JOHNSTON Sandwick - long shot!

[johking]

Hi there

I am stumped with tracing back any further than my gtx3 grandfather who was a seceder minister in Leslie, Fife from 1814 to 1853. He was John Johnston and oral history says he was the son and grandson of John Johnstons.

Because he was a minister, he moved around (previously in Linlithgow), so I have no idea where he actually came from. However, recently I may have got a clue that there was a link with Orkney. His oldest son (also John Johnston) was Headmaster of Geprge Watson's School in Edinburgh in the 1850s but had some sort of health/mental breakdown and ended up farming in Sandwick in the 1861 census:

1861 census at Unigar, Sandwick, Orkney
Farmer of 50 acres employing 2 labourers

By 1871 he had moved back to the mainland, so his time there was brief, but I can only think that he had family connections there to make the journey to Orkney.

Is Johnston a very common name in Orkney? Can anyone think how I might proceed further with my quest? John Johnston senior was born around 1783. Family names appear to be John, Alexander and William.

Many thanks for any thoughts

Jo

[runningbear]

hi jo, best i can do is tell you that in the 1851 census and the 1861 census he says that he was born in leslie, fife.

there is farms in orkney farmed by johnston's, was your john's mother called jane (1784)? if so the john senior you refer to may be the farmer i have found on the 1851 census in orkney.

1851 census: george watson's hopital, st cuthbert's edinburgh

Rev. John...age 32...headmaster/house goverenor

1861 census: unigar, sandwick

John...age 42...farmer with 3 lodgers


difficult trying to find him on the 1841 census, do you have any clues?

Joe

[johking]

Hi Joe

Thanks for your help. The 1841 census for Leslie was lost at sea, along with several other Fife Census records, on the way to Edinburgh, so I suspect he was there along with the rest of the family and their records no longer exist.

No - the Orkney farmer is definitely not John Snr. Since the posting I have found out from the 1851 Leslie census that John Snr was born in Linlithgow and therefore was nowhere near Orkney - so how did the family come to own farms in Orkney? The Valuation Roll of 1855 states that they owned and rented out 2 Orkney farms - and that was before John Johnston Jnr went there to live in one of them, so he can't have purchased them.

I wonder if I will ever find out...! Thanks very much for your interest

Jo