Livingston of Callendar

Robert SewellThis page was set up by Robert Sewell in December, 2001 to show the Livingston Family since the earliest known times.  Robert Sewell graduated from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) in 1967 with a B.Sc. degree in chemistry.  After a year of studies at the University of Toronto's College of Education, he taught high school science in Collingwood, Ontario for a year and then taught chemistry, physics and general science in Hamilton, Ontario for twenty-nine years.  Robert Sewell retired from teaching in June 1998.

 Click to Contact Robert Sewell

Please visit the Sewell Genealogy Site Map for other pages in this series.


 
Click for  PDF index 

John P. Stewart
John at Queenston Heights,
Niagara, Ontario, Canada
May 7, 2002
In Memory of
John P. Stewart
of Livingston, Scotland
July 10, 1934 - January 9, 2013

     John came across our website and kindly shared information including the Genealogical Charts from Edwin Brockholst Livingston, The Livingstons of Callendar, Edinburgh University Press, 1920. This provided our first real lead into the ancestors of {Rev} John Livingston.
 

    The information on this page represents a compilation of material kindly shared by the following Livingston descendants:  Nell Livingston Blay, Steven R. Edington, Helen Hanson, Don C. Livingston, Robert Livingston, W. Darcy McKeough, Sewell Vincent Sample, Joe Slavin, John P. Stewart and Carma Kathleen Wallace.
    Other sources include:


    The surname Livingston is of territorial origin derived from the lands of that same name in West Lothian, just to the southwest of Edinburgh. A Saxon by the name of Leving settled in in the area sometime during the reign of Edgar (1097-1107) and it is from him that we get the name “Leving’s Town” or “Livingston”.  Leving's grandson, William was designated in a charter as William the Lion “of Livingston”. His descendant, Sir William Livingston accompanied King David II on his expedition to England in 1346 and it was from him that he acquired the Barony of Callendar, Stirlingshire, and whose heiress he married. These are the “Lowland Livingstons” from whose branches descended the Livingstons of Dunipace, Kinnaird, Bonton and Westquarter.

. . . Robert Livingston

    It has been previously suggested that:
"The 'Highland Livingstones' are of quite a different origin. The earliest of the Highland Livingstones were from the Isle of Lismore in the centre of Loch Linne off the coast of Western Scotland."

    However, Robert Livingston wrote on June 11, 2003:
"I think there is a very good possiblity that he (Baron de Leving) was instead a highlander with close family ties to the Mac an Ollaimhs of Lismore. My reason for suggesting this is because I have come across several references to 'Leven" or "Levin'".  Unfortunately, Mr. Livingston's web site has been closed.

 
Other Genealogies connected with this page include the following:
Scotland in the 11th century and Early Livingstons
Christian de Callendar and the Ancient Earls of Lennox and Menteith
Livingston of Kilsyth: The ancestors of Barbara Livingston
Livingston of Falkirk and Airth: The ancestors of Agnes Livingston
The Kings of Scotland and Beatrice Fleming.
Sinclair, Earls of Orkney and Beatrice Fleming.
Fleming, Earl of Wigtown and Beatrice Fleming.
Bruce of Airth and Barbara Livingston's descent from the Kings of Scotland.
Elizabeth Stuart and another connection to the Kings of Scotland.
Flemings of Edinburgh: The ancestors of Janet Fleming.
The Family of Robert Livingston of New York
Jamestown Livingstons who may be descended from Livingstons of Callendar.
Margaretta Schuyler and her family.
William Smith and his family.
Henrietta Smith through whom we are descended from the Livingston Family.

 
Background pages connected with this page include the following:
Troubled Time in Scotland:  Sir Andrew de Livingston and the Wallace Revolt
The Black Dinner of 1440 where the principal guests were executed.
{Reverend} John Livingston:  A Scottish minister in the 17th century.


Scotland in the 11th Century and Early Livingstons

    Click for a brief background of Scotland in the 11th century and of Baron de Leving.

    However, the first of an unbroken line of Livingstons is Sir Andrew de Livingston; and it is with him that we will begin this genealogy:

Generation One
 Sir Andrew de Livingston was one of the Scottish knights summoned by King Edward I on May 24th 1297 to attend his expedition to Flanders.  He was killed the same year in the revolt led by the great Scottish hero Sir William Wallace.  Sir Andrew was the Sheriff of Lanark, and it appears that Sir William Wallace emerged as the leader of the Scottish forces after Sir Andrew was killed.

