Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 17 of 17
  1. #11
    Janette1169
    Guest

    Default

    Hi Peter, sorry I never thought to include the regiment. it was the 2nd battalion 43rd regiment of the light infantry, if that makes any sense? I have copied it as it is written on his discharge papers

    Janette

  2. #12
    thewideeyedowl
    Guest

    Default

    Yes, exactly - which regiment? Once the name is known, you/we can search properly, e.g just put (Johnston AND regiment name) into a search engine. I've just put (Johnston AND Aghaloo) into Bing. Lots of history/family history stuff comes up.
    It's advisable not to fixate on just one thing - at this stage, research all round the topic. Also, a name like Johnston suggests that the family might have originally come from Scotland.

    Got to work now, so swooping off.

    Owl

    PS thanks, Janette. You posted whilst I was typing.

  3. #13
    Janette1169
    Guest

    Default

    Hi Owl,
    I never gave it a 2nd thought that the family could have come from Scotland and settled in Ireland. However with no name for parents of James and the amount of James Johnston's there is, that would be a very long task to find the right James.
    This is why I thought a next of kin would have been listed on any army documents.
    I will search all topics and see what happens.
    I put off a trip to Ireland this summer, because I thought I was getting somewhere. I may have to think about that to further my research in the future.
    Thank you for the advice

    Janette

  4. #14
    thewideeyedowl
    Guest

    Default Northern Irish research

    Hi Janette

    Thanks for the update. I think you will find that this quest will turn into researching a bit of Irish and Scottish history. You need to go to, say, Wikipedia to get a rough outline of the history of Ireland/Ulster and in particular what is called the 'Plantation', which was mainly in the 17th century - lots of families left Lowland Scotland and settled/were settled in the northern part of Ireland (and they brought their religion, Presbyterianism, with them). And a lot of these settlers took up weaving - flax was woven into linen. You have already got an important clue: your James Johnston was a weaver. Search for the distribution of the surname 'Johnston' and I think you will find that it is strong in Lowland Scotland (but someone may well be along to correct me...). So those are clues towards research into this Johnston family.

    Look at the website of the Public Record office of Northern Ireland (PRONI): https://www.proni.gov.uk/index.htm. There is also a Northern Irish Family History Society, which may be able to give some guidance: https://www.nifhs.org/.

    And once you get going with these researches, I am sure you will find many more helpful sites and organisations. Let us know how you get on.

    I'm bowing out now.

    Happy researching.

    Owl

    Mods: This is now a research thread on James Johnston of Aghaloo (who just happened to be badly wounded at Talavera), so perhaps a more meaningful title would help flag it for other researchers, and even a move of forum too. Owl

  5. #15
    thewideeyedowl
    Guest

    Default Co Tyrone website/mailing list

    Hi Janette

    I think you would find this site very useful: https://cotyroneireland.com/index.html. So much to search and there are transcriptions of all sorts of thing. You will find quite a lot relating to Aghaloo and I noticed quite a few Johnston/Johnstone references.

    The site is related to a Rootsweb Mailing List.

    Owl

  6. #16
    Janette1169
    Guest

    Default

    Hi Owl,

    Thank you so much for the information regarding the possible Scottish connection. I received an email from an Irish family researcher.
    He says because James was born around 1789, a record of his birth would not exist, and I just may find a record of his marriages to Bridget and his second wife Mary, if i'm lucky.
    I will search the sites you mention for anything else that may help me.

    Re : Mods: This is now a research thread on James Johnston of Aghaloo (who just happened to be badly wounded at Talavera), so perhaps a more meaningful title would help flag it for other researchers, and even a move of forum too.

    Maybe I should post in the County Tyrone forum too :-)

    Thanks again Owl, both you and Peter have been a great help to me. It is most appreciated.

    Janette

  7. #17
    Famous for offering help & advice
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    East Sussex
    Posts
    1,246

    Default

    I don't like to hijack someone else's thread but I was drawn to it because I believe a man in my family tree was wounded and captured at Talavera - Thomas Summerfield c.1767-1833 of the 83rd Regiment - though I see he is spelt Somerfield in that Verdun prisoner list, I'm sure it must be him.

    One of his daughters, Mary Cecilia Summerfield, when she eventually died in 1853 in Ceylon (with surname Twynam), got herself a sort of biographical entry in a Ceylon memorial inscription book - which states that she had 'accompanied her father on the peninsular campaign' (she was born c.1796). The bizarre thing is (it seems to me), when Mary Cecilia first married in 1813 to John Hawkins, that marriage took place at Verdun-Sur-Meuse.

    Should I conclude that when her father was captured, Mary Cecilia was also taken to Verdun? Would her mother and siblings have been tagging along too with father on his campaigns ?

    Mary's first husband John Hawkins (a navy man) died in 1818 and I've obtained from National Archives a 'Sea Officers Widow's Charity' document which gives a few details of the 1813 marriage including that it was performed by vicar William Gorden of Duns Tew, Oxfordshire, "chaplain to British prisoners-of-war at Verdun".

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Select a file: