A Morvern Parish, Argyllshire Livingstone Descendant Tells His Story and Other Stories

[Canadian Livingstone]

Hello Livingstonians out there in the world and related kin,
After my recent battle with Cancer a few years ago and since more recent remission still having to deal on a daily basis with somewhat debilitating coughing issues and a damaged left lung and because of my age with a great deal of sadness I decided recently it was appropriate at this point in time to retire as Clan Historian of the Clan Maclea Livingstone Society and focus on my health, continuing my song writing efforts and what is left of my life. I appreciated very much some years ago now Baron Niall Livingstone of Bachuil, Lismore, Argyllshire, Scotland bestowing upon me the honour of being our Clan Society's Clan Historian and having more recently the opportunity to work with Greg Livingstone who is currently Clan Maclea Livingstone's outstanding North American Clan Commissioner. Being the Clan Historian for the Clan Maclea Livingstone Society was a responsibility which I hope that those who know me realize I did not take lightly and I have made every effort to work very hard to locate Livingstone family records volunteering my services over these many years helping assist those Livingstones/Livingstons both the Highland and also some of Lowland Livingstones with their family research.I have firmly believed over these years as Clan Historian of the Clan Maclea Livingstone Society that with the history and early origins of an ancient Highland Scottish family group that many historical details and facts have not survived regarding our very ancient Western Argyllshire Clan and my efforts over the years been to focus on working with Livingstones of Western Argyllshire ancestry in so doing gaining knowledge from them about their Western Argyllshire Livingstone family history along with encouraging them to consider Y DNA testing which the late Rob Livingstone a cousin of Baron Livingstone our Clan Chief convinced me back in 2006 would be most helpful in regards to a better understanding of our Clan origins. Years later I can say with absolute certainty that the YDNA testing of a significant number of Livingstones of proven Western Argyllshire ancestry by Familytreedna over the years and with some more sophisticated SNP testing has provided some very significant new insights regarding the paternal ancestral origins of Clan Maclea Livingstones of the Parishes Western Argyllshire of the 18th and 19th century. Helping folks with their family history is just one aspect of my efforts and accomplishments which I could not have achieved without the assistance of a number of descendants of Western Argyllshire Maclea Livingstones who have been so supportive of my efforts to get Maclea Livingstones with Livingstone ancestors known 18th and 19th century Western Argyllshire origin Y DNA tested since 2006 in line with my YDNA related discussion with the late Rob Livingston back in 2006. In what may most likely be my final post on this Forum I thought I would take a bit of time here taking you on a journey which began for me a little over 20 years ago sometime after I had first discovered this wonderful forum established by Baron Niall Livingstone with his cousin the late Rob Livingstone back in 2004. I also include an account of my Morvern Parish, Argyllshire Livingstone family research efforts back earlier in the 2000's.

Close to twenty years ago now I was having some very interesting, enjoyable and productive e-mail discussions with the late Rob Livingstone an American gentleman of Bachuil Livingstone, Lismore Parish, Argyllshire, Scottish ancestry, a cousin of Baron Niall Livingstone of Bachuil, Lismore when we discussed among other things his interest in YDNA testing with Familytreedna to help better understand and identify one's Livingstone ancestral origins and family connections. When we disagreed from time to time on some theories and understandings regarding Clan Maclea Livingstone or aspects of the YDNA Project back then I sincerely believe it was always with a healthy respect of each other's difference of opinion. I particularly appreciated that he did not take offence when I expressed some doubts regarding the prevailing notion of some back then that all Scottish Macleas and Livingstones were likely related. I think by 2006 that Rob agreed with me that as Baron Niall Livingstone had stated earlier in 2005 " We are working on so little information that it is rare that we can be 100% certain about anything". Our bond and connection in that unfortunately very short period was our shared interest in each of our ancestral roots to a Western Argyllshire Livingstone families and a general love of family history research. Sadly much to my regret my Clan Maclea Livingstone colleague and new friend Rob Livingstone passed away in the Summer of 2006 just as we were getting to better know one another via e-mail and not long after a groundbreaking series of conversations which resulted in a most interesting and fruitful exchange of ideas regarding Livingstone family research and the very real possibility of future collaborative efforts. Perhaps in retrospect, now that I think of it, more than poor Rob was lost in the Summer of 2006.

I had learned some years prior to these discussions with Rob Livingstone that my great great great grandfather Miles Livingston born about 1775 in Argyllshire, Scotland was according to his marriage record "a native of Morvern" that is Morvern Parish in Western Argyllshire. Janet Livingston his second wife who also stated in the record she was "a native of Morvern" and whom I now suspect may have also have been a Livingstone cousin of Miles were married in June 20, 1812 at the Church of Scotland Church in Bowmore in Kilarrow Parish on the Isle of Islay where they briefly stopped at on their way aboard the Schooner Staffa destined for the port of Sligo, Ireland where a Hudson's Bay Company vessel The Robert Taylor was waiting to take boatbuilder Miles Livington and Janet Livington, Miles son from his first marriage Donald Livingston and another boatbuilder another Morvern native Donald Livingston who I believe to have been my ancestor's brother in law to York Factory at Hudson's Bay in Hudson's Bay Territory in British North America.

On June 24, 1812 The Robert Taylor with it's passengers and crew departed Sligo,Ireland after a bit of a pleasant send off by Lord Selkirk. 61 days later on August 26, 1812 the ship arrived at York Factory at Hudson's Bay. Later on September 9,1812 this party of settlers including Miles Livingston and his wife under Owen Kenevy began a departure by 11 boats and three canoes southward several hundred miles from the Fort at York Factory to the Forks of the Red River and the new colony of Lord Selkirk's. My Livingston ancestor Miles Livingston in Argyllshire had been recruited earlier in 1811 apparently by a highland agent of a Scottish Aristocrat and humanitarian Lord Selkirk to be a boatbuilder and employee of Lord Selkirk at his new Colony at Red River back then in what was Hudson's Bay Territory in British North America. Following his arrival at Lord Selkirk Red River settlement in the Fall of 1812 Mile Livingston became a settler at the settlement. In 1813 Mile's daughter Nancy Livingston (Mrs. John Clink) my great great grandmother was the first of Miles and Janet Livingston's children born at Lord Selkirk's Red River Settlement in Hudson's Bay Territory in what was then British North America (later Canada). The following Year logs were floated down river and Miles had a log home constructed for him and his family along the banks of the Red River (present day Winnipeg, Manitoba,Canada) according to one surviving early settlement account. Interesting in a Red River Settlement deposition by fellow boatbuilder Donald Livingston hired by Lord Selkirk for his Red River Settlement and as mentionedlikely brother in law of Miles Livingston states in his deposition among other things that he was also a native of Morvern Parish, Argyll. In 1815 Miles Livingston with about 124 others from the original settlement group were however abruptly forced to leave Selkirk's settlement because of growing hostilities with the rival North West Company. Miles grabbed his musket and his tools that were technically property of Lord Selkirk and along with his wife Janet, his daughter Nancy my great great grandmother and a son Hugh Livingston and other Red River settlers boarded boats and canoes and departed the Red River Settlement on a lengthy and arduous journey via lakes, river and streams through vast wilderness until they reached York County, Upper Canada where Miles found work in Etobicoke utilizing his earlier experience as a boat builder. In 1817 Miles was hired by the British Navy in Upper Canada to build boats for them in the Lake Huron area. Following that in 1819 he petitioned for a land grant in Upper Canada receiving a land grant in Esquesing Township, Halton County and farmed there until about 1837 and then getting on in years and apparently with his wife deceased sometime prior to 1842 he moved to Acton possibly living with his youngest son Daniel Livingston there and found work in his old age as a barrel maker in the town of Acton where his son lived. There is no record when old Miles Livingston died but I assume it may have been in Acton in Halton County, Upper Canada later known as Ontario, Canada most likely sometime between the years 1842 and 1852. My great great grandfather John Clink 1810-1887 husband of Miles Livingston's eldest child Nancy Livingston was a witness at Mile's son Daniel Livingston's marriage to Elizabeth Marsales. Years later in the 1870's Daniel Livingston and his family left Acton, Halton County, Ontario, Canada and moved to Michigan, USA.

Years ago Baron Livingstone's late father Baron Alastair Livingstone of Bachuil, Lismore, Argyllshire had informed my father's cousin William Livingston Clink that there was a record in the Lismore Parish Church of Scotland records indicating that a "Myles Livingstone son of Donald Livingstone and Christian Campbell of Cloichlea, Lismore was baptized September 25, 1775 in the Parish of Lismore. His son Baron Niall Livingstone in the early 2000's pointed out to me that Myles or Miles was a name not uncommon amongst some families in the Lismore and neighbouring Morvern Parish area and I noticed both in the Lismore and Morvern Parish record a number of Livingstons by that name in the records. Baron Livingstone pointed out to me that Miles was derived from the much earlier Gaelic name Maelmoire meaning oddly enough tonsured servant of Mary indicating its roots with the the early Celtic Church. A record from Lord Selkirk's Red River Colony Hudson's Bay Territory, British North America from 1815 regarding Selkirk employee/ Settler Miles Livingston indicated by his age in 1815 suggested also that he was indeed born by about 1775.

I realized however that I wanted to be "absolutely certain" that I was correct in my understanding based on Mile's 1812 marriage Argyllshire marriage record that Miles Livingstone was most likely born in Morvern and of Morvern Livingstone ancestry or whether he was in fact born in neighbouring Lismore and of Bachuil Lismore family ancestry. I felt back then that Rob Livingston's suggestion that a YDNA test be done was a great idea to help sort out my Argyllshire Livingstone family origins issue except that the test needed a YDNA Test sample from a Livingston male whose father grandfather great grandfather etc. had been a direct descendant of my Livingston ancestor Miles Livingston. My great great grandmother Nancy Livingston was Miles Livingston's daughter who married my paternal great great grandfather John Clink who was not a Livingston. Because of this it was necessary for me to try and locate a male Livingston cousin and see if they would agree to do a YDNA test with Family Tree DNA. Well at this time as luck would have it I was in touch with a Livingston cousin whom I had earlier discovered had been doing some Livingstone family research and I asked her if her Livingston father would be interested in doing a YDA test with Familytreedna who had tested prior a number of other Livingstones of known Western Argyllshire Maclea Livingstone ancestry. I funded this test of my Livingstone Cousin's father who had very kindly offered to do this test and the results have confirmed that my Livingston cousin's father was determined through his YDNA testing and his Maclea Livingston YDNA test surprisingly numerous close matches to be definitely of Maclea Livingstone Western Argyllshire ancestry most closely related to a group of Livingston families formerly known as Maclea's or Maconleas who in the 18th and 19th centuries and apparently beginning as early as in the previous century resided in the Parish of Morvern in Western Argyllshire. It is my understanding from 19th Century Ohio USA Morvern Livingston Family Historian Duncan Livingston that the McLeas that settled in Morvern Parish in 1600 had resided nearby in Achnacree. My Livingstone Cousin's closest YDNA match with 66 markers out of 67 marker tested a near perfect match with my Livingstone's cousins YDNA test results was interestingly a Canadian Livingstone whose Livingston ancestor I discovered was descended from John Livingston a workman residing in Kilundine, Morvern Parish who according to his marriage record married January 22, 1805 in neighbouring Kilninian Parish, Mull Catharine Campbell from Teang, Aros, Mull. Following their marriage they relocated in nearby Mull for a number of years before in the early 1820's departing for and settling in Nova Scotia at Mull River in Inverness County, Cape Breton Island.

Most interesting of all to me was one of my Livingston cousin's almost as close YDNA match was with one Livingstone of Morvern ancestry with 64 out of 67 how genetic markers matching with my Livingstone Cousin. I learned from this Livingstone gentleman who had been tested and found to be a close match with my Livingstone Cousin that he was a direct descendant of Ewen (Hugh) Livingston of Savary, Morvern a known brother of the famous Savary, Morvern 1745 Jacobite Hero Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 who is recorded in 1775 Argyll Census as Hugh Livingstone living beside Donald Livingstone his brother in Savary, Morvern. I was informed of him by one of his cousins who had contacted me earlier about their Morvern Livingstone family.I also encouraged back then this Livingstone of known Savary, Morvern area Maclea Livingstone ancestry to do the Family Tree YDNA test.This was a lucky break for me in my search to find a known and proven Maclea Livingstone of Morvern Parish ancestry who was related in some way willing to do the FamilyTree YDNA Test.

