James and Christina Livingston - Where did they live?
From LFAwiki
| Synopsis | this is another awesome research paper written by Doug, but needing a better synopsis. :-) |
| Author | Douglas Ron Livingston |
| Contributors | |
| People |
LIVINGSTON, Christina Campbell, LIVINGSTON, James, LIVINGSTON, Agnes, LIVINGSTON, Grace, LIVINGSTON, Helen (1815), LIVINGSTON, Catherine, LIVINGSTON, Janet, LIVINGSTON, Elizabeth (1824), LIVINGSTON, Robert, LIVINGSTON, James (1828), LIVINGSTON, Helen |
We don't know for sure when James and Christina moved from Fordell to Lanarkshire, and they may have even moved back and forth at least once, but my interpretation of the parish register entries suggests that an initial move occurred early in their marriage.
The birth/baptism entries in the parish registers are for the most part chronological, but not strictly so. Those containing a reference to baptism seem to be quite orderly. Those containing only birth information tend to be more haphazard. For example, James' (b:1783) birth/baptism record was entered in the normal fashion, but Christina's (b:1789) birth record was added between two existing records sometime after the fact.
The birth/baptism record for James appears on page 579. It reads:
- “March 23d was born James Livingston lawful son to Archibald Livingston and Grissel Muir in the Reidraw and bap-
- tized the 30th before these witnesses”
The birth record for Christina appears tucked between two earlier entries on page 605. It reads:
- “Christian lawful daughter of Robt Livistone & Ann Campbell was born 14 Feby. 1789"
Note: James' record indicated he was born "in the Reidraw" which I take to be a possible reference to "Red Row". Christian's is silent with respect to location. If “Reidraw” is the same as “Red Row”, I think we can safely say that James lived near the schoolhouse, but although she must have been nearby, I see nothing to indicate Christina did.
In his book “Behind the Diamond Panes”, Bob Holman records
- “The Laird of Fordell (John Henderson) realized that the freedom of the miners was coming soon and, no doubt, being in sympathy with the movement for legislation that was going on to liberate them, he granted them their freedom exactly a year before the time when it became law, and set a splendid example and assisted in the passing of the act.”
I place that event to have occurred in 1798. Thus ended for our ancestors the system of arles that had existed for coal miners in Scotland which bound them to the Hendersons and Fordell. They were the first generation of coal miners since the early 1600s who possessed the freedom to relocate. Their fathers (Archibald, b:1760 & Robert, b:1762) may have taken advantage of that newfound freedom to pursue work in Lanarkshire while their children were yet still fairly young.
I have never found a reference to a marriage between James and Christina in any of the parish registers. The only record I know of was made by their grandson James (b:1833) in his Millennial Star books. That entry indicates they were married October 9th, 1807. Since they were first cousins, it is entirely possible that they had an irregular marriage rather than a regular marriage established through the church. We just don’t know.
James’ and Christina’s oldest child, Archibald, was born early in their marriage on July 25th, 1808. Based on the scant bit of information contained in the entry for his birth (and for that of his next younger sister, Agnes) indicating they were “of Shotts”, it is reasonable to assume that they moved there shortly after marrying if they didn’t live there already.
The entry for Archilbald’s birth is found on page 665 of the Dalgetty Parish Register. It reads:
- "Archibald lawful son to James Livistone and Christian Livistone parish of Shotts was born 25th of July 1807 1808"
While both parents were born and presumably raised in Fordell, the entries specifically identify them as being from the "parish of Shotts". This is the basis for my conclusion that they had moved there by the time this entry was made. But, when exactly was it made?
