Johnston Family

Johnston Family

I am Judith Kempen (nee Johnston).

My father was Keith Johnston and my mother Edith Johnstone. Can you believe it? To top it all off some Johnston’s are spelt Johnstone and some Johnstone’s are spelt Johnston. Then there are the Johnson’s and the Johansen’s just to confuse the issue even more. Johnston may not be the most prolific surname in the English language but it must rate pretty high up the ladder.
MY JOHNSTON FAMILY

My Johnston family lived in the county of Lanarkshire in Scotland until they moved to Australia in 1852.

My research indicates that DANIEL JOHNSTON was born about 1743 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1768 he married CATHERINE DOVE, who was born about 1747. Catherine’s father was COLIN DOVE born about 1720 and her mother CHRISTIAN?

DANIEL and CATHERINE had the following 6 children;

JOHN, born 14 July 1769 in Glasgow, he died young.

SARAH, born 20 October 1771 in Barony, Lanarkshire.
She married WILLIAM MILLAR on 2 September 1792 in Glasgow.

AGNES, born 13 February 1774 in Barony, Lanarkshire.

JOHN, born 23 June 1776 in Barony, Lanarkshire.
Married MARGARET SHAW on 5 September 1790 in Glasgow.

DANIEL, born 13 September 1778 in Barony, Lanarkshire.
He married AGNES McINZIE on 12 April 1804 in Old Monkland.

NICOL, born 2 July 1780 in Glasgow.
My Ancestors

DANIEL JOHNSTON and AGNES McINZIE.
Agnes was born in Old Monkland, Lanark.
Her father was CHARLES McINZIE who married MARY BELL on 7 April 1780 in Glasgow.

DANIEL was a mine manager in Old Monkland (The mines in this area were for Iron Ore and Coal so he could have worked in either).

DANIEL and AGNES had 10 children:

ARCHIBAULD born 1 January 1804 in Old Monkland.
He married HELEN BETH on 6 November 1824 in Old Monkland.

DANIEL born 6 October 1805 in Greenend.
He married HELEN MAIN on 2 January 1825 in Old Monkland.

AGNES born 13 September 1807 in Old Monkland.
She married JAMES GREY on 6 November 1824 in Old Monkland.

MARGARET born 1809 in Greenend.
She married WILLIAM FORREST on 2 July 1826 in Old Monkland.

WILLIAM born 4 August 1811 in Greenend.
He married CATHERINE THOMPSON on 9 December 1837 in Gorbels, Lanarkshire.

ISOBELL born 15 November 1813 in Old Monkland.
She married WILLIAM BROWN on 19 July 1884 in Old Monkland.

ALEXANDER born 20 December 1815 in Old Monkland.
He married JANET DICKINSON on 2 December 1838 in Old Monkland.

JOHN born 16 February 1818 in Greenend.
He married CATHERINE KIRKWOOD on 6 July 1845 in Old Monkland.

RONALD born 8 July 1819 in Greenend.

DUNCAN born 20 April 1822 in Greenend.
My Ancestors

DANIEL JOHNSTON and HELEN MAIN.
Helen was born on 11 April 1804 in Airdrie, Lanarkshire. Her father was JAMES MAIN MAIN and her mother MARION INGLIS. Helen died 3 March 1874 in Majorca, Victoria, Australia. Daniel died 9 May 1877 at McCullums Creek, Victoria.

Helen Main
Helen Main

They had 11 children:

SAMUEL died in infancy.

JAMES born 1832 in Old Monkland.
He married JANE McLEOD on 12 May 1852 in Glasgow.

DANIEL born 1835 in Old Monkland.
He married JANE ANN TEMPEST in 1880 in Craigie, Victoria, Australia.

AGNES born 1837 in Old Monkland and Married WILLIAM GILBERT in 1869 in Victoria, Australia.

WILLIAM born 1839 at Newart Hill, Lanarkshire.
He married CATHERINE MARR on 30 April 1873 in Craigie, Victoria. He died in Majorca, Victoria, Australia on 27 January 1887.

MIRRIUM died in infancy.

ALEXANDER born 1841 in Old Monkland.

JOHN born 1842 in Old Monkland. He married HARRIET HOLLIDAY in June 1873 in Craigie, Victoria, Australia.

MARY born 15 December 1844 in Bothwell.
Died as a child.

HELEN born 1848 in Old Monkland. She married CHARLES CORD YOUNG in 1870 in Victoria, Australia.

ISABELLA born 1851. Married JAMES LEWIS in 1878.
She appears to have married a second time to STANLY JOHNSTON.

DANIEL and HELEN and their family, sailed to Australia as Unassisted Passengers on the ship, “EMIGRANT”, in August 1852.

The passenger list includes the following family; Daniel aged 45, Helen aged 42, James aged 20 and his wife Jane aged 20, Daniel aged 17, Agnes aged 15, William aged 12, John aged 10, Alexander aged 8, Helen aged 4, Isabella aged under 1 year.

The family lived at McCullums Creek, which lies adjacent to the town of Craigie near the small town of Majorca in the Maryborough District of Victoria. This was during the Gold Rush days and all these towns were bustling villages.

Daniel and his family set up an Ore Crushing Machine at McCullums Creek, which provided impetus for the town as they crushed quartz and gold bearing cement from the nearby goldfields. The company was called Johnston and Sons and by 1865 the machinery consisted of an Eight Head Stamp Battery. This was later expanded as in his will the crush is described as a Sixteen Head Stamp Battery. They lived on lot 33 in the Township of Craigie and also owned another block with a dwelling, which they rented out.