    It is on official record that the Sheriff of Lanark was killed when Scottish rebels burned Lanark in 1297.  Blind Harry, the Minstrel, asserts that this sheriff was an Englishman by the name of Hesilrig; but there is no record of such a man having held this office.  Sir Andrew de Livingston is known to have been Sheriff of Lanark during the year preceding Wallace’s Revolt; and it is also evident that he must have been deceased about this time due to the fact that after Wallace’s Revolt there is no further reference to him in the public records.

    Click for more background on this Troubled Time in Scotland.

Died:  1297, slain during the revolt led by by  Sir William Wallace
Married:  Lady Elene de Quarantley or de Carantelegh
Sir Andrew de Livingston and Lady Elene de Quarantley had the following child:

Livingston Arms
Generation Two
Sir William de Livingston of Gorgyn, Crainmillar and Drumry, was a firm adherent of the House of Bruce, and fought against the English at Halidon Hill, July 19th, 1333

Died:  1339
Married:  Margaret, whose surname unfortunately is not on record; she may have been a daughter of Sir Fergus Comyn,  Lord of Gorgyn, circa 1260.
Sir William de Livingston and Margaret had the following children:

Livingston of Callendar

Generation Three
Sir William Livingston of Callendar accompanied King David II on his expedition to England in 1346 and acquired the Barony of Calendar, Stirlingshire, and whose heiress he married.

Died: November 30, 1364
Married:  Christian de Callendar, daughter of Sir Patrick de Callendar
Click for the descent of Christian de Callendar and additional information on Sir William Livingston.
Sir William Livingston and Christian de Callendar had the following children:


Generation Four
Sir John Livingston of Callendar who was slain at the Battle of Homildon Hill on September 14, 1402; as was his cousin Sir Robert Livingston of Drumry and Wemyss.
Born:  circa 1356
Died:  1402
Married:  to (first name unknown) Menteith, daughter of John Menteith of Kerse.
Sir John Livingston and ? Menteith had the following children:


Sir John Livingston married second on August 5, 1381 to Agnes Douglas, daughter of Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith and had the following children:


Generation Five
Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar who was the favourite counsellor of James I (of Scotland), after whose death he acted as guardian to the young King James II during his minority, and, in that capacity was for some time the virtual ruler of Scotland.
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle . . . One of Scotland's greatest stongholds.
Image courtesy of Touropia

Click for details of the life of Sir Alexander Livingston and the Black Dinner of 1440.
Died:  1451
Married:  (first name unknown) Dundas; reputed to have been a daughter of James (or John) de Dundas of Dundas, the elder and a great X3 granddaughter of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland. This descent is uncertain.
Sir Alexander Livingston and (?) Dundas had the following children:


Livingston of Callendar, 15th Century
Generation Six
Sir James Livingston, 1st Lord Livingston of Callendar  succeeded his father as guardian to James II and became Great Chamberlain and Master of the Household to that monarch, who always held him in high esteem, and, in 1454, raised him to the peerage of Scotland as the first Lord Livingston of Callendar.
Died:  1467
Married:  Marion de Berwick, daughter of Thomas de Berwick
Sir James Livingston and Marion de Berwick has the following children: 


Generation Seven
Alexander Livingston who is known to have married, but the name of his wife has been lost.
Born:  before July 6, 1445
Died:  1472
Alexander Livingston had a child:


Generation Eight
Sir James Livingston,  3rd Lord Livingston of Callendar who succeeded his childless and insane uncle as 3rd Lord Livingston of Callendar in 1497.
Died:  1503
Married:  circa 1472 to Beatrice Fleming, daughter of Robert, the 1st Lord Fleming and granddaughter of Sir Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld who had been executed following the Black Dinner of 1440.  Beatrice Fleming was a great X4 granddaughter of Robert the Bruce (1274 - 1329), King of Scotland (1306 - 1329)
    For Beatrice Fleming's descent from the Kings of Scotland, click on The Kings of Scotland Page.
    For Beatrice Fleming's descent from Prince Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, click on Sinclair.
    For Beatrice Fleming's descent from the Earls of Wigtown, click on Fleming, Earl of Wigtown.
Sir James Livingston and Beatrice Fleming had the following children:


Sir James Livingston married second to Agnes Houston and had a child:

