LFA Newsletter Volume 38, Issue 2 (October 2011)
From LFAwiki
1283 Logan Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
board@livingstonfamily.org
| Volume: 38 Issue: 2 | Date: October 2011 |
Announcing New Information on livingstonfamily.org
- Photo Gallery (registration required): Pictures from previous reunions and Scotland. If you have photos, documents or artifacts of historical significance to the LFA, please submit them electronically or bring them to the next reunion to be photographed. If you have a family album you would like to share please contact us at board@livingstonfamily.org.
- Sign up for our mailing list: Please register yourself and all family members who would like to receive information from the Livingston Family Association so we can keep our family informed and organized.
- 2012 Family Reunion Information: Information will be added and updated periodically. Check back often!
- Mystery Photos: These are photos shared by Lorraine Meisner which she just inherited this year. We invite you to see if you can identify any of them. They are numbered on the left of the photo, just email us with any information you can supply. If you have unidentified photos which you would like help identifying, please email them to board@livingstonfamily.org.
Message from the Chairman
- by Steven B Livingston
The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The most recent research places the number of killed people at around 100,000–110,000, and the number displaced at over 2.2 million, making it the most devastating conflict in Europe since the end of World War II. Recently two gentlemen came to my house to deliver the first bed we have ever bought since being married eighteen years ago. (We have always had hand me downs.)
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As one of the men entered our home I realized because of his heavy accent that he was from another country. I asked where he was from. He said from Bosnia where he had been a POW and Refuge. He was 20 years old in 1993 and his brother that was with him was 16. I asked him what being a POW was like. He hesitated, and said “he couldn’t talk about it but if I wanted to get an idea just to look at his face.” I studied his face and could tell his face and nose had been broken several times. As he delivered our bed, he spoke of having nothing and the difference it now made to live here in America. I was overcome with a sense of gratitude. And a sense of humility at my lack of understanding and true empathy because I will probably never truly understand what this man had gone through. To be a POW and be interrogated and suffer physical torture, to have nothing and not know from day to day how you were going to survive. He said, “Some people would work their whole lives, work their guts out and still have nothing.”
Here he was, with his brother, trying to now build a better life since coming to the United States in 1998. I could see God’s hand in this man’s life. I could see clearly that through it all, God is in control. Why do I share this? I don’t have all the answers as to why Granny brought the kids to America. I have a feeling it was the sweet tender feeling that resided in her heart to find a better life for her family. I can’t imagine the kind of life that James and Charles and William must have lead as little children. But working in the mines, in three feet crawl spaces mining coal for days on end could not have been fun. I believe God put his hand on our family as part of the gathering of Israel. And today as we look at all we have, we should be grateful for the blessings we have, because of the faith of our fathers and the hand of the Lord in bringing our family to Utah. We have so much. When others have so little and suffered so horribly.
I have been on the trail across Nebraska and Wyoming and seen the sacrifice by so many, so I can have the blessing I have. Here were two Bosnian men that had suffered so much, still close as brothers, bound together because of what they have experienced. I had to ask myself, am I that close to my own family? Am I bound to them as these two brothers were bound to each other? Sadly, I knew I am close, but not as close as I should be. May we be grateful for the blessings we have and may we find ways to reach out to each other to build stronger family connections. Let us perpetuate the wonderful legacy that we have inherited.
Superb 2011 Summer Livingston Reunion!!!
