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Since 1979 I have had very little success in finding my GGgrandfather's birthplace.  For the past 10+ years I've been working on gathering the Y-DNA information for I-M223.  We have made substantial progress these past few months with much finally starting to come together.  Fortunately we have had the late Bill Howard work with our Y-DNA to produce a JOHNSTON Phylogenetic Tree which together with our JOHNSTON Y-DNA Spreadsheet have led to new discoveries.

Our greatest discovery, to date, is the connecting of 12 of us Johnstons via our Y-DNA  tests.  We Cousins connect back in time in the early 1700s to a common ancestor.  From what I have seen it would appear that the families were very mobile in the late 1600s and early 1700s. 

The earliest known ancestor for each Cousin (taken from our Y-DNA spreadsheet which I will attach) include:

Richard Johnston, 1782-1868, Co. Fermanagh, IRELAND,

William Johnston, 1705-1775, Ayrshire, SCOTLAND,

Sam B. Johnson, 1835-1909, Knox Co., Ohio, U.S.A.,

Robert E. Johnston, 1820-1878, Co. Tyrone, IRELAND,

Johnathan Johnston, b. 1833, Connecticut, U.S.A.,

Francis Johnston, 1805-1851, ENGLAND,

Robert "Red Robin" Johnston, b. August 21, 1808, to John & Ann Johnston, Parish of

     Armagh, Co. Armagh, IRELAND; my GG-grandfather, Baptized in the Church of

     Ireland, Parish of Armagh, Co. Armagh, IRELAND, on January 1, 1809.

Archibald Johnston, 1815-1901, IRELAND,

William Johnson, b. 1797, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.,

William Johnston, b. 1790, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.,

John Johnson, b. 1702, Co. Tyrone, IRELAND,

Lancelot Johnston, d. 1814, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.,

William Johnston, b. 1790, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.,

Robert Johnston, b. 1797, IRELAND,

Note that the locations for each one of the above may not necessarily be their birthplace, but some are.  All of my direct line Johnston males had left IRELAND by 1832 for UPPER CANADA, i.e.:  Francis, Robert & Archibald.  They left behind 1 sister, married to a publican.  The last 4 to come over to Canada in 1832 were Archibald in the company of 3 older sisters, 2 of whom may have been named Catherine & Janet. 

I affectionately refer to "my" 3 Johnston ancestors listed here as the "Wee Three" as they were:  Robert @ 6'-5" tall, Archibald @ 6'-3" tall & Francis @ 6'-1" tall.  They must have made an impressive trio walking into a store ;-).

We also have some oral family history that Robert Johnston and Archibald Johnston were brothers and left from Kilrea, Co. Londonderry, IRELAND; however, I have had no luck finding them there.  I'll attach my research clips for Kilrea too.

I was also smiled upon from above with an old Johnston Family Album.  Here is the link to it:

http://www.pbase.com/cjmax/johnston_family_album&page=all

A cousin decided recently to research a line that had died out, and found the Michigan Death Certificate of Robert Johnston, Jr..  There was an entry for the “Place of Birth of Father”, our Red Robin’s place of birth!  Robert “Red Robin” Johnston was born in Armagh, IRELAND.  From here we found the details of our Red Robin’s birth, baptism and the names of his parents:  Robert "Red Robin" Johnston was born on August 21, 1808, in the Parish of Armagh, Co. Armagh, IRELAND, to Robert and Ann Johnston!  He was baptized on January 1, 1809, in the Church of Ireland, Parish of Armagh, Co. Armagh, IRELAND.

Enjoy :-)

If you have any information on any of the Armagh Y-DNA connected Johnston families, please, join in and help us with our research.  FYI:  I've been at this since 1979...running out of time ;-)  lol...

Good hunting,

Clifford "Cliff." Johnston

Pearland, Texas

Saturday 22nd Apr 2017, 02:34AM

Message Board Replies

  • Cliff:

    Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

    I've lost a few messages so I feel your pain.

    I checked on Roots Ireland and they had two Robert Johnston baptismal records in 1808. One was RC, the other Church of Ireland so if you know the religious denomination, you can rule out one record and use the other as a lead.

    Have you considered autosomal DNA testing?

