Re: [Bann Valley] JOHNSTON in Kilrea

[Lunney Family <family@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello
good to hear you have made a re-start!  
My great aunt married James Johnston from Craigall.  Kilrea; there are now no male Johnstons of that immediate line, though I think he had cousins. So definitely Johnston is a Kilrea family.I think I was in touch through this list with someone on New Zealand who descends from these Johnstons???

However, I wonder if your story is straightforward!

A few observations
Francis is an extremely uncommon name in Presbyterians. I have a list of Garvagh Presbyterian marriages in the 19th century; 1390 men listed; I ran my eye down and found just one Francis, in 1800 and he was  McShane,  I'd bet this Francis was either himself a catholic or from a family that had been catholic up until a few generations before. The combination of this unusual name in your story and a putative move to England (and the name George, also not common in Presbyterian circles, though not so unheard of as Francis) makes me wonder if there is not just some non-kinship link between your Archie and Robert and the Francis and George. The move to England is also odd; not impossible at all, but it's not the usual pattern for the Ulster-Scots migrants, because of economics at the time; to take passage to England first on a sailing ship would have been unusual, and your information implies that they stayed some time in England, again  unusual. 

I wonder if your Johnston brothers from Kilrea met in Canada with two English Johnstons and just made friends? or did one of the Kilrea Johnston girls marry an English Johnston?

The household with Sarah Johnston; if she was the head in 1831, she was almost certainly a widow. Almost certainly she was not related (or at least not related closely)  to some of the people in her household; it would be very unusual at that date for siblings or parent and child to have different religious affiliation. Either Sarah was church of Ireland with Presbyterian servants or vice versa. She might have had nephews and nieces from the other denomination living with her, but I think not children. 

Hope this doesn't discourage!

linde



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