The Livingstons of Boularderie, Cape Breton, NS, Canada

[Roberta Ann]

Hi Donald;

Puzzle me this:

Ryan wrote that which was previously posted:

1817
Livingstone, Angus
Petition to Ainslie: Petitioner emigrated with his father's family from Scotland to Nova Scotia 23 years ago. He has a vessel employed in the fishery on the shore of NOva Scotia and Cape Breton. He asks lots 2 and 3 in the north block b, Town of Hawksbury or Ship Harbour. Note: granted.

Then there is this - which I posted in Random Acquired Information.

1817, October at Judique
Angus Livingstone by falling overboard from the Shallop, in a storm; at the mouth of the Gut, without any person but a little boy. He was a fine man. His age 35 years.

Could this be one and the same Angus Livingstone? Probably born around 1782.

Could he be another Angus from another family, I wonder.


Regards;

Roberta

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Roberta,

You would suspect the possibility they are the same person but I am not certain. What is interesting is that Hawkesbury and Judique are both ports located on the south west of Cape Breton and not that far from one another. That I think makes very possible this is the same Angus. He definitely is not the Boularderie, Bras d'or Victoria County, Cape Breton Angus Livingston . In 1817 we arent dealling with alot of Angus Livingston sailors in Cape Breton so I think and probably only one in Inverness County and one in Victoria County. I assume from the info that one Angus Livingston of Inverness County died in 1817 near Judique. Must be the same one that applied for land at Hawkesbury in 1817 but I am not 100% certain. Glad you noticed that though. We have an approximate birth date of 1782 and a death date for an Angus Livingston possibly from the Judique area. Looks like he applied for land at Hawkesbury. I am of course wondering if the Angus Livingston who died in the Judique area has any connection to the John Livingston who was married to an Isabella McDonald and whose family lived in the Judique/Port Hood area. I am thinking they might have been brothers but who knows. Its not documented anywhere. This Angus may be largely unknown.

regards,

Donald

[Roberta Ann]

Good Morning Donald;

This Angus b.c. 1782 says in his petition that he has a fishing business on the coast of Nova Scotia.
I am thinking Cape George which is just across the water from Port Hawksbury. A water when frozen is a walk-way across from Nova Scotia to the Cape Breton shore, in the winter, for instance.
I am thinking he is a Cape George Angus. We should keep an eye out for this elusive Angus b.c. 1782 and died October 1817.

Then there is the possibility that he was born John Angus and recorded as John in Mull Genealogy.
There is only one John born in 1782. father Duffus(Duffy) b. 1742 and Mother Mary Campbell.

I found Angus Livingstone b. April 30, 1780 son of Malcolm Livingston and Catherine McPhee at Kilmallie, Argyll. I believe this is the Malcolm of Cape George.



Regards;

Roberta

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Roberta,

I think the death notice of one of other sons we located in the records stated he came from Ardgour, Argyllshire actually, so I assumed that Malcolm and his family originated from there. One of the Livingston families in Nova Scotia/Cape Breton not from the Mull vicinity. Of interest to our Ballachulish Livingstons is that Ardgour is in the Ballachulish area. We as you know are contacted from time to time by Livingstons with Ballachulish connections. I think at one point you or Jewel found a death notice pertaining to one of Malcolm's sons from the Cape George area I seem to recall. We might want to take a look at the parish records associated with Ardgour. I have the dates of all the Argylll parish somewhere upstairs. Some begin in the mid 1750's but others do not comence until the early 1800's unfortunately. In many cases I assume the earlier records were lost or not recorded. I find that rather frustrating. In some of the other Counties many of the parish records start in the 1600's.

I think you are absolutely right that this Angus is likely a son of Malcolm. He even mentioned a father in one of those records, so there is little doubt. Yes he is connected to the Cape George Livingstons not the Judique Livingstons I was thinking of. I have made note of this Angus with Malcolm with the information I have on Malcolms other sons to remind me in the future. For some reason I did not have a record of this Angus. Thank-you for spotting that one.

regards,

Donald

[Dodgson]

Hi Sharon

Welcome to the Livingstone Forum. It is nice to have someone related to the Boularderie Livingstons. We all look forward to your input. Not knowing anything about your family is not a bad thing. My family is the Whycocomagh Livingstons and a year ago I didn't know anything. My family had it all wrong. All it takes is an eager mind and you will be surprised what turns up.