Doing an extensive study of some family trees of known sons of Donald Livingstone of Savary, Morvern 1728-1816 while working on a bio of Donald Livingstone, I actually got very lucky years ago and to my surprise eventually did locate a proven direct descendant of Donald Livingstone of Savary, Morvern who lived in Lowland Scotland whose Livingstone paternal ancestral line clearly connected him to Donald Livingstone of Savary, Morvern. He confirmed his ancestral connection to Donald Livingstone, mentioned his grandmother who was the family historian had told him of the Savary Morvern Livingstone connection to Donald Livingstone before she died. He was very interested in the family research I had done on his ancestor Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 of Savary Morvern but expressed no interest in YDNA Testing.

The Livingstone from the United States who kindly agreed to be YDNA Tested shared with me his Morvern Parish Livingstone family history info and I was later able to confirm with further research that he was descended from Hugh Livingstone, who died about 1847, a tenant farmer of Achbeg Farm near Savary, Morvern who was likely a son of Duncan Livingston and Catharine Cameron of Barr, Morvern and a grandson of Ewen also known as Hugh Livingstone a brother of 1745 Rebellion Morvern Jacobite Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 of Savary, Morvern. Phillip Gaskell in his book Morvern Transformed states that in 1846 the potato crop completely failed in Morvern which had serious impact on the Morvern tenant families as the potato which as Gaskell mentions in the year 1846 in Morvern made up roughly speaking two thirds of their diet. By the late 1840's Hugh's widow Euphemia (Effy) Livingston unable to pay the rent to the Achbeg, Morvern landowner John Sinclair following the death of her husband Hugh Livingstone probably by 1847 or 1848 she and her children ended up with a group of other impoverished Morvern tenants living in deplorable conditions in the crowded slum housing provided for the poor in the area by landowner John Sinclair in nearby Lochaline, Morvern where she and her children are recorded as "paupers" residing at Lochaline in the 1851 Scottish Census. Rev. John McLeod the then Minister of Morvern Parish described the poor in Lochaline as living in "penury and wretchedness". Another descendant of Hugh and Effy Livingston kindly sent me some some surviving information from old Morvern Parish poor relief related documents indicating Effy Livingston's desperate appeal to the Board of Supervision for additional pauper relief from the Morvern Parochial Board for her family in Morvern in 1849 while residing in Lochaline. On October 4, 1849 the Board of Supervision ruled in her favour that "the applicant's allowance was not made adequate and that she has just cause of action against the Parochial Board...". Later in 1851 Effy and her children departed for America eventually settling in Lawrence County, Ohio near Scioto County where her late husband's elderly mother widow Catharine Livingstone and three of his brothers Angus, Duncan and John were living. They were sons of Duncan Livingston and Catharine Cameron of Barr, Morvern Parish, Argyll. Following the death of Hugh Livingston and his widow Effy Livingston and family's departure from their farm at Achbeg farm in the late 1840's Hugh's brother Donald Livingston and his wife Betty McInnes relocated from their croft in neighbouring Keil, Morvern to the 10 acre Achbeg Farm now operated by Donald Livingston's father in law Myles McInnes formerly of nearby Savary, Morvern.

Hugh Livingston's brother Angus Livingston had actually arrived earlier firstly in New York State in 1842 and before 1850 relocated in Scioto County, Ohio where his son Duncan Livingstone (1850-1910) became a lawyer in Scioto County, Ohio and later in life a researcher and author of his Savary Morvern Livingston family history of his Great Grandfather Ewen (Hugh) Livingston of Savary Morvern and Ewen's famous Jacobite brother Donald Livingston 1728-1816 also of Savary. Duncan Livingstone wrote a most interesting article The Stewarts of Culloden included in the March 1896 issue of the Celtic Monthly which mentioned some very interesting details regarding his older Livingstone relatives that were born in Morvern some who also settled in America in the 1800's and who knew their old Uncle Donald Livingstone of Savary 1728-1816 quite well in their younger days in Morvern.
Duncan Livingstone of Scioto County, Ohio
March 1896 Celtic Monthly The Stewarts of Culloden by Duncan Livingston of Scioto County, Ohio[/b]
"The story of the preservation of the Appin banner at Culloden the writer has often heard, when a child, from two nieces of Donald Livingstone, Mrs. Mary Livingstone Boyd, and Sarah Livingstone Burke, who got the same from the lips of Donald himself. The former, Mrs. Boyd, died in the early part of the sixties, and the latter, Mrs. Burke, in the early part of the seventies, both at a ripe old age. They were daughters of his brother, Eoghan, or
Ewan.He also heard it when a child, and after arriving at manhood, from eight other descendants of Ewan. among whom the story is well known, as well as from several persons familiar with the traditions of Morven."
Hugh Livingston d.abt. 1847 a tenant farmer of Achbeg Morvern near Savary was not the first Maclea Livingstone tenant to reside at Achbeg in Morvern. More than a century earlier according to a 1716 List of Morvern and Mull area heads of household a tenant by the name of John Mclea is recorded as residing at Achbeg, Morvern near Savary Farm. It seems very probable that he is related in some way to Hugh Livingston's grandfather Ewen (Hugh) Livingston of Savary, Morvern and his grandfather's brother the famous former 1745 Morvern Jacobite soldier Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 of Savary, Morvern. Interestingly Hugh (Ewen) Livingstone and Donald Livingstone's father was a John Livingstone who died in 1760 at the age of 57 years and was buried in Keil Cemetery in Lochaline, Morvern with a beautifully ornate table tomb in the old highland style erected for him and his wife Ann McInnis by his son Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 of Savary, Morvern which is still in rather excellent condition considering it's age.