Generation Nine
Sir William Livingston, 4th Lord Livingston of Callendar who in February 1509/10 resigned the whole of his lands in the Barony of Callendar in favour of his son and heir Alexander, 5th Lord Livingston of Callendar; leaving his liferent interest and a reasonable terse for his wife. His married life, owing to his dissipated habits, was not a happy one.  In 1516, Lady Livingston applied to the Ecclesiastical Court of St. Andrews for a decree of divorce on account of her husband having committed adultery with one Mariota Taylor and having had issue by her.  On September 29, 1516, the court granted Lady Livingston a separation "a mensa thoro et mutua cohabitatione ac servitute" from her husband while he was ordered to support her in accordance with her rank and means.
Died:  before April 25, 1518
Married before April 5, 1501 to Agnes Hepburn, daughter of Alexander Hepburn, the Younger, of Whitsome, who was son of Sir Patrick Hepburn, Lord Hailes. Separation on September 29, 1516.
Sir William Livingston and Agnes Hepburn had the following children:


Generation Ten
Master James Livingston who, as he is styled "Master", must have taken a degree in Arts at one of the Universities, probably the University of Glasgow.  Unfortunately, there is a gap in the records of this university for the period between 1509 and 1536 which would have covered his student days.
    James Livingston fought at the Battle of Pinkie (September 10, 1547) under the command of his relative, James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, and was there killed, as was also the Master of Livingston, his nephew.
    This James Livingston must not be confused with other contemporary Master James Livingston, of which there are at least three:

Died:  September 10, 1547, slain at the Battle of Pinkie, near Edinburgh.
Married circa 1544, but the name of his wife has been lost.
Master James Livingston had the following child:


Generation Eleven
{Reverend} Alexander Livingston, M.A. who was the first Protestant Rector of Monyabroch.  He was known as Master Alexander Livingston, a reference to his degree of  Master of Arts.
Died: circa 1598
Married:  circa 1570 to Barbara Livingston, daughter of  Alexander Livingston of Over & Nether Inches, and grand daughter of William Livingston, 4th Viscount of Kilsyth and Janet Bruce of Airth. Barbara Livingston was a great X5 grand daughter of King Robert (II). For Barbara's descent, please click on Livingston of Kilsyth, Bruce of Airth, and Descendants of Elizabeth Stuart. Barbara and Alexander were 5th cousins, their common ancestor being Sir John Livingston of Callendar.

{Reverend} Alexander Livingston and Barbara Livingston had the following children:

Generation Twelve
{Reverend} William Livingston, M.A.

    "When only twenty years old William Livingston was presented by his kinsman, Alexander, 7th Lord Livingston, afterwards first Earl of Linlithgow, to the family living of Callendar in Perthshire, but, finding that his ignorance of the Gaelic language stood in the way of his properly discharging the duties of this Highland parish, he was eventually transferred, by the same patron, to the rectory of Monyabroch in succession to his father." (Sir Hector Livingston Duff, The Sewells of the New World, William Pollard and Co., 1924 pg. 114 - 115)

    "He graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1595. He was ordained July 13, 1596, and had temporary charge of his father's parish of Monyabroch after the deposition, and he was subsequently given the ministry permanently. Six years later he was also deposed, having opposed the restoration of Episcopacy and not submitting to canons and ceremonies, yet King James himself presented him with the living of Lanark soon afterward, but he was again deposed for denouncing the legality of the General Assembly that passed the Five Articles of Perth, and he was thrown in prison. After his release, however, he boldly continued his antagonism. He was a leader in the struggle between the bishops and the Presbyterian clergy." (source to be posted later)

Born:  Kilsyth Castle, circa 1576
Died:  before October 1641, Lanark
Married:   January 6, 1601 at Falkirk to Agnes Livingston, daughter of Alexander Livingston of Falkirk, and Marlan (or Marion) Bryson of Falkirk.  Agnes and William were 5th cousins once removed, their common ancestor being Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar.
For Agnes' descent, please click on Livingston of Falkirk.

{Reverend} William Livingston and Agnes Livingston had the following children:


{Reverend} William Livingston married second to Nicolas Somervell and had the following children:


{Reverend} William Livingston married third to Marion Weir  (died January 7, 1632)


Generation Thirteen 

{Reverend} John Livingston,  M.A. who at the very outset of his career became involved

in a bitter dispute with the Bishop of Glasgow, and from then onward was constantly being censured for insubordination, and was more than once suspended from his holy office. Yet, in spite of all this, "Worthy, famous Mr. John Livingston," as he is affectionately called by contemporary chroniclers, carried more weight with the Scottish people than any churchman of his time.
Born:  Monyabroch,  June 21, 1603
Died:  Rotterdam, Holland, August 1672
Married:  June 13, 1635 at Edinburgh to Janet Fleming who was born in 1613, died Rotterdam, Feb. 1690/1 and was a daughter of Bartholomew Fleming by Marian Hamilton.
    Click for Janet Fleming's descent from the Flemings of Edinburgh.