Barry

Hi Barry
I was interested to see that your Livingston ancestors were from the Whycocomagh area of Nova Scotia. I have Livinston(e) family from that area as well. My ancestor was Elizabeth Livingston(e), she was born in Scotland about 1836 and married an Angus Campbell born in the Whycocomagh area, (Possibly the son of a John Campbell and Annie). Angus and Elizabeth married about December 1858-1859. They had the following children; Roderick, Kate, John James, Ellen, Effie, Daniel, Mary Belle, Mary, Murdoch and Kenneth. The family later moved to Lingan Mines then Glace Bay. In the 1881 census of Lingan there is a Margaret Livingstone living with Angus and Elizabeth, she was born about 1821 in Scotland and also had Scottish parents. I wondered if you had ever come across any record of either Elizabeth Livingstone, Angus Campbell or Margaret Livingstone. Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Janice Dodgson (nee Campbell)

[Alan L MacLeod]

Hello All. My name is Alan Livingstone MacLeod; I am a 3Xgreat-grandson of Angus Livingstone, through the Alexander-William line. (Captain William Livingstone of Big Bras d’Or, d. 1909, being my great-grandfather.)

My principal residence is at Victoria BC but I have a summer home at Big Bras d’Or – less than a kilometre from the churchyard at St. James – and each year I spend several months there.

Like the originator of this thread, Ryan Walker, I am an occasional browser of this site who has now decided to jump in with both feet.

Like everyone else engaged in this discussion I am keen to know more – and to know it for certain – about Angus’s forbears. William’s youngest son, Harrison Lincoln Livingstone (1897-1983) – a big influence in my life – invested considerable effort in building the family tree and researching Angus’s antecedents but was not able to ‘nail down’ his pre-Angus speculations.

I have in my possession a wooden chest said by earlier Livingstone generations to be the one in which Angus transported his carpentry tools from Scotland to Nova Scotia.

It was Harrison who told us that Angus was the first person buried at St. James. His grave is unmarked and I understand that the early church records were lost in a fire; however I was told that the grave is situated very near – perhaps under – what is now the back (northwest) wall of the church.

Another contributor to this discussion, Sharon W (‘Wolkies’), is my second cousin. Her grandfather, Alexander, and my grandmother, Bertha, were siblings – two of William’s eleven children.

My understanding is that the land Sharon references in a February 27 post is not part of any parcel originally granted to Angus. It was purchased by William in the 1880s. I have a copy of the legal document conveying that land to William.

I understand that Angus built his home closer to the entrance of the Great Bras d’Or, somewhere between William’s land and the present-day Black Rock Road. I continue to pursue leads that I hope will one day enable me to determine more precisely where Angus built his homestead.

One of my major areas of family-history interest is the impact the Great War had on the Boularderie Livingstones. At least eleven patrilineal great-grandsons of Angus fought in the 1914-18 war and at least five were killed in action. I have several collections of photos – including archival items – devoted to the Boularderie soldiers available for viewing on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigadore/c ... 196287530/
I have reason to believe that other descendants of Angus served in the war and were lost. Who knows, perhaps one or more members of this group can help identify the missing.

My Flickr sets also include old photographs of Alexander's sons William and George as well as the house that William built at Big Bras d’Or in the 1880s or soon thereafter.

I have a keen interest in learning more about Angus and his forbears and I am very willing to share anything of interest that I know.

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Allan,

Welcome to the forum. It is very exciting to hear from a descendent of old Angus Livingston of Boularderie and we have been hoping to make contact for some time. We are indeed interested in any info you would like to share with the forum regarding your Cape Breton pioneer ancestor Angus Livingston. We were just discussing here another Angus Livingston from another family not that of Angus of Boularderie,Victoria County. Roberta has found a most interesting document regarding this another Angus Livingston who died in the early 1800's and we are trying to make sense of which family he is most likely connected to. We have explored the origins of the Inverness County Livingstons quite extensively but are also somewhat familiar with your Boularderie, Bras d'or Victoria County, Cape Breton family.