Regarding my Morvern Family research it was clear from Y DNA testing of my Livingstone cousin like me a descendant of Miles Livingston b. 1775 of a native of Morvern parish who settled in Canada in 1812, that we were in some way connected to and related to a large group of Maclea Livingstones who resided along the Morvern coast in Western Argyllshire near the Isle of Lismore and Mull. My Livingston cousins closest Y DNA marker match with 67 markers tested was a Livingston of Killundine Morvern ancestry Kilundine being one of the number of settlement along the coast but as mentioned my Livingston cousin was also a relatively close match also with a descendant of Ewen Livingston also known as Hugh Livingston who is a brother of the famous Morvern Jacobite and supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Rebellion of 1745 was was the at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746 serving with Stewarts of Appin Regiment. All of this of course pleased me great deal to to be able to tell my elderly father that our Livingston relatives were related to a Morvern Livingston family whose ancestor was known by that family to have been a brother of the famous old Morvern Parish Jacobite Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 a one time Savary Mill and Inn operator and a local legend for a number of years before his death as an old man in 1816 and long after his death. He was married to a Jane Stewart. Years ago some of you may remember I wrote a bio on Donald Livingstone of Savary, Morvern for our Newsletter. According to Alexander Carmichael's original Field Notes from the late 1800's regarding Donald Livingstone of Savary, Morvern:
Donald Livingstone of Savary
John Livingstone of Achnacree went to Morvern. His son Donald fought at Culloden age 18. Nine Donald's were shot down dead carrying the bratach of the Prince (Bonnie Prince Charlie) when Donald Livingstone took it up and swathed round his body. He was shot down and thought to be dead but he got up
with nine bullet wounds - fresh wounds which were seen in his body when he died age 79 or 80 years old. Never had trews on. He was a drover to George? being a commissariat to the garrison at Ft. William to the last. Died at Morvern. He had six sons - two of whom were drown on Cuanna h-Eirinn having a vessel of their own which they traded to Ireland. There were two daughters died unmarried. Donald Molach - Hairy Donald he was called in Savary. His wife was Jane Stewart of Ardslignish. The mother of Donull Molach was Ann McInnes native of Morvern.

Donald Livingstone's brother Ewen's children indicated that the ancestors of their Livingston family arrived in the Savary Morvern area much earlier than Argyll Folklorist Alexander Carmichael's information indicated in the year 1600. Given the problems the Achnacree Mcleas had with hostile Campbells earlier in the 1500s' they may have relocated to Morvern. The possible arrival of Donald Livingstone's Achnacree ancestors as early as the year 1600 is further supported by the fact that a 1716 list records numerous McLea/McOnlea heads of household residing in Morvern Parish by early 1700's and therefore it is almost certain they were there in the 1600's.

Some years ago now I found book published in 1998 by the Scottish Record Society "Inhabitants of the Inner Isles 1716 which included some McLeas/Mconleas list of heads of household in Morvern Parish some of whom were likely ancestrally connected to my Mcleas Livingstone ancestors who were residing at this time in the early 18th century I am quite certain in settlements and farms along the Morvern coastline back then. Interestingly this list of McLeas/Mconleas/McInlays etc. of Morvern made note of those who year after the 1715 Rebellion were currently in possession of swords or firearms. As of many of the heads of these heads of households may have indeed have been Jacobites and active participants in the earlier 1715 Rebellion it is not then too surprising that of Morvern area McLea/Mconleas of our Clan back then would have been found to still possess a weapon. I include from my study of this record years ago those possibility related to my Morvern Maclea Livingstone family group. There are a number of interesting early 18th century quite common spelling variations of early McLea/McOnlea/McOnlay etc. Back then in the 18th century there was quite a bit of flexibility in the spelling.
Inhabitants of the Inner Isles 1716 Morvern Parish Those suspected of still having Arms after the 1715 Rebellion
Dugald McEan V Inlay (V Inlay Savarie (Savary). (V Inlay or VcInlay an early 18th century a variation of McInlay also spelt as Mconlea)
John McLea Achbeg (Near Savary) "gave his sword and his dirk"
Dugald McEan VcInlay Kilintine (Kilundine) "has a sword"
Donald McOlonie Finarie Finarie (Finuary)
Donald McLea Sallachan (Salachan)
Donald McLea Fernish "Has no arms"
Duncan McLea Achalinan (Achleanan) "His son gave in a gun being all the arms he had."

The Church of Scotland Parish records for Morvern Parish are a helpful source of locating baptism and marriage records of Livingstones dating from as early as 1803. Unfortunately there are no Church records prior to that in the 1700's which have survived. Neighbouring Lismore Parish has records dating back earlier in the last half of the 1700's and oddly enough there was as the late Baron Alastair Livingstone of Bachuil, Lismore pointed out to my late father's 2nd cousin years ago there is most interestingly a baptism record of a "Myles Livingstone" baptized in 1775 in the Lismore Parish Church of Scotland records which may or may not be my Livingstone ancestor. An 1815 record from Lord Selkirk's Red River Colony in Hudson's Bay Territory in what was back then British North America list the age of my great great great grandfather Miles Livingston in 1815 which suggest he would have born around the year 1775 but Miles stated in his 1812 marriage record as he was travelling to Lord Selkirk's Red River Colony as a boatbuilder for the Settlers that he and wife Janet also a Livingston were as minister recorded in the parish record "natives of Morvern".

While most regrettably for Morvern Livingstone family researchers no Church of Scotland Parish records of 18th century birth, baptism or marriages have not survived I was delighted to find years ago that The Scottish Record Society in 1963 had published Inhabitants of the Argyll Estate 1779 which includes alisting of the "Livingstone" heads of household of Morvern Parish circa 1779 many of them I assume having some close Morvern Maclea Livingstone family and ancestral connection to with my ancestor Miles Livingstone and his family. Amongst the most interesting Livingstone residents mentioned as residing in Morvern in the year 1779 is the well know Morvern Livingstone Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 of Savary Morvern and listed with him as residing also in Savary is his known brother Hugh or also known as Ewen Livingstone of Savary, Morvern whose grandson Hugh Livingstone is years later recorded in the 1841 Scottish Census residing as a tenant farmer at neighbouring Achbeg beside Savary in Morvern parish. Years ago now a known decendant of this farmer Hugh Livingston who died around 1846 and was known to have been a direct descendant of Ewen Livingstone's brother Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 did a YDNA Test with my encouragement and his results were my close match as I suspected with my own Livingstone cousin of Morvern Livingstone ancestry whom was also YDNA tested years ago. I included below a very interesting and rare glimpse of Morvern Parish Livingstones heads of household residing in Morvern Parish, Argyllshire circa 1779. The 1779 Census was compiled by John Duke of Argyll 5th Duke of Argyll and largely compiled in the Autumn of 1779.
List of Families Residing Upon His Grace The Duke of Argyll's Estate in Morvern in September of 1779
Donald Livingstone Cottar and family Killunden (my cousin's closest YDNA Livingston match was a Livingstone of Killundine Morvern Livingstone descent)
John Livingstone Tenant and family Terenish
Neil Livingstone Workman and family Terenish
John Livingstone Workman and family Terenish
John Livingstone and wife Terenish
Ann Livingstone Cottar and sons Terenish
Hugh Livingstone Tenant and family Aulisline
Duncan Livingstone Tenant and family Aulisline
Hugh Livingstone Grass keeper and family Portavata
Donald Livingstone Cottar and family Barr
John Livingstone Workman and family Barr
Donald Livingstone Workman and family Rahoy
Catharine Livingstone Cottar and family Rahoy
Malcom Livingstone Tenant and family Savary
Donald Livingstone Tenant and family Savary ( Donald Livingstone 1728-1816 Appin Regiment 1745-1746, later Savary Miller and Inn Keeper)
Hugh Livingstone Grasskeeper and family Savary (brother of Donald Livingstone also known as Ewen Livingstone)
Angus Livingstone Workman and family Funary
_____________________________________________________

