Johnston and White families

In addition to my last note. Sarah and Wiliam Johnston owned and operated a dairy farm in Thomaston, CT and raised their family there. 

Thanks,

Georgia Johnston

Georgia:

Since civil registration of births started in Ireland in 1864, I looked at possible birth records for John Johnston since he was born in 1866. Looks like there are at least 28 John Johnstons born in 1866 and almost all were born in one of the counties in Ulster. You can go to the Mormon Family History site at https://www.familysearch.org and enter the information for John Johnston. The response will give you index records which show the registration district and the volume and page number where the birth is recorded. If you know the parents names, you can narrow the possibilities. Possibly William and Sarah named their oldest son after his grandfather. In your case, Andrew may be a name to research.

Another option is to look at Griffiths Valuation data. This was a land survey conducted throughout Ireland from 1848-1864. Most of the Ulster counties were surveyed from 1859-1864. Since John was born in 1866, his father should be listed in the valuation. You can find Griffiths data on the Internet. www.failteromhat.com is one site to check.

If you can narrow down where John was born, you can write (provide the registration district, volume and page number) to the GRO www.groireland.ie to get a copy of the record.

Roger McDonnell

There was a William George bapt. 1851 in Co. Sligo to a James and Mary. I found him using this technique-

In this example I was looking for a Minnie and Catherine Wiley sisters parents unknown.

How I did it was to use the pay to view site

http://rootsireland.ie/

I did firstly a national search for Minnie which threw up a couple both in Antrim. I then switched to County Antrim.

By playing about with the date range I was able to narrow down the baptism to a specific year. I still have not used the pay to view option yet nor used up any of my limited number of free previews. Once I had a Minnie I had to find her parents first names. I started with father first name a - this would bring up any firstnames starting with "a". Working through the alphabet got me to H when I got a hit adding further letters and worked out father was Hugh. Search then for Wiley children no firstname father Hugh within ten years of Minnie. Got 6 hits and using same technique was able to work out the 6 names - but no Catherine. Minnie is a common nickname so reverted to Catherine. Broad search found two which narrowed down to one in 1868 and one in 1872. Was able to work out 1868 was daughter of John and Mary. Broad search found no other children to this couple. 1872 Catherine was daughter of John and Jane and a broad search threw up 9 children. Plodding through the alphabet got me Alexander, Eliza, Catherine, Eleanor, Francis, John, James, Samuel, Wilhemina, which was more complicated since it is usually spelled WilheLmina.  Catherine I knew was 1872, and bit of playing about with date range got me 1881 for Wilhemina. Age gap fits the two sisters although the ages are well out - no surprises there!

You can play about with the dates until you match up the other 7 children. You can refine it a bit more by choosing one child then working your way through the drop down menu of the various parishes until you get a hit. Then you can see if all the other children were also in the same parish. Bearing in mind couples did move about as well as changing churches. It is quite possible that these 9 children were born to more than one couple named John and Jane.  Getting one transcript should give mothers maiden name and doing a broad search for baptisms to John and Jane with new surname hopefully should confirm 9 children. However many older records do not list mother's maiden name. Using this technique you can gain a lot of data without using up your limited number of free searches or having to buy any transcripts.

Bob Graham (County Fermanagh XO)

Hi

I have started with a search on the Family SEarch Site and Roots Ireland and found 4 locations where there was a William Johnston born in 1855 and a John Johnston born in 1866. Next I was planning to search for Williams wife, by the name of Sarah Jane White and her mother Mary White and see if I can find them near each other.

William and Sarah came to the states one year apart. And they were married a year after arrival.

I found John and William in a county search and came up with Antrim, Cork, Leitrem and down as possible leads.

 I'll continue my search  later today.

Thanks so much for your help.

Georgia Johnston

Hi Bob and Roger,

Thanks for your suggestions. 

Here is what I found. I am not sure if i should ask for a record yet based on what I have listed here.

A family member had the names for John Johnston and Susan Brendan as the parents of John Johnston, born around 1865/66). The info passed on the parents is that they may have lived in southeast Northern Ireland. That the Johnston family came from Scotland originally, but that they had been living in Ireland for centuries - possible dating back to the 1600's. (Their presence in Ireland dating back that far is new information for me and is contradictory to what I had initially posted.)

The child, John Johnston is the one of the children who immigrated here to the US and was born around 1866 on our censuses here.  He was related to my Dad and my Dad called his 3 children cousins, so I know there is a relationship there for sure and I am assuming that John and William were brothers (or 1/2 brothers). We had summer cabins right next to my Dad's cousins when I was growing up

In the LDS Family Search website for a Susan and John Johnston, I cannot find a Susan Brendan married to a John, but a Susan Braden married to John Johnston - marriage took place in 1859.

The LDS family search site shows that 3 children were born to Susan Braden and John Johnston 

John - born August  22, 1865 - Castlederg, Urney

Mary - May 5th, 1868, Tyrone Ireland

Robert - born February 9th, 1870

BUT, I can't find the birth of a Willam Johnston (my ggf - even with the year 1855, plus or minus of 10 years, to a Susan and John Johnston. I have been all over the website trying to find a match.

Our US censuses places Willam's birth around 1855 - 1860. I am wondering if our John Johnston was married and had a child and perhaps his first wife died and then he married Susan. That is a guess, based on my inability to find a match. Here is what the search revealed. 

I have found 3 Williams on Roots ireland using the search method you suggested and I see that there was a William Johnston born to John and Bridget Johnston around 1855 plus or minus 2 years in Down

A William Johnston born in 1855 in County Louth to John and Ann  Johnston(I also see a death for an Ann Johnston around 1855)

And a William born to John and Caroline Johnston in 1855.

I also searched  for John Johnston marriages in Tyrone and found that a John Johnston married Isabella Johnston, born 1834 (Isabella's father was Alexander Johnston) and that they were married March 2nd, 1852, but I could not find information on any births for this couple.

I found a Landed estate Court file (probate) for 1859 under the name Johnston in County Tyrone. (could that be a death?)

And just to add in more info that doesn't clarify any solid relationships, I did find a John Johnston in the tithe applotment books, 1814-1855 for Townland Muny, Parish Urney, County Tyrone, Donegal. And also found a John Johnston, born 1804 in the records of service for UK Chelsea Pension records. 

Help - I don't know where to go from here!! I believe that the info on John'sJohnstons(born about 1865-66) parents is correct given a difference in the spelling for Susan's last name of  Braden vs Brendan.

i still am not sure about William Johnston - my ggf

Thanks,

Georgia Johnston

Additionally, I found a William Johnston born to a John and Isabella Johnston in Moira, Down Ireland on 5/18/1855.

Thanks again,

Georgia