Most of what we know about your ancestor Angus I would imagine you likely already know. No doubt you are familiar with Ann Capstick's research and have seen Angus Livingston's land petitions. One thing that might be of possible interest to you is that we have determined the exact ship that Angus served under during the Napoleonic Wars. THere were around eight ships with the same name between the 1700's and early 1900's, but only one which could possibly have been the one which served on. Essentially it was a flag ship of the channel fleet for part of the Napoleonic War watching for french naval activity in the English channel I suppose. The boat seemed to be stepping stone for aspiring naval officers as commanding officers seem to have come and gone on that ship. It is not likely you will find a list of rank and file sailors for this vessel in the British Archives or in a British Navy archives. If Angus had been an officer I think you would have more luck. Perhaps he might be on a pay list for the ship but that would not likely tell you much about him. I am holding out hope that when the British Archives completes their project to get the Military pension files on line by next year I think it is that we will be able to locate some documents pertaining to Angus and his origins in Argyllshire in this information. I have seen some information on highland Argyll Livingstons that were in military records from the period of the Napoleonic War but could not find anything on Angus. I do not think however I have seen all the information that available by any means so am looking forward to when we can search online for information on Angus.

THe Clan Maclea Livingstone is privileged to have two experienced genealogists Jewel Brown and Roberta Livingstone who Livingstone ancestor also settled in Cape Breton who are frequent contributors to the forum. Also we have contributions from Barry Judson whose Livingston roots are both in Cape Breton and PEI. They will be particulary interested in discussing with your Cape Breton origins and connection to the pioneer settler Angus Livingstone of Boularderie. I was contacted a year or two ago by a lady who has a cottage in that area who stated her ancestor was also Angus Livingstone. I think the summer home was on the old property or nearby if I recall correctly. I should try and find that message. Perhaps it was a relative of yours. If not in this forum it may have been our original forum. It was while ago anyways. We also have Ryan Walker that you know of.

I did not know where Angus was buried but it makes some sense that he would be buried in close proximity with his sons that are buried in that cemetery. It interesting what you found out about that. Jewel and Roberta I think have access to those cemetery records and I have seen them as well. Quite often these original, pioneer Livingstons are not easily found in old cemeteries given that many of them died before 1850.

Because my interest is in compiling a summary of info on Pioneer Livingstons for all of Canada I am collecting the basic information on the family though details are being noted as well. Most of this will be no doubt common knowledge to you regarding and Angus and his family.I think Angus Livingston's story is likely quite interesting and it is one of the wonderful things about land petitions in Upper Canada, Nova Scotia and probably elsewhere that the petitioner leaves us what some details of their origins and bit of history. I found this to be the case with some of my ancestors in Upper Canada. In most cases the petitions provide us with a rare glimpse of pre Canadian family origins of these late 18th century, early 19th century settlers.

regards,

Donald (Livingstone) Clink
Historian
Clan Maclea Society

[Alan L MacLeod]

Thank you, Donald, for the welcome.

In my previous post I ought to have specified I was referencing the Boularderie Angus Livingstone, to avoid confusing others.

Yes, I am well acquainted with the Ann Capstick web resource and with the details of Angus Livingstone’s petitions for land at Boularderie. My great-uncle Harrison L. Livingstone (d. 1983) compiled much of the family-tree data going back as far as Angus but my impression re the pre-Angus history is that it was largely speculative and remains so even now. One day, I hope, with all the collaboration occurring among the members of this forum that may change.

I believe the summer home you reference in your third paragraph was the Big Bras d’Or 1880s-era home of Capt. William Livingstone, one of Angus’s grandsons (and my great-grandfather). As mentioned in my previous post in this thread that it is not the same site as Angus’s original homestead. I have some knowledge about the general whereabouts of Angus’s homestead and will continue to work at locating the site more specifically.

Alan Livingstone MacLeod
Victoria BC

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hi Allan,

Fortunately we can work with whatever original records do survive and there are some including cemetery and census records. From original records (not family records) I able to locate that there were three sons Archibald, ALexander and Roderick d.1870 according to the 1871 Census and a fourth son that went back to Scotland in the early 1800's according to a record from that period. And from another record I am pretty certain your ancestor came from Kilninian Parish Mull and we also know from an original record aproximately when he was born. So there are some things you have to work with that are probably accurate. There are also the cemetery records for sons Alexander, Archibald and their wives.

Angus Livingston's family from my quick list
Laughlin b.1799 went back in Scotland
Archibald b.1804-1891 m. Jane Beaton
Alexander 1806-1894 m. Isabel Deason
Roderick 1810-1870 m. Flora Sutherland. (death of Roderick noted in 1871 Census)

Which one was your ancestor?

regards,

Donald

[Alan L MacLeod]

My ancestor (2Xggf) was Alexander. His wife, Isabella Deason, was Catholic but she is of course buried beside her husband and close by her father-in-law, Angus, at St. James. I recall sympathetic relatives of earlier generations feeling sad on her behalf for having been consigned to the staunchly Presbyterian ground at Big Bras d'Or.

Alan