It is interesting to note that the year for Archibald’s birth was originally written as "1807", written over as "1808", scratched through, and a recorded second time for clarity as "1808". This is important for two reasons. First, Archibald had a cousin, also named Archibald (Christina's little brother), who was born in Fordell in 1807 and is found in a separate record. We see family records still confusing the two till this day. Second, when you look at the actual parish register page and not just the indexed data, you see that the entry was made several years after the fact
Such is the case for Archibald's next younger sister, Agnes (b:1811). The entry for her birth (immediately following Archibald’s on page 665 and written by the same hand) reads:
- "Agnes lawful daughter to James Livistone and Christian Livistone parish of Shotts was born 18th January 1811"
It isn’t known how many years after Archibald’s birth the two births were recorded, but since Agnes was born in 1811, it had to have been sometime after that. It is therefore probably that James and Christina moved to Lanarkshire before 1808, most certainly before 1811. In my estimation, these two entries were made to the registers after the young family had returned to Fordell to live for a few years or (less likely) while merely visiting. A scenario where they move back and forth might also explain why we find record of the family first in Shotts and then later in Airdire.
If you look up the other children in the family, a pattern of sorts begins to emerge.
The birth record for Grace (Grizel) is found on page 672. It reads:
- "Grizel lawful daughter to James Livingstone and Christian Livingstone was born 20th Febr 1813"
It fits in chronologically with the other entries on the page, but it is evident that the clerk added the information in the space between two existing entries sometime later.
The fourth child, Helen, was particularly tricky to track. The index for her entry found in the LDS Family History Centers and for ScotlandsPeople was incorrect and pointed to another cousin named Helen born in 1813. The Church index is not being updated, but the ScotlandsPeople has been corrected. Once you get through that and actually find her birth record, you will see that on page 677 it reads:
- "Helen lawful daughter to James Livingstone and Christian Livingstone was born March 27th 1815"
Here record was added in the top margin of the page. Once again, it seems to have happened after the fact rather than at the time. According to the information James (b:1833) recorded in his Millennial Star, the older Helen died in 1829, but he does not indicate where.
On page 687, the birth entry for Catherine appears. It reads:
- "Catharine lawful daughter of James Livingstone and Christian Livingstone in the Collery was born Feby 5th 1817”
Again, a couple of things stand out. First, it appears that James and Christian have moved back to Fordell, temporarily, as it references “the Collery”. I have to assume the clerk was referring to the coal works locally and not to one several counties away. Second, while her record is not tucked in between two others like we have seen previously, the others are born mostly in 1819, two years later!
No record of birth is found in the registers for the next two children, Christina (b:1820) or Agnes McLuckie (b:1821).
The birth record for the next child, Janet, reads:
- “Janet lawful daughter of James Livingstone and Christian Livingston in the colliery was born 5th sept 1822"
Parsimony dictates that we assume they are still in Fordell at this point in time. But, let’s also keep in mind that this entry is listed alongside those occurring in 1824. And that takes us to the birth entry for Elizabeth, who was born in 1824, it reads:
- “Betty lawful daughter to James Livingstone and Christian Livingstone in the colliery was born 5th July1824"
Once again, two children are listed consecutively in the record.
A birth/baptism record for their next child, Robert (b:1826), is not found. However, a record of his death in 1838 is found in Airdrie. Furthermore, Archibald (b:1808) died there in 1839. We know the family didn’t stay in Fordell, so we can assume they were there sometime before 1838.
Neither is a birth/baptism record found for their youngest child, Helen (b:1831). She was their second daughter named Helen. This second Helen is one of those who immigrated to Utah with her Mother, Christina.
Christina immigrated with her son James (b:1828) and 5 of older brother Archibald’s (b:1808) 7 children; Charles (b:1835), Helen (yes, a 3rd Helen b: 1837), Isabelle (b:1843), Archibald (b:1845), and William (b:1848). The other 2 children, Jane (b:1841) died in Lanarkshire in 1847 and James (b:1833) had left for Utah a couple of years before Christina and the others were able to follow.
It is instructive to note that none of the entries make any mention of baptism and that the timing of the entry for each one is in question. For that reason, and due to the consistently unusual positioning of each entry, I have formed the opinion that James and Christina lived in Lanarkshire most of their married life, but considered Fordell “home”. Furthermore, when given an opportunity to do so, they subsequently made an effort to ensure that the births of most of their surviving children were recorded there (in Dalgetty parish).