- by Karolyn Hall
This year's reunion started out Friday with a tour of the Church Family History Library in Salt Lake City. This is where the original photo of “Granny” will be donated, preserved and available for viewing upon request. We were privileged to be in the temple together to do temple ordinances for some of Granny’s descendants. We met in Lehi for breakfast on Saturday morning which was very well organized and delicious – a great big shout of gratitude for Doug Livingston and his whole family! We had a wonderful turnout! The William line won the trophy again – The James line made it a pretty close call. Congratulations to the William line!!! Mary Ann Swalberg was a perfect Granny (she even had a Scottish accent) and everyone enjoyed hearing the story of her life. The Hansen’s from the Hansen House Bed and Breakfast in Sandy, UT told interesting stories about that connection with the Livingston family and William Kuhre, Granny’s adopted grandson. Dennis Davis introduced us to Find-a-Grave. He is posting photos and memorials of Livingstons on this site and encouraged all of us to become acquainted with it and use it to post all of our deceased loved ones. Lorraine Misener told of her incredible find of an original picture of Granny and many pictures of other Livingstons, letters and documents. The box had been untouched for decades. Do you have a hidden treasure somewhere waiting to be found and shared? Doug Livingston gave a presentation about the history of past research and what is planned for the future. We honored W. Dick Livingston as a Living Legacy of Loyalty. Elections were held, new board members are Lorraine Misener and Karolyn Hall. We are grateful for all the service that has been given by David Cook, Ross Livingston and Dennis Davis, whose terms are up. Dennis has agreed to serve another 3 years as Archive Director. We wish to thank Ross Livingston and David Cook who are continuing to help us with the website and with legal matters. A special thanks to Steven and Mendy Livingston for entertaining the ‘younger’ generation with games and rocket building while the adults enjoyed the business meeting. What a great opportunity for all the younger generation to get together to have fun and start building the next generation of family ties.
A special thanks to all who attended! It was wonderful to renew and make new family connections. Next year will be here before we know it, so plan to come and save the date.
Next Year's Reunion - June 16-17 at Heber Valley Camp
- by Dana Rogers
We are excited to announce that the 2012 reunion will be held at the LDS church owned facility in Heber, Utah. There are nine large cabins that sleep 16 (smaller groups can share a cabin). The facility is wonderful, to see photos go to http://www.hebervalleycamp.org/photos.html. The cost will be $15.00 for those age 18 and older, $10.00 for children 4-17 and free for those under four, if they can share a bed or sleep in a porta-bed. The price includes lodging ($7.00) and 3 meals. Some of the activities available are classes on family history and research, canoeing, paddle boats, fishing, swimming, sand volleyball, hiking and challenge courses. There is a nominal fee for some of the activities which will be explained in the March newsletter. There are about 160 bunks available (bring your own bedding, there are no mattresses). Due to limited space, we are taking reservations now on a first come basis. We are requesting that you mail $7.00 for each bed you will need (as a deposit) to hold your reservation. The balance can be paid when you check in. You can reserve a whole cabin if you have enough extended family to fill it. If you will only attend on Saturday, the cost will be $5.00 a person. Please make your reservations with Enid at enid1283@comcast.net or write her at 1283 Logan Avenue, SLC, UT 84105. Please make checks payable to LFA.
The Livingston Legacy Lives On: Dick Livingston and Loyalty
- by JoLynn Johnson
The Livingston Family Association honored Dick Livingston son of Wendell A. and Viola Neilson from the William line at the June 2011 Reunion in Lehi, Utah. Dick has been an example of loyalty to his family, community and to the LFA association. He leaves a great legacy because of the way he lives and the way he makes a difference. The following was shared about Dick.
Since the 13th century, Loyalty has been a strong trait in those of Scottish decent. The Livingston’s have been no different. They have fought battles defending their kings and countrymen and kinsmen. I believe loyalty to be in the blood of the Livingston’s. Our ancestors, who heard and believed the restored gospel, joined the LDS Faith and were loyal and true to their commitments. One latter day Livingston who also is loyal and true is Dick Livingston. He is loyal to church by continual service. His given name indicates loyalty. He was named Dick after his ancestors with the surname of Dick. As a youth he showed loyalty to his family business first by cooking mayonnaise and salad dressings and next by selling the products made in the factory owned by his family. He sold more and more of these products, and eventually purchased his own truck and started his own business, expanding his product line. Dick showed loyalty to customers with extra deliveries if they ran out of something. Donna won’t let him forget about the deliveries made more than once on the way to the hospital to deliver their children. Dick was also loyal to his customers when he chose to eat out. He would only eat at the establishments that he sold to. And to this day will choose them over another. Today Dick is continuing to show loyalty to his wife. Donna is fortunate to have a loyal husband by her side when she needs extra care. The Livingston motto is “If I Can.” Dick exemplifies this attitude. If there’s any way he can get the job done, he will.
