RootsChat.Com

Hi Jacci and Diddy

I'm back from my visit to Fife and not sure where to post but I thought I'd put it here. I had a marvellous time and thanks to the information you gave me I found my 5xggf's grave in Falkland and also found another generation of Betts/Beats in the records in Dundee Family History Centre as well as the elusive death of my 3xggm who died in childbirth. I walked along West Port in Falkland where my ancestors lived and tried without success to find the butcher's shops in Dundee, the site of one is the ring road and the other a car park! I did however find Dudhope Castle where a brother of my 4xggf was Drill Sergeant.

I absolutely loved Falkland and will stay there if we are lucky enough to go again. We were staying in Dundee and I have to say that the town planners need shooting - that ring road makes the place feel like it is permanently under seige!

I didn't get to Kirkcaldy and didn't get half the stuff I wanted. The nonconformist records for Leslie will have to wait for the next visit but once I have sorted out all the information I have gathered I will be asking for your help again to track the ancestors I didn't get.

Finally, I found Monimail Parish Church where my 4xggf was married and his 12 children were christened and of all the places I visited that one gave me such a spooky feeling, as if they knew I was there! I got some cracking photos and the staff in the libraries were great so I also got lots of old maps and photos.

Once again, many thanks for your help.

Regards

Ruby

Tom, thank you for this information. Just to clarify, over the last week people have contributed information to this thread, some of which has been discounted and some of which appears to be true. All of it is sourced and all is concise and easy to follow. It has helped people like me to understand the circumstances of your Livingstone family and track them forward, in the hope that we may find some clues to the past.

Just to clarify, when I said James junior had died in Buckie, I did so because he had lived in Banff and Buckie is in Banff so there would appear to be no disagreement there.

Also, could you clarify if James and William were in the Navy? Are the records found which show a William Livingstone on a ship at the Cape of Good Hope and the other record showing a James Livingstone on a ship in Inverness, correct or not?

It would also help if you could confirm or not the James Livingstone in San Quentin. I assume that your reference to Utah means that you have investigated and discounted this James Livingstone? Is this what you are saying?

If you want us to carry on with the search for James Livingstone it would help if you contributed to the thread. When you have a brickwall like this one, every little lead has to be chased down and we will get things wrong, you can keep us focused.

Of course, if you would prefer us to leave well alone, just say so and we'll go back to our own brickwalls (perish the thought).

Ruby

Alexander Duffus was a magistrate in Aberdeen - Aberdeen looks to be the biggest town near to Buckie, where James junior died. Its probably wildly over-imaginative but if James had gone to California to look for gold and got into trouble he might have ended up in SQ and maybe he kept in touch with his family through Alexander Duffus.

Probably time for me to go to bed and rest my weary brain -  anyone else got any thoughts.

Ruby

That Inverness entry sounds like a possibility, maybe he lied about his age. So if the two eldest sons went into the Navy that gives James senior the opportunity to treat the world as his oyster. But . . . how likely is it he would keep in touch if it was his intention to walk away and have a fresh start? There must be a record of him somewhere.