Click for more on {Reverend} John Livingston

Rev. John Livingston
Janet Fleming
{Reverend} John Livingston
(1603 - 1672)
Janet Fleming
(1613 - 1693-4)
from original portraits in possession of the Earl of Wemyss, Gosford House, Scotland
(courtesy of Sewell V. Sample)

{Reverend} John Livingston and Janet Fleming had fifteen children, eight of whom died before reaching the ten years of age, many of them as infants:


Generation Fourteen
James Livingston who was apprenticed on September 24, 1662 to Edward Stevenson, a merchant in Edinburgh.  He subsequently became a merchant in that city himself, where he died in 1700; and was interred in the Greyfriars' Burial Ground on June 4, 1700.  He married twice, but the name of his first wife, the mother of Robert who joined his uncle in America, is unknown.  James married second to Christian Fish on August 15, 1683.

 (Mr. E. B. Livingston, The Livingstons of Callendar, page 448)
Born:  Stranraer, Scotland, September 22, 1646
Died:  1700
James Livingston and his first wife whose name is unknown had the following son: It is quite probably that James Livingston has at least one other son whose direct descendant, possibly a grandson, was John Livingston, the founder of the Jamestown Livingstons who settled in New York in 1764.  Please click on The Jamestown Livingstons for details.


Robert LivingstonGeneration Fifteen
Robert Livingston, our ancestor who came to America in 1696, is known as “Robert the Nephew” to distinguish him from his Uncle “Robert the Grantee” referred to previously, who landed at Charlestown, Massachusetts in December 1673 and moved on to New York in 1674 and then to Albany.
Born:  Rotterdam, Holland, 1663
Died:  New York, April 21, 1725
Married:  1697 to Margaretta Schuyler, who was a daughter of Colonel Peter Schuyler and Engeltie Van Shaik.  Click for additional background on Margaretta Schuyler
Robert Livingston and Margaretta Schuyler had the following children:


Generation Sixteen
James Livingston with whom our descent from the male line of Livingstons ceases, passing next, for the first time in nearly 700 years, through an ancestress in the person of Janet Livingston.
Born:  Albany New York before December 21, 1701
Died:  New York,  September 7, 1763
Married:  May 18, 1723 to Maria Kierstede (born: April 2, 1704, died: November 1, 1762)
James Livingston and Maria Kierstede had the following children:

Janet Livingston
Generation Seventeen
Janet Livingston with whom our descent passes in the female line through Henrietta Smith.
Born:  New York,  November 1, 1730
Died:  Quebec City, November 1, 1819
Married:  New York, November 3, 1752 to William Smith, Chief Justice of the Province of New
York and Chief Justice of Canada  (born: June 18, 1728, died: December 6, 1793, son of {Judge} William Smith & Mary Hett)  Click for the descent of William Smith
Janet Livingston and William Smith had the following children: Harriet Smith
Generation Eighteen
Henrietta "Harriet" Smith
Born:  New York February 6, 1776
Died:  Quebec May 26, 1849
Married:  September 24, 1796 at Quebec City to {Hon.} Jonathan Sewell, Chief Justice of Lower Canada (born Boston 1766, died Quebec November 12, 1839 and was a son of Attorney General Jonathan Sewall and Esther Quincy)
Henrietta Smith and Jonathan Sewell had the following children:
{Rev} Henry Doyle Sewell
Links
For Livingston Family Genealogy and History see: Mary Van Deusen's Site
For life in Livingston, Scotland to-day, please visit these fine sites:
The John B. Waddell Family of Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland
and
Livingston Alive, especially their History and Photo Pages.
Especially captivating is John P. Stewart's at Memories of Leith site.
And there are links to Callendar House Site One and Callendar House Site Two.
Be sure to visit John P. Stewart's site featuring an abridged version of his book about:
{Rev} John Livingston, 1603 - 1672
Please visit the Sewell Genealogy Site Map for other pages in this series.

return to the top