A Tribute to Christina Campbell Livingston “Granny”
- by Ronald B. Livingston
Few people, I feel, realize the great debt of gratitude we all owe Christina Campbell Livingston (Granny) for there are not many who would have made the sacrifices she did. After hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ and recognizing it to be true, she accepted it and was baptized in May of 1848. She was then about 59 years old.
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After raising 12 of her own children, at the age of 60 she began raising 6 more of her orphaned grandchildren, the youngest being 9 months old (William). Though having very little, they saved for four years to send the oldest grandson, James, to Utah on 15 March 1853. Then they saved for twenty-one months more before the rest of the family could go. After deciding to leave her home, she left most of her belongings of a lifetime acquirement, her friends, sons and daughters (how many and which ones we don't know) and other relatives, knowing she would probably never see them again. Now, at age 65, with six remaining grandchildren, the youngest 6 years old, and two of her own children (James, 26, and Helen, 23), they prepared to leave to a land they had never seen - a place that would have very little developed when they got here, actually much less than they were leaving behind.
They began in the cold months of winter, 16 December 1854, to go 9,000 miles in a time of primitive transportation that would take 10 long months; first made their way over to Glasgow (10-15 miles), boarded a ship, went 250 miles to Liverpool, England, boarded another sailing ship, spent 8 weeks on the water with little or no heat, down around the tip of Florida to New Orleans, boarded a steam ship and then up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri, then over the Missouri River to Atchinson, Kansas, then prepared for another journey across the plains and mountains 1,450 miles to Salt Lake City. They arrived with virtually nothing but themselves and knowing others were depending on them and in essence to build again, started a new life and in hard times and did it for twenty-two more years. Had Christina's decision been any other, all our lives would have been different, if at all. What a beautiful, stalwart and noble individual.
We Are The Chosen
- by Della M. Cumming, 1943; edited by Melody Hull
In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors, to put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing family history is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before.
We are the storytellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us, "Tell our story!" So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before...? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us." How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am and why I do the things I do. It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying, "I can't let this happen." The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it.
It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish, how they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to a deep pride that the fathers fought and some died to make and keep us a nation. It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth. It goes to deep and immense understanding that they all were doing it for us, that we might be born who we are, that we might remember them, and so we do.
Without any of them, we could not exist, and so we love each one as far back as we can reach. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, we are they and they are the sum of who we are. That is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the memory--or greet those whom we have never known before. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the long line of family storytellers.
Recent Ties to Scotland
- by Karolyn Hall
Dennis Davis and his family and some cousins visited the lands of Fordell, Dalgety, Fife, Scotland this summer. Dennis has shared these photos with us. The lands of Fordell were given to the Henderson family by King James IV in 1511. The Henderson’s owned the mine where the Livingston family worked). They also met Bill and Jean Livingstone and their family who are descendents of Robert Livingston (b:1787) brother to James (b:1783) who married Christina Livingston (b:1789) known as "Granny". Bill has written a great article about the Livingstones in Scotland which will increase your knowledge, love and appreciation for our forefathers. Go to Livingstones_of_Fordell to read more.
These are the ruins of St. Bridget's Church in Dalgety, Fife, Scotland, where James and Granny registered the births for 7 of their 12 children. You can read about the parish records for each child at http://livingstonfamily.org/wiki/James_and_Christina_Livingston_-_Where_did_they_live%3F. It is not clear if all the children were born in Lanarkshire where James and Christina moved sometime after their marriage or if some may have been born in Fordell. Perhaps James and Christina may have moved back to Fordell for a period of time, but there is no proof yet. The fact is that several of the children's records were recorded in the town where James and Christina were born and raised. James died in 1839, leaving Christina with 10 children (at least two children had died earlier in their youth). Christina joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Scotland and immigrated to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1854 with her two youngest children and 5 of her grandchildren (of Archibald b:1808) to be with the Saints and James, the oldest brother of the grandchildren she was bringing with her. Bill's ancestor, remained in Scotland.
