JOHNSTON, Archibald, b. 1815 in Co. Tyrone
Archibald Johnston was b. 1815 in Co. Tyrone according to 2 different & independent sources of oral family history.
Further oral family history indicates that he was a brother of Robert Red Robin Johnstonor Francis Frank Johnston, b. 1805 in England, and that Frank was either a brother or cousin to our Red Robin. AAARGH! lol...
Just this month SKS sent me the following data:
Name: Robert Johnston
Date of Birth: 21-Aug-1808
Date of Baptism: 1-Jan-0...[this would have to been 1-Jan-09]
Address: No Entry
Parish/District: ARMAGH
CIGender: Unknown
CountyARMAGH
Denomination: Church Of Ireland
Father: Robert Johnston
Mother: Ann Johnston
Occupation:Address: No Entry
The fit looks amazingly good, enough to consider this family as ours and continuing to research it. If Archie was the younger brother of Red Robin, and if Archie was born in Co. Tyrone, then we have an explanation for not finding much past the baptism of Red Robin in 1809 in Armagh.
Archie was said to have arrived in Upper Canada in 1832 in the company of his 3 older sisters, 2 of whom may have been named Catherine and Jane. One married sister stayed behind in Ireland as she was married to a publican, and they were very nicely established. There were no other immediate living kin in Ireland. One of their parents, guessing the father, may have died in Ireland prompting the exodus to Upper Canada. Oral family history has Archie & his 3 older sisters arriving in Upper Canada with a great sadness, but none of the old Johnstons that I talked with could remember what caused their great sadness, and they all used the same words even though none of the 3 knew each other. Could their mother have died on the crossing? Dunno
I have found a George Johnson [sic] on the Tax Assessment Roll of 1822 for Upper Canada. By 1826 Francis and his wife Frances were living with George on his farm. By 1831 George has disappeared, and Francis owns the farm. Was George the father of Francis? Did George die between 1826 & 1832? Was George a Johnston and the spelling as Johnson a clerical error?
Archie is listed on Francis' Will as an Executor. Did Francis want close family as an Executor? If so that explains Archie as an Executor. Why not Robert? We know that Red Robin enjoyed a wee dram at the end of a hard day's work He was not a drunk nor did he drink excessively. His wife Mae simply brought him a wee dram as a treatto enoy at the end of a hard day's work, and he sipped it judiciously. In contrast Frank was a Bible thumpingteatotaller. Archie and Red Robin had adjacent farms within a mile or so of Frank's farm. How does this speak to their connections? Too many unanswered questions...
Lots of research needed obviously..
If anyone can help us, especially to locate Archie et al in Co. Tyrone (or elsewhere as Kilrea, Co. Londonderry, is said to have been where they were before leaving Ireland), we would appreciate it greatly. Thus far we have been notably unsuccessful, in spite of our efforts.
We have been researching these 3 lines since 1979 using traditional genealogy methods and since 2005 using Y-DNA as a supplemental tool. The Y-DNA confirms the strong and close kinship among Francis, Robert, and Archibald. A Johnston Phylogenetic Tree suggests that Robert and Archibald were brothers; however, we need to keep in mind that even though we had access to a government-sponsored, genealogy-phylogenetic-tree, research program (the work was done by an Harvard mathematician with a Ph.D. working in conjunction with a federal government astro-physicist, also with a Ph.D.), the algorithm is sensitive for the first 3 generations which is where we are looking. It is a strong suggestion of a very close link though."Houston, we have lift off!" or do we? I am seeing a birth year off by 1 year...or at least according to the Canada Census of 1871.
If anyone is interested I've added an Attachment showing some of the details of 5 Johnstons who have a common ancestor ca. 1700.
Good hunting,
Clifford "Cliff." Johnston
Pearland, Texas