Clermont State Historic Site

            Robert Livingston, the First Lord of Livingston Manor, arrived in America virtually penniless, the son of a banished minister. His father, John Livingstone, had recently died and Robert could have returned home to Scotland but chose to make his own way in the New World.

            John Livingstone was born on June 21, 1603. His father was William Livingstone, his grandfather was Alexander Livingstone. Bothe had been ministers His great-grandfather had been among the Scottish soldiers that fell at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. This battle was part of the campaign of “Forced Wooing” that England tried to impress on Scotland during the reign of Henry VIII. The battle was a resounding loss for the Scottish.

            John graduated a Master of Arts from the University of Glasgow in 1621 at 18. He studied at the University of St. Andrews and became a licensed minister in 1625. John was a very good student and over the course of his life learned Latin, Hebrew, Chaldee (a dead language from the small country of Chaldea that existed from the 9^th – 6^th centuries BCE before being absorbed by Babylonia), Aramaic, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish and German.

            John turned down the first several minister jobs he was offered because he disagreed with the Five Articles of Perth that James VI of Scotland had imposed upon the church. These articles included, kneeling during communion, private baptism, private communion for the sick, confirmation by a bishop, and observance of holy days. For the Presbyterian John these articles smacked of Catholicism.

            In 1630 he accepted a job in Ireland. In 1631 he was staying with a man named John Stewart, when the house suddenly caught fire. John escaped with only his breeches, his watch, and his bible. Later that year his ministry was suspended for non-conformity although he was soon reinstated. Robert Echlin, Bishop of Down and Connor had him excommunicated on the same charge, but John was brought back into the church at some point soon thereafter as he continued to be a minister for most of his life.

            In 1635 John married Janet Fleming, the daughter of an Edinburg merchant. They soon had their first of many children, John. In 1636, when John was only 14 weeks old John and Janet joined about 140 other people aboard the Eagle Wing, which had been built near Belfast for a trip to America. John was proud that Janet could feed their baby and some others on the voyage. After more than a month at sea, the ship had been unable to make much progress due to contrary winds and storms. Fearful of running out of supplies they returned to Ireland.

            In 1638 John signed the National Covenant, a document drawn up by the Scottish to oppose the reforms that Charles I was imposing on the Scottish Church. John was chosen to carry the document to London. This incensed the king and led to the Bishop’s Wars in 1639 and 1640 between Scotland and England. In 1640 John was sent to preach to the Earl of Cassills’ regiment and was present for the Battle of Newburn and the capture of Newcastle.

            The losses that the English suffered at the hands of the Scottish forced Charles to call a parliament, the first since 1629 since he believed in divine rule. Parliament was more interested in the powers that Charles had taken for himself. By 1642 tensions between the crown and parliament had degraded to the point that the English Civil War broke out.

            The English Civil War is sometimes called the War of the Three Kingdoms because when England went to war with itself, the Scottish had to decide who to side with and see the chaos about to erupt the Irish Catholics decided to rebel and declare themselves a confederacy. They were opposed by protestant royalists from Ireland, English royalists and an army of Scottish Covenanters who were there to fight against the Catholics. In 1642 John was sent for three months to preach to the Scottish regiments in Ireland. He claimed to have preached every day and saw combat again at Newry.

            In 1648 he was called to the parish of Ancram. His time there would not be peaceful as he had been a member of the Scottish General Assembly for many years by that point and would continue to be for many more years. The Assembly frequently sent him on missions.

            In 1649 the English rebels took the fatal step of decapitating the captured Charles I. This meant that Charles II would be the next king of England and Scotland. John was sent from his parish to the town of Breda in The Netherlands to negotiate with Charles conditions for him to become king of Scotland. Essentially the Scottish assembly wanted a guarantee that Charles would not try to enforce Episcopalian beliefs on the church of Scotland. Charles agreed and signed the Treaty of Breda with his Scottish subjects. When he was fully restored to power in 1660, he almost immediately reneged on the treaty.

             During the negotiations, John had the opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time alone with the King and get to know him. He grew to not trust Charles at all. Back in Scotland John sided with the party that opposed the coronation of Charles II.

            In a short autobiography that he wrote John did mention one strange thing that happened to Janet in Scotland while he was in The Netherlands. She was out riding a horse one day when she fell into a mill pond. She was sucked down the mill sluice and jammed in the mill wheel. A man happening by saw it happen and ran into the mill. They immediately shut down the mill and pushed the wheel back about a quarter of a turn so that Janet could be dragged free. She escaped with only bruises and a fever that broke after a few days. Not only did she survive being trapped in a mill wheel she went on to live until 1693.

            After Breda, John returned to Scotland. In 1654 he was called to London to preach in front of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the British Isles (read military dictator) from 1653 to 1658. He impressed Cromwell so much that Cromwell offered him a favor. John asked that several fines that had been levied against Scotland be dropped but Cromwell’s council rejected that. Instead, John was offered the chance to name ministers for several vacant parishes.

            Once again John returned to Ancram. He remained there during the restoration of Charles II as king, which followed the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658 and the subsequent loss of faith in his son, who had succeeded him as Lord Protector.

            As mentioned above Charles II immediately reneged on the Treaty of Breda and began to force changes on the Scottish church. John was notable in his resistance to them. Charles had a lot of enemies to deal with when he came to power, the men who signed the warrant of execution for his father had to be executed or imprisoned. Vehement enemies of the crown left over from the war had to be executed or imprisoned.

            It took until 1662 for Charles to get to John. In November he was called before the privy council and questioned about his activities and beliefs. Ultimately, he was asked to sign an oath of allegiance. He refused. He was banished from the King’s dominion. In April of 1663 he took a ship to Rotterdam.

            John described his life as Rotterdam as much more relaxed in the Scotland, England, and Ireland. He had time to study the scriptures and continue his education in languages. He wrote. He was only accompanied to Rotterdam by Janet, his youngest son, Robert, and his youngest daughter. He and Janet had had at least twelve children although few lived to adulthood. John died on August 9, 1772, in Rotterdam, contented with his life but unforgiven by his King.