Granny and James walked this street as they lived near the old school house which is on the right. The mines are in the background and the home on Red Row where James was born, used to be across the street from the schoolhouse.
This is the coal mine owned by the Henderson family where the Livingston’s worked. It was only a few feet underground. The photo of the mine with the top layer of ground removed, exposes the old underground supports of yesteryear. Back in the day, children and women worked in the underground mines from before dawn to dusk.
The following quote was obtained for evidence during an inquiry in 1840 about children working in the mines. Alexander Reid, aged 12. "I have worked two years at Sherriff-hall and go below at two or three in the morning and hew coal till six at night. The pit I work in is very wet. We often work in slush over our shoe tops. When first below I used to fall asleep. It is most terrible work. I am wrought in a 30 inch seam and am obliged to twist myself up to work on my side. This is my everyday work except Friday when I go down at 12 at night and come up at 12 noon." It was not until 1842 that Parliament passed a bill that women, girls and boys under 10 were not to be employed underground. Miners were legally unable to leave the mine. If they did, they would be charged with theft - stealing their own body from the owner. The coal mines were extremely profitable for the landowner and Scotland, but essentially slave labor for those who worked in them. This law was in effect until 1799.
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.”
Below are pictures of our Scottish cousins. Bill and Jean Livingstone.
Bill’s daughter Laura and her husband Kevin and 3 daughters own and live in Pitreavie Castle. Bill's son, Ian Livingstone and Jane and two of his three daughters. The Campbell Livingstone family is wearing the Livingstone tartan. Bill and his sister Mary.
You will find more photos of the Scotland trip in the Scotland 2011 Album in the Photo Gallery. Please note that registration is required to view large copies of the pictures.
Are Your Records Accurate?
- by Douglas Ron Livingston
Jaynann Lillywhite, a member of our Research Committee, has done a wonderful job of identifying a couple of inconsistencies in our genealogical data. Corrections should be made to your genealogical records if the information in your records for the following two individuals is different than what is shown here.
William Livingston, son of our oldest known direct ancestors Archibald Livingston and Christian Muir and older brother of James Livingston [born: 1734], was born on March 20th, 1731 and christened March 28th, 1731 (not 1732).
Christian Muir, daughter of Robert and Catherine Muir and wife of James Livingston [born: 1734], was born on November 3rd, 1736 and christened on November 7th, 1736 (not 1737).
Since the year is not recorded on each page of the old parish registers, and because the individual images on the microfilm record are not presented in sequential order for that particular roll, many of our family records show a different year for their birth and christening. The correct year for each individual has been verified with ScotlandsPeople (the organization that archives the original records and distributes copies) and their index is now correct.
The old DOS-based index available in the LDS Church’s Family History Centers can no longer be updated. Although seldom used, that data is not correct and may lead to some confusion in the future.
Jaynann is working to correct the data on FamilySearch.com. Please update your records accordingly.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the report titled Five Generations of Livingstons in Dalgetty Parish that was distributed at the 2011 Livingston Family Reunion, please contact Doug Livingston at doug.genealogy@gmail.com
Board of Directors
| Name | Assignment | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen B. Livingston | Chairman | 2012 |
| Mary Ann Swalberg | Secretary | 2012 |
| Douglas Ray Livingston | Reunion Director | 2012 |
| Douglas Ron Livingston | Research Director | 2013 |
| Enid Cox | Treasurer | 2013 |
| Dana Rogers | Membership Director | 2013 |
| Dennis Davis | Archive Director | 2014 |
| Lorraine Misener | Research | 2014 |
| Karolyn Hall | Membership | 2014 |
© 2011 Livingston Family Association
Comments to board@livingstonfamily.org