Daniel is buried with his wife Helen in the Majorca Cemetery.

Daniel Johnston and Helen Main
Daniel Johnston and Helen Main
My ancestors

William Johnston and Catherine Marr
WILLIAM JOHNSTON and CATHERINE MARR.

Catherine was born 1852 in Melbourne, Australia.
The daughter of JAMES MARR and MARTHA RICHARDSON. Catherine died 31 March 1938 in Melbourne and is buried at Springvale Cemetery.

William and Catherine had the following children:

MARTHA HELEN born 1875 in Majorca.
She married SAM CORNFORD

WILLIAM born August 1880 in Craigie.
He died on 14 November 1882 and is buried in the Majorca Cemetery.

JAMES DANIEL born Craigie, married Louie?

HENRY ALEXANDER born 1882 Majorca married MAY ELIZABETH MANNING (sister to FLORENCE LOUISE) on 12 November 1913 at Craigie.

CATHERINE born 1884 in Majorca married WALTER DIPROSE in Yella, Tasmania.

ARTHUR born 3 April 1886 at Majorca, died 1968 in Glen Huntly Victoria, married FLORENCE LOUISE MANNING (sister of MAY ELIZABETH) on 20 December 1911 at Ascot Vale in Melbourne.
My Ancestors

Arthur and Florence
Arthur and Florence

ARTHUR JOHNSTON and FLORENCE MANNING.
Florence was born 1 September 1887 in Ascot Vale, Victoria. Her father was FREDRICK WILLIAM MANNING and her mother MERCEDES ELIZABETH CHADWICK. (Florence’s sister Mary married Arthur’s brother Henry).

Arthur

ARTHUR and FLORENCE had the following children:

VIOLET CATHERINE born 27 February 1913 in Caulfield. She married JOHN EDWARD MATHER on 11 June 1938 at the Church of Christ in Carnegie, Victoria. They had no children. After John’s death she married WILLIAM GOODWIN at Palm Beach in Queensland. William died in 1990. Violet died on 7 January 2004 at Anglesea, Victoria

John and Violet Mather
John and Violet Mather

FLORENCE MAY born 12 June 1914 at Carnegie, Victoria. She died 28 August 1998 at Palm Beach Queensland whilst visiting her sister Violet. She married ROY BRADLEY ELLIOTT on 18 April 1936. After his death she married KEITH HARWOOD. Keith died in 1999.

Florence May

Florence

TREVOR ARTHUR born 1919 in Caulfield, Victoria. He died in a traffic accident in 1968 in Geelong. He married Yvonne Picton.

Trevor Arthur
Trevor

KEITH WILLIAM born 11 November 1921 in Caulfield.
He died 7 May 1990 in Palm Beach, Queensland. He married EDITH MAVIS DOREEN JOHNSTONE on 27 July 1946 at Scotch College Chapel, Melbourne.

Keith William
Keith

YVONNE LYNETTE born 6 October 1928 in Caulfield. She never married and spent most of her life in a home for disabled people. She died on 27 June 2007

Yvonne Lynette

Arthur lived in Majorca in a house next to the Catholic Church and attended the Majorca State School. He became a Compositor by trade and with two other printers he started his own company in Melbourne called JOHNSTON, FEAR & KINGHAM. Just prior to the commencement of hostilities, Mr. Fear travelled to Germany and purchased a colour printing press. This was the first press of its kind to come to Australia.
During the course of the Second World War the government acquired the press for official government business and after the war they tried to return it in poor condition to the partners.
A court case followed and the partners were paid compensation. They sold the Printing works to another printing company when Arthur was in his 60’s.

My Parents
My Parents

KEITH JOHNSTON and EDITH JOHNSTONE. Edith was born on 20 July 1922 in Williamstown.
She is the daughter of JOHN EDWARD JOHNSTONE and EDITH GILL.

Keith went to school at Scotch College Melbourne.
After leaving school he went to work for Spicer’s Paper Wholesalers. He left Spicer’s to sign up into the Army in 1942.
He became a Sergeant in the Army and spent from 1942 to 1946 at Larrimah in the Northern Territory in the Stores and Workshops Annex.After his discharge from the Army he returned to work for Spicer’s. In 1946 he married my mother and at the end of that year he changed jobs and went to work for Australian Paper Manufacturers. He was Transport Manager when I was young and later became Manager in charge of the distribution of Waste Paper for the whole of Victoria. He stayed in this employment until he took early retirement in 1978. He and Edith retired to Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, Queensland where they lived until his death in 1990. Edith still lives on the Gold Coast.
Their only Child

JUDITH KAY born 14 May 1947 in Murrumbeena, Victoria. I married WILLEM HENDRIK KEMPEN on 28 June 1969 in Darwin, Northern Territory. We have no children.

Judith Kay

Judith

REFERENCES

FAMILY SEARCH on the Internet.
FOOTPRINTS A history of the Shire of Tullaroop by BARBARA WILLIS. Published by the Shire of Tullaroop. Printed in Australia by Australian Print Group,Maryborough,Victoria.
REFLECTIONS over 150 years By ARCH MANNING 1988
I wish to thank Elaine Murphy, Jillian Giles and Violet Goodwin for their contributions.