How Many "Greats" Does It Take To Find My Ancestor?

In every graveyard I have walked through or drove past, I am always reminded that the graves of those people are our ancestors. They might not be my personal ancestors, but somebody on the Earth today descended from them. I have researched a personal ancestor of mine, Reverend John Henry Livingston. He is my paternal 9th Great-grandfather. Although I seem to have many relatives with intriguing history, I chose Reverend Livingston because we discuss many ties to religion in my Beyond The Grave course.

Reverend John Henry Livingston

One reason I got super excited to research this specific ancestor was that he and I were born on the same day! He was born on June 21, 1603 (398 years before me) in Kilsyth, Scotland. Also, my middle name is Livingston, named after this side of my family. 

He married Janet Flemming and they had 15 children. Only 8 of them survived past age 10.

Reverend Livingston was a minister during his lifetime. He preached for many different churches of the Presbyterian denomination. He was a very educated man. He studied at the University of Glasgow. He could read Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, and German. He was also familiar with Latin, Hebrew, and Chaldee. I find that very impressive! He was known to preach for only a half-hour, which was typically uncommon. Source

"He was the most popular and successful Scottish preacher of his age. His custom was to make out abort notes for his preaching and to enlarge upon them at the time of delivery. To have his heart in tune he found to be the best preparation and to know that the people were hungering for instruction was his greatest aid". Source

One of the churches Rev. John Livingston preached at was Ancrum Old Parish Church. It was later called "The Livingston Church" by many because he was the most notable minister the church had ever had. Source

Ancrum Old Parish Church

  

Churchyard of Ancrum Old Parish Church

He did not always have a steady path in ministering. He was exiled to Rotterdam in 1662 for non-conformity. 

Plaque dedicated to Rev. Livingston

He later died in Rotterdam on August 9, 1672. I could not find his grave. However, I did find something I believe is very valuable. His remarks on his death bed were:

 "I die in the faith that the truths of God, which He hath helped the Church of Scotland to own, shall be owned by Him as truths so long as sun and moon endure. I hate Independency, though there be good men among them, and some well-meaning people favor it: yet it will be found more to the prejudice of the work of God than many are aware, for they vanish into vain opinions. I have had my own faults, as other men, but He made me always abhor shows. I cannot say much of great services; yet if ever my heart was lifted up, it was in preaching Jesus Christ".

For this project, I did quite a bit of digging into Ancestory.com. Below is the family tree I created.

Livingston family crest