Results 1 to 5 of 5
  1. #1
    Janette1169
    Guest

    Default Possible connection to Scotland ( Johnston )

    Hi my search for ancestors has now brought me to Scotland. After researching my 4x great grandfather who was born in the parish of Aughaloo, Tyrone, Ireland in 1789. There is a huge possibility his parents may have originated from Scotland.
    I have no names for my 5x great grandparents, however my 4x great grandfather was a weaver before losing an an arm in conflict.
    After getting great help from a fellow member, it has lead me to a possible connection in Scotland, due to the family name of Johnston and ' weaving' .
    Can any member, point me in the right direction to maybe discovering where the Johnston name is most prominent in Scottish areas and a possible way of discovering any records suggesting a migration to Ireland.

    As I have no names for my 5x great grandparents, I need to try and match anything found with discoveries already made in Irish records ( what's left of them :-) ).

    I posted in the Dumfriesshire slot, because I was advised this could be the area my ancestors may have started.
    Possible names for my 5x grandfather would be ..... Robert, William, James, Rowland or Roland, Thomas.
    Not a lot to go on but i'm hoping I can make a connection.

    Kind regards Janette

  2. #2
    Knowledgeable and helpful
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland
    Posts
    628

    Default

    Janette,

    The major migration of Scots to Ireland was in the 1600s when something like 100,000 moved across (representing 10% of the entire population of Scotland). By the 1700s the tendency was to move back to Scotland, England or on to places like Australia, Canada and the US. So if the Johnstons were typical settlers in Ireland I would expect them to have gone there in the 1600s. (Google “Plantation of Ulster” if you want more information on this movement).

    What denomination were your Johnstons? Do you know? If they were Presbyterian then this makes Scottish ancestry more likely.

    Aghaloo Church of Ireland records start in 1791. There are 3 Presbyterian churches there (Ballymagrane, Caledon & Minterburn) but none has any records earlier than 1829. The RC records don’t start till 1846.

    The surname Johnston is pretty common in Tyrone. In the 1901 census there were 913 of them. Only 54 were RC. The rest were various Protestant denominations, generally indicating English or Scots settler origins.

    You can see where the name is most common in Scotland by searching county by county on the Scotlandspeople site for the 1841 census. The majority of settlers in the Plantation of Ulster came from counties below a line drawn from Glasgow to Dundee.

    There are no migration records for those movements as a journey from Scotland to Tyrone was (and still is) just a domestic journey. No different from moving from Yorkshire to Lancashire.
    ELWYN

  3. #3
    Janette1169
    Guest

    Default

    Elwyn. Thank you so much for the information. It is looking like I will never find the Johnston family any further than my 4x great grandfather. I wrote to an ancestry researcher and was informed that his birth in 1789 would not exist. I'm not sure if either of his marriages (one was around 1810 and the second was maybe 1820 to 1823) would show the names of his parents. If it did, then the other obstacle is whether records of marriage survived in Ireland for that period.
    I am sure the family were Presbyterian.
    I don't even know if both parents were Scottish or Irish born. HIs parents could have been born in Ireland to Scottish parents or moved to Ireland before he was born. Who knows? But it certainly widens the search for ancestors.

    Because of the limited Irish records there are, I thought I would get further with a Scottish connection, but never mind.... I'll enjoy the search !

    However I won't give up hope yet of not going back any further, I'm an optimist and will continue to search.
    Thanks again for the information. I have never researched anything for ancestors in Scotland and relatively new to this searching, so any help it most welcomed and appreciated
    Kind regards
    Janette

  4. #4

    Default

    Janette, I'm sorry but the Johnston(e)/Johnson names occur all over the British Isles, and the names will have appeared independently in many different places. Again, before the industrial revolution, weaving was done in cottages everywhere. Also, people moved around a lot more than we tend to think...

    I'm concerned that you will limit your chances of finding your people if you limit yourself to one geographical area.

    That doesn't mean that you shouldn't search Scotland - you will find a set of messages stuck to the top of the General Scottish forum HERE that may help. Johnston (etc) IS a very common name in the Borders between Scotland and England (where people tended to be Borderers, first), so check the other nations as well.

  5. #5
    Janette1169
    Guest

    Default

    Lesley. Thank you for the advice. The comment on weaving in cottages in most useful. I will look further afield for my ancestors, but won't overload myself with too many tasks and will search the Scottish connection first.
    However thanks again for the advice on where the Johnston name could originate.
    Janette

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: