re: Argyll Livingston Emigration to Australia 1846-1856

Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 1:42 pm
by Canadian Livingstone
Hi John,
Happy Easter
Thanks for that information Angus Livingston's son Duncan. Interesting to know that he went to Australia during that significant period of Australian encouraged emigration in the 1850's under discussion here. I think we should try and find out more from Wayne on his Duncan Livingston and the emigration of his LIvingstons to Australia in 1850 if he has any more info. I have noticed information I look at the few years ago that LIvingstons were settled in Australia as early as the 1830's but as I was doing research of how the famine of the 1840's and early 50's affected the clearances and emigration occurring in Argyllshire, I was focusing on the those Livingstons like Duncan and his sister Christy who left Scotland in the 1850's or late 1840's for Australia or North America.

Indeed Sheabach is Shiaba and is the spelling used in the 1779 Argyll Census of tenants located in Ross of Mull at Shiaba. The other spelling variation I am familiar with is in the baptisms of Angus Livingston's children at "SIaba" which I think we can safely assume is Shiaba.

regards,

Donald