    Roger McDonnell

    Name:Robert JohnstonDate of Birth:
    Date of Baptism:21-Aug-1808Address:ArmaghParish/District:ARMAGHGender:MaleCountyARMAGH
    Denomination:Roman Catholic
    Father:Francis JohnstonMother:Ann McQuadeOccupation:
    Sponsor 1 /
    Informant 1:Margaret O'Neill 

    Name:Robert JohnstonDate of Birth:21-Aug-1808
    Date of Baptism:1-Jan-0Address:No EntryParish/District:ARMAGH CIGender:UnknownCountyARMAGH
    Denomination:Church Of Ireland
    Father:Robert JohnstonMother:Ann JohnstonOccupation:

     

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Saturday 22nd Apr 2017, 08:39PM

  • Roger, thanks for the assist!  Our Johnstons were Presbyterians from Scotland - not sure of when they came to Ireland.

    Thank you for your help- much appreciated :-)

    Good hunting,

    Cliff.

    Sunday 23rd Apr 2017, 01:58PM

  • The vast majority of Scots settled in Ireland during the 1600s. Some as part of the Plantation of Ireland and other because of famine in Scotland in the 1690s. By the 1720s, they were starting to leave Ireland for North America and eslewhere. So based on that generla overview, your ancetsors probably arrived in the 1600s. The Muster Rolls for Co Armagh in 1630 list quite a few Johnstons in the county at that time.

    Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Sunday 23rd Apr 2017, 10:25PM

  • Roger, of all things we found the Roman Caatholic Robert Johnston in Canada - confirmed trhat his is not kin.

    Saturday 17th Jun 2017, 03:41PM

  • Note that I have made a major revision of my initial post to this group.  I also posted a pdf file of our Y-DNA Spreadsheet.  As the original file is in Excel, this pdf file suffers somewhat in the conversion, but the essentials are all there - you just have to work a wee b8i to connect everything.

    Saturday 17th Jun 2017, 03:45PM

  • Roger, of all things we found the Roman Catholic Robert Johnston in Canada - confirmed that his is not kin.

    Could you delete the prior similar post with the errors in it, please?  I don't seem to be able to figure out how to edit it. 

     

    Saturday 17th Jun 2017, 03:53PM

  • Cliff:

    Great work! I will try to delete the message but can you give me the subject line and date? I don't want to delete the wrong message. Thanks!

    Roger

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Sunday 18th Jun 2017, 12:57AM

  • Roger, here follows the error filled message - didn't have my glasses on  ;-)

     

    Roger, of all things we found the Roman Caatholic Robert Johnston in Canada - confirmed trhat his is not kin.

    Cliff J

    Saturday 17th June 2017, 03:41PM

    Monday 19th Jun 2017, 04:19PM

  • Hi Cliff:  

    My 3rd grandmother's name was Helen Johnston born 1785 in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, Scotland according to the 1851 Scotland census. I'm not sure of her husband's name however I know she lived in Ireland specifically in Belfast for a number of years & she was Presbyterian. I have researched my relatives fairly extensively through Ancestry & most lived in Glasgow, Belfast & parts of Armagh, Ireland. I have completed the DNA test through Ancestry and uploaded those results to Gedmatch.  

    I was curious about your Y DNA results as I couldn't remember seeing it in Gedmatch etc..  Looks like they don't use the Y DNA in Ancestry or Gedmatch which is unfortunate as I couldn't see if there was a link with your Johnstons.

    I live in Canada; my parents emmigrated as many did and settled here after WW11.  Any suggestions you may have to see if there's a link would be appreciated.

    Thanks!  Gayle

     

     

     

     

     

    Kingfamily

    Tuesday 20th Jun 2017, 01:12AM

  • Gayle,

    I haven't posted on GEDMatch.  I may in the near future.  Right now I haven't had much of a need to.

    If your Johnston Y-DNA allele values start with 15-23-15-10... or 14-23-15-10... then you are kin.  Ours is a very distinctive Y-DNA signature.  I've got our Johnston Y-DNA Spreatdheet posted above as an attachment. 

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Good hunting,

    Cliff.

    Wednesday 21st Jun 2017, 01:36AM

  • Gayle,

    What really hurts is that my Dad visited kin in Glasgow during WW II.  He said that he was surprised to see that they had photos of him and his siblings and mother on their fireplace mantle.  He didn't tell me of this until he was quite old - he couldn't recall their names or address...only that they lived in Glasgow.  Aaargh!  lol...

    Cliff.

    Wednesday 21st Jun 2017, 01:41AM

  • Recently we discovered that we are descended from William Johnstoun of Gretna and Newbie, more specifically his son, John Johnstoun of Newbie.

    See attment for more details of our family.

    Thursday 28th Dec 2017, 04:07PM

  • Hello. I see you have a John Johnston b. 1702. He is my 6th great grandfather. Could you please give me a hand in finding his parents. Thank You Michelle

    Michelle

    Saturday 22nd Aug 2020, 12:53PM

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