William, his father and his grandfather plus his 5 brothers were all born
in Moffat, Scotland, in what is called the Johnstone Parish, I assume it is a
Presbyterian Parish. This information was found in the Morman Records by Roy
Johnstone. - Reference Appendix #1.He married a Janet Marchank in 1828 according to the Grey Family Bible
obtained from Mrs. Agnes Weweler (Calgary) who obtained the information from
her great aunt whom we assume to be Janet Johnstone. However Roy's reading of
the Morman Records, which he found to be difficult to read, gave the marriage
date as being August 16th 1833, which would be a year after our William
arrived in Canada, with Janet and their two children, Ann and David.
It also gave this William Johnstone as being christened on August 16th
1801, the same year as our William was born. Such a christening date
would fit with William's reported date of birth as 28 March 1801. It is
difficult to assume that there would be two William Johnstone's born in
the same year, but it just might be the case and our assumption that we
have the correct line is therefore in question. Roy wrote of this
information the 8th December 1988. He again did some searching in March 1990
without being able to find anything different. After further searching He
seemed to accept the infomation of our William's family, as being valid
although I am not sure just why. With the number of Johnstones in that district
of Moffat it seems that such as situation could have occured. William's
birth date was reported in the Grey Family Bible list
which we received from Cece Hamilton of Freelton and which origianlly came from
Mrs. Agnes Weweler.The date of his death was found by Cece Hamilton from Cemetery records
gathered by the Ontario Genealogical Scoiety and also came from the Hamilton
Public Library records from the same genealogical source. The cemetery is the
Strabane United Church Cemetery which was formerly the Nairn Presbyterian
Church cemetery.The marriage date and place also came from the Grey Family Bible.
William and Janet (Marchbank)'s family records came from the Grey Family
Bible, but their parents were not listed.William and Janet, along with their two children, Ann and David, left
Scotland sometime in the spring of 1832, travelling likely by sail and in
quite crowded conditions, to Montreal. This point of entery to Canada seems to
be varified by the fact that Janet was buried in Montreal. The reason for
leaving Scotland seems to have been because of a change in land use by the
owners of large tracts of land. A longer account of the conditions in Scotland
that caused considerable emigration to occur can be found in my 'Scottish
History in Brief -DJ)Roy Johnstone apparently has some information that leads him to think that
at least one of William's brothers also emigrated. My findings are that only
one could have done so in that all the others are accounted for in the records
at the Ewert Library in Dumfries. The one possible brother who could have come
also is Robert Colven, who could not be found in the burial records at
Dumfries.Janet died in Montreal while waiting for William to get things in order
for the family in Ontario (Freelton). She died July 2, 1832. William returned
to discover this and then to take the children with him to Freelton. It appears
he may have been a black-smith in the community. The records from Freelton
suggest that a William Johnstone was a backsmith there in the early days and
also Mrs. Weweler was quite emphatic that he had been the first blacksmith in
that particular area.William re-married to an Elizabeth Wood whose family connections are
unknown. As time went on he purchased Lot 36 N 1/2, Concession 7 and a few
years later purchased the S 1/2 of Lot 36, concession 8. His son David later
purchased the N 1/2 Lot 36. concession 8. Note App # 8 & 9. (It is interesting
perhaps to note that William's niece in Scotland, his brother David's daughter
Janet, married a James Wood - there is always the possibility of inter-family
connections carried over into Canada and this might be an example.)
William and his second wife Elizabeth, are Buried in the Strabane Church
cemetery with sons Benjamin, William and Alexander, also daughter Mary all
buried in a row. Daughter Jane and her first husband Robert Peebles who died
at a young age, he was just, 32 are buried in the same cemetery not far from the
rest of the family. Elizabeth and her husband David McEuen are also buried in
the same area.
Details of her death Appendix #3 from Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in
xMontreal (Presbyterian) 13 Oct 1989. Photcopy of burial and death registration
also in Appendix # 3. Possible death cause might have been cholera.The evidence of her birth date comes from the Grey Family Bible. The place
of birth may have been Fitzpatrick Juxta, Dumnfrieshire as that is where Jean
Marchbank, wife of John Johnstone, a possible brother of William, was born. We
might assume that the Marchbanks are from this Juxta. The meaning of Juxta is
as yet unknown.
Possible place of burial could be Paris, Ontario. Roy sent Photocopy of census
for Paris 1871 listing Ann and husband John and what appears to be John's
mother Agnes (70). See Appendix # 14, Nominal Return of the Living, Paris Town
1894.Mrs. Weweler said she had visited Ann with her parents when she was quite
young. The Peebles were visiting in the East from Yorkton at the time. She
remembered being told of the early arrival experiences when Ann's mother died,
in Montreal. Ann was 3 at the time. The visit took place sometime about 1910.Ann's marriage to a John M. Dickson/Dixon in 1863 is recorded in the
County Marriage Records of Ontario, Canada 1858-1869 Vol 7 Wentworth County
and is Appendix 7. This entry gives Ann's name as Johnson so it may not be the
person we are looking for, although it has been found that the surname of the
family often has been spelled in various ways.Mrs. Weweler's letter (Appendix #31) gives the two spellings of Dickson
and further stated that Ann and her husband lived in Paris, Ontario.The above letter also said that when Jane Peebles (Johnstone) became
widowed with 4 children, Ann made a home for the eldest child, Agnes May
Peebles. This letter tells of Mrs. Weweler's visit to Ann, also to Ben and Mary
in Freelton. Young Agnes Mary studied to be a nurse in Boston. (Mary & Ben
took Jane's three boys while Jane attempted to make a living).
Ann and her husband John Dickson are buried in Paris Cemetery and the date
of death on the tomb stone is 1896. This makes one wonder if the events
mentioned in Mrs. Weweler's letter are correct, or if this is the wrong Ann. It
doesn't seem likely that there would be two, Ann Johnstone's with a husband
named John Dixon living in Paris at the same time.
Mary never married but kept house for her brother Ben. Ben and Mary helped
raise Jane and Robert Peebles children after Robert died at the age of 36.
Benjamin never married, He and his sister Mary lived to-gether and helped raise
their sister Jane's children after her Husband Robert Peebles died.
Agnes died at the young age of 15.
William was only a little over one year old when he died.
After Alexander's father William Johnstone died, his mother Elizabeth lived
with him until his death. Elizabeth lived for about four months after Alexander
dead.