My great great great grandfather Miles Livingston b.1775 was fortunate that he was not an impoverished tenant farmer but had a skilled trade as both a carpenter, barrel maker and a boatbuilder when he was hired by a highland recruiter of Lord Selkirk's to firstly work as boat builder early on at his settlement but sometime after arriving in the fall of 1812 at Lord Selkirk's Red River Settlement in Hudson's Bay Territory, British North America focused upon being a settler. Earlier I have reason to believe that some of my Livingston ancestor's Morvern Livingston cousins and him went sometime before 1812 to the Isle of Islay looking for work but I don't have much information on that. Truth be told Miles Livingston was probably fortunate to have a skilled trade which helped him get hired by Lord Selkirk's highland agent prior to his departure for British North America in June of 1812. Other Livingstones of Morvern Parish in the years after Miles Livingston had left for Canada Morvern tenants experienced increasing pressures to remain tenant farmers in Morvern Parish. As he 19th century progressed there were more and more landowners considering sheep grazing on their lands more profitable in the end than subsistence tenant farmers and clearances of tenants became more common. Then in the mid 1840's the potato crop in Ireland and in Argyllshire Scotland including in Morvern and Mull Parish further added to suffering and fears of tenant farmers and their families in Morvern Parish. While there were those in Scotland who were greatly concerned about the plight of highland families in Argylshire impacted by the crop failure in the 1840's others particularly some newspaper editors in lowland Scotland were less than sympathetic with the plight of the tenant farming families in Argyllshire. While there was not a whole lot of sympathy for the struggling tenant farmers in Morvern in the 1840's by the landowners the Church of Scotland minister in Morvern Parish Rev.John McLeod during this time was particularly concerned and vocal about the suffering in Morvern Parish and did what he could to help tenants during the Potato crop failure and resulting famine.

One interesting document a petition I located years ago from the 1840's I think highlighted the sincere efforts of ordinary residents in the area who were hoping a railroad development in the area would help to get food to the vulnerable tenants in Morvern Parish and other neighbouring Parishes affected by the Potato Famine which had a devastating impact on struggling tenants in both Ireland and in nearby Western Argyllshire.
Great Britain Treasury Correspondence from July 1846 to February 1847 Related to The Measures Adopted for the Relief of Distress in Scotland Published in London 1847
Petition for the District of Morvern Argyllshire fro Advance of the Oban Railway[/b] Page 146
Unto the Right Honourable the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury The Petition of the Freeholders, Justice of the Peace, Commissioners of Supply, Clergy and People of the District of Morvern in the County of Argyle
Humbly Sheweth,
That it has been the pleasure of the Almighty God to impend this part of the country the calamity of famine through the total failure of the potato crop upon which the working population do almost entirely subsist. That this famine will leave the people entirely destitute, how soon they shall have consumed their small crops of oats and barley, which cannot last them above two or three months at the very farthest; and this is a fact which we consider it our duty to make known to your Lordships and at the same time respectively to suggest a measure which under Providence might very greatly to mitigate the evil.
In the last session of Parliament an Act was passed empowering certain parties to form and make a railway to give transit to passengers, goods and livestock betwixt Oban in the County of Argyle and the city of Glasgow - a railway communication which when completed will be the first importance to the people of this country and it would tend greatly to the diminution of the distress that must arise from the failure of the potato crop in the Highlands of Scotland. if Government saw it proper to advance upon proper security to the joint stock company for the construction of the aforesaid railway such funds as may be required to enable them forthwith to begin their operation. May it therefore please your Lordship to take what is above stated into your consideration and to do in the matter what to your Lordships appear best.
And your Petitioners will ever pray
John Sinclair of Lochaline J.P.
Donald McVean Tackman of Kenlochalen
Duncan Campbell Tackman of Achfose
John Cameron Merchant Lochaline
Donald McLaughlin Tenant Achbeg
Donald McInnis Tenant Kyle
Duncan McCullum Tenant Kyle
Allan Watt Tackman Ardness
William Allan Merchant Lochaline
David Smith Tackman Auchnath
John McInnes Tenant Savery
Alex McInnes Tenant Savery
William Blackley Tackman Drumbose
Alexander McNab Drimmin

By the 1840's and 1850 there was a further threat to Livingstone tenants of Morvern Parish and that was the clearances from their farms by the landowners. The stark reality facing struggling tenant farmers and their families in Morvern Parish and in other neighbouring Parishes was that it had become very clear to Landowners that it was much more profitable for them to devote their land to sheep grazing rather than maintain renting to local subsistence tenant farming families that in many cases had resided in the area for generations. This continued steadily through this time and for some time thereafter in the 19th century resulting in forcing or encouraging many tenants to have little choice other than relocating to lowland Scotland, Ireland, England or as a good number in Western Argyllshire did emigrate to North America or Australia. As a result the departure of numerous Morvern Parish tenants from Morvern Parish in the 19th century we can get a good sense of this from studying the Scottish census records from years 1841 to 1901 the steady decline in the numbers of LIvngstones residing in Morvern Parish recorded from the year 1841 to 1901. The DNA testing has so far strongly suggested many of these Morvern Parish Livingstone/Livingston tenant families were probably related closely or more distantly to each other and likely related in some way to my own Livingston cousins in North America.
Population Decline of Livingstons/Livingstones/Levingstons in Morvern according to the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 Scottish Census
1841 Livingston 89 Livingstone 0 Levingston 1 Total 90
1851 Livingston 68 Livingstone 0 Levingston 11 Total 79
1861 Livngston 55 Livingstone 14 Levingston 0 Total 69
1871 Livingston 19 Livingstone 6 Levingston 0 Total 25
1881 Livingston 8 Livingstone 11 Levingston o Toral 19
1891 Livingston 11 Livingstone 1 Levingston 0 Total 12
1901 Livingston 3 Livingstone 6 Levingston 0 Total 9

