Mary Livingstone

Mary Livingstone (née Moffat; 12 April 1821 – 27 April 1862) was the wife of the Scottish Congregationalist missionary David Livingstone. She was a linguist, an experienced traveller, and managed the household affairs including missionary stations and infant school. Mary was fluent in Tswana, the language of the BaTswana people. Her linguistic abilities and her lived experience of working in remote outposts in Southern Africa made it possible for the couple to survive. Biography Mary Moffat was the first of ten children born to Robert Moffat, a Scottish missionary, and his wife Mary (née Smith, 1795–1870). Mary was born in Griquatown, about 93 miles west of Kimberley. She spent her early life at the mission at Kuruman. From 1839 to 1843 she lived in Britain with her parents. Her father, Robert Moffat, was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary who worked among the Bechuana people at Kuruman. When the family returned to South Africa and were on the long ox-cart trek to Kuruman, Livingstone rode out to meet them in January 1844 when they reached the Vaal River. While he mostly talked to her father as they sat in the cart during the seventeen or eighteen days journey to the mission, this was the first time he and Mary became acquainted.