www.clanlivingstone.info

Hi, my name is Linda and my mother Sheila is a Livingston born NZ in 1925. I have been able to trace back several generations to the marriage of my gt-gt-grandfather John Livingston to Mary Wallace in Easky Sligo in 13 Feb 1843. John was a farmer in Gortakeeran in the parish of Killoran, and the son of Thomas. Thomas (at Rathbarron & Shancough) and John are listed in Griffith's Valuations of 1858 but do not appear on the earlier Tithes. We belive they probably came to Killoran between 1825 and 1830 the latter date being approximately when Thomas's oldest daughter married a Sligo local, James DAVIS.

Family tradition is that two Livingston brothers, both hatters by trade, moved to Sligo from Scotland and became farmers. If so then I think Thomas could be one of the brothers, unless this refers to two of his sons. Livingstons still living in Sligo say that within living memory there were implements of the hatters trade at Gortakeeran.

Can anyone make any suggestions as to how we might make the link back to a location in Scotland and if there were any events that could prompt the move to Sligo at this time?

Thomas Livingston/Levingston was born c1782 and his wife Ann c1784. Their known children were
Anne born c 1807
John b c1812
William b c1814
Richard b c1815
James b c1817
Mary b c1830, though possibly Mary could be the daughter of a different Thomas, if say one was born c 1810.

Any insights will be gratefully received

Linda.

Linda,

The only Thomas I can find anywhere close, so far, was born in Edinburgh, 19 Jan. 1779, f. James Livingstone & m. Euphan Miller, he married a Jean Dalgety, 06 May 1795 at Edinburgh,

John

Hi Linda,

With the Irish Census records for many of Parishes in Ireland missing from most of the 19th century, it is challenging to locate ones ancestors. Regarding the Livingstons the earliest Scots who went by the name Livingston in Ireland were apparently lowland Livingstons who may have settled in the early 1600's with others lowland Scots at that time primarily in the North counties of Ireland. There may have been some highland Livingstons settle in industrialized Belfast later in the 1800's but we dont have any specific information any of these families. Recent information suggests that some Livingstons that lived in Northern Ireland in the 1700's may have been related to some Livingstons that settled on the nearby Isle of Islay in Argyllshire Scotland but we dont know unfortunately the origins and history of this possible connection. As for your Livingstons I can say for certain that the missing Irish tithe information suggests that they lived in Scotland before the 1830's or infact resided elsewhere in Ireland prior to 1830. Not having more information available to us on your Irish ancestors makes it very difficult to determine just when your Livingston family line actually settled in Ireland. No doubt they originated from Scotland but whether they arrived in Ireland in the early 1800's or much earlier I am wondering. We have much greater info on Scottish Livingstons and considerably less on the history of Livingstons in Ireland, but hopefully we will learn more in the future from other descendants that may be of some help to you.

Your ancestors may indeed have arrived in Sligo in the early 1800's but without the name of the husband and wifes family names it is difficult to make any definite connection to the family to earlier Scottish records that we have access to. By any chance do you know the name of Thomas Livingston's wife's family name?

regards,

Donald

regards,

Donald

Thank you Donald & John for replying.

The only indication we have that the transfer from Scotland was fairly recent is that my grandfather said it was his grandfather and a brother who came from Scotland, or so my mother says. My grandfather's grandfather was John Livingston born c1812. Unfortunately though John lived until 1901 he was not alive at the time of the census so we do not know where he was born. All John's siblings also died pre 1901, and only his sister-in-law, Ann Jane nee Wallace, wife of James was still alive in 1901 and living at Shancough.

John's wife Mary Wallace was probably the Aunt of James' wife Ann Jane Wallace. Ann Jane was the daughter of Jeremiah Wallace, who was one of the witnesses at John & Mary's marriage in 1843.

No I do not know the family name of John's mother Anne. John's presumed mother, Anne Levingston, a widow, died at Rathbarron in July 1877 aged 93, John's son-in-law, George Whyte was present at he death. There is no proof that Anne was the widow of Thomas Livingston but there were no other Livingstons of that generation in Killoran, so Anne was probably the wife of Thomas who died at Rathbarron on 28 Feb 1871 aged 88.

There is a marriage for a Thomas Levingston a soldier and widower of Coolaney who married Mary Jane McMUNN of Carrownacreevy at Dromard, Sligo on 10-4-1855. Thomas was the son of a John LEVINGSTON who was a farmer. Thomas could be either a young widower, so possibly the same generation as my gt.gt.grandfather John, or if he was an older widower, then he could be the same generation as Thomas & Anne. However I have found no further trace of soldier Thomas in Killoran.

There is another family of Livingstons in Sligo town, in the parish of St Johns, to whom soldier Thomas could belong. This is the family of John Levingston and Margaret McGowan, whose children were born 1806 to 1813 in Sligo, including a Thomas born 1811 and another John born 1813.

I think John senior is probably the John who died in January 1843 aged 75 in Killery Parish (I think that is another parish that overlaps Sligo town from the north, but my knowledge of Sligo geography is a little patchy). If two brothers came from Scotland as per family folklore, then this John is my best bet for a brother of Thomas of Rathbarron. I did look in Ancestry for a marriage of John Livingston & Margaret McGowan in Scotland, but without success.

I would like to find the Scottish roots for at least one of my Scots/Irish families with names like Graham (my father's Antrim family) Wallace and Livingston in my tree. Whereas I expect the Grahams and maybe the Wallaces (I haven't explored them yet) were probably planted in Ulster in the 1600s, I am hoping the Livingstons were more recent arrivals.

Hi Jim,

Thank you for that Thomas birth. Definitley James is one of the family names but Euphan is not one that has turned up in the following generations.

My gt-gt- grandfather John Livingston's children were: Ann, Thomas, Jeremiah, James, Mary, William and Jane in that order (and few gaps). Of these names, Jeremiah & Jane did not appear in the previous Livingston generation, though the list of Thomas & Anne's children could be far from complete.

So as far as naming patterns go in John's family; Thomas after John's father & Jeremiah possibly after Mary's father. Ann after John's mother and Mary possibly after Mary's mother.

The possiblies are because I do not have a baptism for Mary Wallace, wife of John Livingston, who was born c 1820. I think I found that a Mary Wallace in Easky appears in Griffiths where previously there had been a Jeremiah in the Tithes, so I have these two down as probably Mary Wallace's parents.

James Livingston, was apprently the only one of John's brothers who also had children. James married Ann Jane Wallace in 1856 but their oldest known child, Richard, was born in 1867 so there could be a few missing prior to Richard. After Richard came Robert, William, Eliza Ann & Margaret. (Ann Jane Wallace's mother was Elizabeth).

I am afraid there is nothing distinctive in these names to help locate Thomas's probable birth in Scotland circa 1782.