Some Thoughts Regarding Reverend Duncan McLea's 1743 Account of the Mclea's of Scotland and his Comments Regarding McLeas of Western Argyllshire
In 1743 Reverend Duncan McLea of Dull, Scotland wrote an account of what all he knew regarding those various family groups in Lowland and Highland Scotland who went by the family name of MacLea and who went by other spellling variations of that name Macleay etc. Contrary to what some may have thought he does not claim that all McLeas in Scotland were all somehow related because obviously he did not have any proof of that. I have no doubt that he suspected there was some shared family connections amongst the various Maclea families in Scotland including those of the lowland areas but I do not think he knew that was for certain. Also it also important to note that YDNA testing has not at least to the best of my knowledge provided any results indicating "significantly close YDNA matches" of those tested descended from "other" Scottish MacLeas, McLeas, Macleay Scottish family origins when their YDNA results are compared with Livingstones of known 18th century Western Argyllshire Maclea ancestry. To me the most valuable thing about Reverend Maclea's 1743 account is that it provides us with some extremely rare insights into what were likely the two most significant branches of the Argyllshire Macleas circa 1743 in the first half of the 1700's just prior to Macleas in Highland Argylslhire to both of them fully adopting the renaming of their Clan from MacLea, McOnlea, McInlea to Livingstone or Livingston by the 1750's.

In terms of Argyllshire Highland McLeas Reverend Duncan Maclea of Dull in his 1743 account of Macleas/Mcleays most interestingly he mentions in particular two branches the Bachuil Lismore MacLeas and the nearby Achnacree MacLeas in Highland Argyllshire. Regarding the Bachuil Lismore Macleas he provides us with detailed rare insights and historical details regarding what was in the first half of the 18th century a McLea family group of the 18th century residing in Western Argyllshire with ancient ecclesiastical roots to Lismore Parish in Argyllshire dating back to the 6th Century the Macleas of Bachuil, Lismore. Reverend McLea most interestingly states that "there was a Popish Bishop of the name of McLea that the built the Castle of Auchindoun in Lessmore (Lismore, Argyll) the name and designation of the Popish and Praelatical Bishops of Argyll being called Bishops of Lessor, Episcopus Lissmorensis and the Kirk Officer there from Father to Son these several generations past is McLea who hath heritibly one half of a mark land for being Beadle or Kirk there and who hath still the Bishop's Club akeeping and who is therefore called Baron Bachuil to this day..." The Bishop's Club which Reverend MacLea is referring to is the sacred staff of Saint Moluag that has been in the possession of the Bachuil Maclea Livingstone Family and their distant ancestors residing on the Isle of Lismore for centuries. Saint Moluag's sacred staff is also referred to as Moluag's Crozier or baculum, a shepherd's crook which was referred to on the Isle of Lismore by its Gaelic speaking people for centuries as the Bachuil Mor.

I think there is every reason to believe as Reverend MacLea stated in 1743 that some of the early ancestors of the Bachuil Livingstone family were likely members of the Clergy in the early years of the Celtic Christian Church on the Isle of Lismore and some family members were likely clerics in later centuries. St. Moluag who is believed to be of Pict or Dalraida Irish family origin is credited with converting the pagan Pict Scottish population of the Isle of Lismore in the 6th century to Christianity and with the help of several monks he brought with him he established a monastery on the Island. Ian Carmichael author of Lismore in Alba claims that "there is little doubt that Lios Mor (Lismore) was a new name for the island and that it was given by Moluag. The Staff of Saint Moluag has been for the most part since the late 6th century, presumingly following the death of the Saint in 592 AD, in possession of the Maclea Livingstones of Bachuil, Lismore and their earlier Lismore, Argyllshire ancestors. In 2008 Baron Alastair Livingstone passed away after a great many years as the Baron of Bachuil and his son Niall Livingstone became Baron of Bachuil and in so doing became Lismore's latest custodian of the ancient staff. In The History of the Appin Stewarts by John Stewart and Duncan Stewart published in 1880 it is stated that "the crozier was given up by (The Livingstones) a few years ago (in the 1870's) to the Duke of Argyll" when the Duke of Argyll gave Baron Livingstone of Bachuil, Lismore confirmation of an ancient land Grant. In my research however I found some credible information that suggests that the Duke of Argyll came into possession of the Staff of Saint Moluag much earlier in the 1850's. The ancient Staff was apparently acquired as early as the first half of the 1850's by the then 8th Duke of Argyll George Campbell from the then Baron of Bachuil Alexander Livingstone perhaps originally given to the Duke as a loan but for reasons not entirely clear to me it was not returned to Bachuil Lismore Livingstones until almost a 100 years later in 1952.

On October 11th 1952 in the Oban Times it was stated that previously on the Sunday at the Lismore Cathedral Church that there was a formal ceremony celebrating the return "after close to 100 years" of the Staff of St. Moluag to Isle of Lismore. Further supporting the notion of an early 1850's acquisition of Staff of Saint Moluag by the Duke of Argyll was a discovery of Volume 2 of Origines Parochiales Scotland published in 1854 where on page 163 most interestingly it was stated that "the staff came into possession of the Duke of Argyll very lately". Also I located five Scottish Newspapers two years later announcing in July of 1856 that the Duke of Argyll was exhibiting the Staff of Saint Moluag in an exhibition of rare historic Scottish antiquities to take place during a meeting of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland which I believe helps to support the earlier 1854 information by the authors of Origines Parochiales Scotland indicating that as early as the 1850's the Duke of Argyll had acquired the Staff from the Bachuil, Lismore LIvingstones rather than years later sometime in the 1870's.

Interestingly four years prior to the Duke of Argyll's 1952 return of the Saint Moluag's staff to Lismore in 1948 Minister of Lismore Ian Carmichael's History of the Isle of Lismore was published and in his book regarding the Staff he comments among other things that "This relic is still in existence and is wrongfully in the possession of the Duke of Argyll in Inveraray". Carmichael then most interestingly quotes a book Adventures in Legend published in 1898 in which the then Marquis of Lorne John Campbell the 8th Duke of Argyll's son seems to try to justify the Staff of St. Moluag remaining in Inveraray all those years in the possession of his father" Finally after so many ages a time came when the Baron became too poor to have any safe place where it might remain, and he hid it in a great peat stack unwilling that it should incur further perils. Its silver covering had been stolen piecemeal and the lower portion of the staff itself was lost. It is now safe where it cannot be destroyed or stolen, in the hands of those who can preserve it. It was made in two parts, the upper fitting into the lower. The one portion of the crook, and that larger has been broken off, leaving only the commencement of the curve at the top. It is of hard wood and is stuck full of the little bronze tacks or headless nails which in two places still retain portions of the inner bronze sheathing which originally covered it Mutilated as it is, it is one of the most interesting relics of the Scots Irish Church and is the most ancient of any....". Regarding the reasons given for the Staff's relocation in the 19th century from Lismore to Inveraray by the 8th Duke of Argyll's son the Marquis of Lorne, the Author, Local Historian and Lismore Minister Ian Carmichael apparently wasn't buying any of it commenting "To say that the only place in which it could safely kept in the second half of the nineteenth century was in a peat stack is manifestly absurd".

Argyllshire Folklorist Alexander Carmichael drawing from what from he had been told by Argyllshire Livingstones in the late 1800's regarding the two main branches of Clan Maclea Livingstone stated later in the early 1900's that the "Livingstones of Achnacree were of the same line as the Livingstones of Bachuil, Lismore, Keepers of the Staff of St. Moluag the two families separated many centuries ago". In 1925 K.W. Grant in her book Myth, Tradition and Story From Western Argyllshire acknowledged that "There are two distinct branches of the (Maclea-Livngstone) family more or less related; the Livingstones of Bachuil in Lismore and those of the Achnacrees in Benderloch". Then in 1948 Ian Carmichael Minister of Lismore author of Lismore in Alba states "there was no relationship between the Lismore Livingstones and Achnacree Livingstones". I think in more recent years there is some reason to believe that Alexander Carmichael Argyll Folklorist was wrong and K.W. Grant and Ian Carmichael were correct. Results from YDNA Testing by Family Tree DNA of Livingstone men of known and documented Lismore and Appin Livingstone ancestry and Livingstone men of Morvern, neighbouring Mull, Ballachulish and Ardnamurchan ancestry and SNP information most surprisingly seems to indicate that the Achnacree and Bachuil Livingstones were of two distinctly different paternal ancestral lines while clearly belonging to the same Clan however for perhaps hundreds of years. Possibly many centuries ago an ancient ancestor of the Bachuil Lismore Macleas and an ancient ancestor of the Achnacree Macleas agreed to forge a union of their two families or clans. Clan mergers were not uncommon in the history of Highland Clans and as this one likely happened so very long ago with no historical record of the event, for all and intents and purposes I think the Livingstone descendants of Bachuil,Lismore and Achnacree Livingstones as K.W. Grant expressed it are "more or less related".

Reverend McLea in his 1743 account provides some interesting details regarding the history of the Achnacree McLeas years earlier in the 1550's before many of them settled in Morvern Parish and which I think provides a likely explanation why they may have decided to years later relocate in nearby Morvern Parish. Reverend Mclea mentions the ongoing conflict which took place years earlier in the 1500's between the McDougall's and Mcleas of Achnacree and the Campbells of Inverawe which resulted as Rev. McLea described with both McDugalds and Campbells "falling upon one another and Achnacree and his four score Macleas were killed that day upon that spot and from that day to this time the McLeas never made any head or appearance and this was a very great loss to them, so many of them to be killed in one day". Perhaps the major battle which occurred in 1557 between the McDougall's,McLea's and the Campbells of Inveraw and the continuing issues with these Campbells was enough of an incentive for the Macleas of Achnacree to relocate in nearby Morvern by 1600 according to some Morvern Livingstone oldtimers born in the late 1700's who settled in the U.S in the first half of the 1800's who had heard many interesting stories about Morvern history from their Uncle Donald Livingstone of Savary, Morvern before the old Jacobite died in 1816. Livingstone of Savary Reverend MacLea did not mention this is his 1743 account and likely was not aware of resettlement of Achnacree Macleas around the year 1600 in Morvern Parish according to Morvern Livingstones later in the 1800's. Back in the 1500's the Achnacree Macleas referred to themselves as Dunslee, Dunsleeve and some odd variations of Dunslee such as "John Dunslaif of Achnacree" recorded in 1557 in the Taymouth Register who apparently back then possessed land in Achnacree and is no doubt someone of importance to the Achnacree Dunslee-Maclea family group of that time. Reverend MacLea interestingly states "the original name of the McLea some derive it from Slee or Shaved from the place they lived in Ireland, they having come first from Ireland, it being on a hill or mountain side that lived there; and there have been some of the name called Dunslee or Dunshavdh or Dunslee McOLea after the Irish way of expressing it, putting the Scots and Irish way together in the expression."

The last surviving document that I am aware of from the 1750's regarding a "Western Argyllshire McLea/McOnlea/McInlea" is perhaps most appropriately that of "Duncan Mcinlea of Bachuil, Lismore Argyllshire The Baron of Bachuil his name recorded in a 1751 Argyll Landowners List. It I think within in the realm of possibilities that Duncan McInlea or McOnlea was involved in what appears to have been a very successful effort by the 1750's to somehow get the Western Argyllshire Maclea/McOnlea/McInleas famlies virtually change their name to Livingstone/Livingston. It is a mystery to me how Baron Duncan McInlea the Clan Chief at the time managed to convince I assume virtually all of the Mclea/McOnleas/McInleas to adopt the family name Livingstone I believe in the 1750's in the Parish of Lismore and other Parishes in Western Argyllshire. No doubt there is an interesting story that unfortunately not recorded in the local history books as to why the Clan name was changed to how this was achieved. There have been however over the years a number of interesting theories regarding the name change from Maclea to Livingstone which includes the notion that Maclea ancestors the 17th century Dunslea's in Argyllshire adopted the name Livingstone much earlier than the 1750's possibly as early as 1640's or perhaps a little later in the 1650's. Reverend Duncan MacLea alludes to the possibility of a close connection and friendship with the lowland Callendar Livingstones with the Highland Macleas and it is known that a Lowland Livingston Sir James Livingston of Skirling did receive from King Charles the First in the 1640's a land grant of bishops land in Argyllshire and therefore would have had some interaction with the then Baron of Bachuil almost certainly. It however can not be proven that this interesting historical event on the Isle of Lismore or any other interactions the Maclea's earlier ancestors the Dunsleas had with Lowland Stirlingshire Livingstons might have had any significant influence on the Clan Chief to consider changing the Clan name to Livingstone from MacLea.

Searching the Church of Scotland Argyllshire records I have not found evidence of the Bachuil Macleas or their Maclea neighbours in Morvern and other neighbouring parishes adopting the Clan Name Livingstone/Livingston prior to the 1750's. Unfortunately the Lismore Parish Church of Scotland Parish records do not survive prior to the year 1759 when that year on the Island the Baptisms of children of parents of Malcolm Livingston and Kate McArthur of Cregnanich, Dugald Livingstone and Mary Livingstone of Bachuil and Donald Livingstone and Christian Campbell of Cloichlea were the earliest MacLeas as Livingstones recorded as far I know in the 18th century Lismore, Argyllshire Parish records. The Morvern Parish Church of Scotland records are even more problematic for a study of earliest use of the name Livingstone by Argyllshire Macleas in Morvern as the earliest surviving records of Morvern Maclea Livingstone families in the Morvern Parish Church records is not until the early 19th century beginning in 1803. So unfortunately a study of the transition period probably in the early 1750's in which MacLea clan members started to record their family name in the Argyllshire records as Livingstone is not made easy to study by the unfortunate lack of surviving Church of Scotland parish records from the 1750's and even less from the earlier 1740's period.

One of my most interesting discoveries over these years was the very likely possibility that a "lowland "Livingstoun/Livngston" family from Ayrshire in South Western Scotland settled in Southern Argyllshire probably in Kildalton Parish on the Isle of Islay in the early 17th Century possibly with other lowland families from Ayrshire, South Western Scotland. In the early 1600's, lowland Scottish settlement in County Down, Ireland was organized by James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery both of Ayrshire and large numbers of settlers many from Ayrshire at this time were encouraged to settle in County Down, Ireland. Among those were Ayrshire Livingstouns who intended to settle in County Down however I have reason to suspect because of YDA test results that one of these Ayrshire Livngstoun families at the last moment decided instead to settle in nearby Southern Argyllshire in Kildalton Parish, Isle Islay. I came up with this theory after noticing that a Livingston whose Scottish Livingston ancestors were known to have settled in County Down Livingston ancestry was YDNA tested and interestingly enough was a relatively close YDNA match with a two Livingstons whose ancestors were known to have roots in Isle of Islay in Southern Islay. I began to wonder why a Livingston likely of lowland possibly Ayrshire Livingstoun ancestry whose Livingston ancestors settled in the early 1600's County Down, Ireland would be a close match with Livingstons who lived in the early 1700's in Islay, Southern Arygllshire. I thought it rather odd to me that years before the Clan Chief and the Macleas and Maconleas had adopted officially changed the Clan name to Livingstone a few tenant famlies Southern Argyllshire in Kildalton Parish in the 1720's show up in the Kildalton Church of Scotland Parish records as "Livingstons".

Shortly after that I discovered a 1716 listing of Mull area tenants which even more interesting included a "Hector McLea of Dervaig" living near tenant "Duncan Livingstoun of Ardmore" and a "Hugh Roy Livingstoun of Kilmore"in Northern Mull, Argyll in the early 1700's which years ago caught my eye and thought unusual and possibly significant given that YDNA testing of descendants of 19th century Livingston/Livingstone residing in Mull indicated that two or three Livingstons tested were for some reason not matching with others of known Mull ancestry matching with a predominate Mull Maclea Livingstone YDNA match group. Doing some research I discovered that this odd Livingstoun spelling in Highland Argyllshire of Livingston was quite common in the 17th and early 18th century in a number of lowland Counties. Most interestingly however I found numerous birth records with "LIvingstoun" in the 17th and 18th century in birth records in the County of Ayrshire in nearby South Western Scotland where in the early 1600's many Scottish families left Ayrshire to settle in nearby County Down a short distance from Southern Islay and Kildalton Parish in Southern Arygllshire. Finally I pieced together a logical explanation why I was seeing "Livingstons" in the Argyllshire record appearing in the 1720's in the Parish records in Kildalton Parish in Southern Islay, Argyll and a few years earlier in a 1716 listing of Morvern, Ardnamurchan and Mull heads of household, two "Livingstouns" living near a Highland Mclea possibly that both these Islay and Mull Livingstons/Livingstouns were possibly connected to an earlier Lowland Livingstoun family from Ayrshire that settled in Kildalton Parish, Islay in the early 1600's.

A final heart felt goodbye to all those out there past and present who really care or cared about the Highland Argyllshire Maclea Livingstone family research on this forum and many thanks to all the wonderful folks who participated with this Forum with myself and others. Over these 20 years your support and input has been really appreciated. It has been truly a great honour and privilege to work with Baron Livingstone of Bachuil Lismore, Livingstones and many other Livingstones over the years. Thanks again for sharing your Livingstone/Livingston family information with me and other Livingstones/Livingstons on this forum as well. No doubt many family researchers over the years have benefited in some way from your family research contribution.

It is often not easy for either the novice family historian or even the more experienced family historians out there doing their family research to always discern what is true and what is false with some of the family information contained in many submitted family histories and family trees available on the internet genealogy related sites these days. Great Aunt Martha and Great Uncle Bill may have been great story tellers at the family picnic every year and they may have had great memories of family information from the past but family stories and detailed family information passed on over the years from one relative to another after all those years is bound to be susceptible to some errors as valuable as much of it may be to your family research. If at all possible look for surviving birth, baptism, marriage, death, and other records such as old newspaper and other such additional sources to help corroborate and confirm your family history information and that of relatives is factually correct and credible and most importantly be very wary of some online family information which your knowledge and experience with your family history research tells you makes absolutely no sense. From my own experience over a great many years of doing my own family research of a number of my ancestor's families online there are many family researchers unfortunately who are being mislead or fooled by inaccurate family information that they have perhaps not fact checked and have accepted as being true. As the very wise Theologian and Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once stated there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. Nuff said.
Farewell and Thanks,
Donald