Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

The Johnstones
Page 4

Samuel Johnstone was born in 1819 and baptised in Muirkirk, Ayrshire, the youngest son of John Johnstone and Janet Barrie. For more information on John Johnstone and the earlier generations of the family, please click on the following link:

Like many men in the area, Samuel worked as a shepherd. I have yet to find him in the earlier censuses, but in 1871 he was living at Shaw Knowe in Muirkirk with his family. He had married Marion Maxwell in Kildalton in 1840 and they had a large family, which by 1871 already included several grandchildren. The table below gives the details from the 1871 census.

By 1881 Samuel and some of his family had moved to Wales, to Caernarvon, where he still worked as a shepherd. With him were his wife Marion, his son James Johnstone, and grandsons Daniel & William Johnstone. The table below gives a transcription from the 1881 census (RG11/5570 folio 57 page 9).

I don't know how long the family stayed in Wales, but by the time of his death Samuel Johnstone was back living in Muirkirk, although he actually died in Glasgow. Marion Maxwell outlived her husband by 11 years, dying in Muirkirk in 1899, aged 80. The informant on Marion's death certificate was her son Thomas, described at the time as a cattle dealer of Dumfries. However for some reason this Thomas is eluding me in both the 1891 and 1901 censuses.

So far I have only managed to trace the fate of four of Samuel's children in any detail; John, George & William & recently James. John Johnston married Agnes Kilpatrick in 1874 in Muirkirk, with his brother James Johnstone as a witness. John and Agnes had at least 7 children by the time of the 1891 census. At this point they were living in Avondale, which is about 10 miles north of Muirkirk and John was working as an agricultural labourer. Four doors down on the census returns from John, was his brother William and his family. A transcription of the 1891 census is given below.

In 1901 the two brothers John & William were both still living in Avondale. William was still living at Woodside Cottage, but John had moved to Caldermill. The only photograph I have of this branch of the family so far is of John Johnstone's second daughter, Marion Maxwell Johnstone. She married Robert Wilson and they must have had a long and successful marriage as the photo below shows them celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary.

The photo above was kindly supplied to me by my new-found 5th cousin John Wilson, who is a great grandson of Marion Johnstone and Robert Wilson. John has lots of information on the Wilson side of the family, so if you are interested, please click on the following link:

The third brother - George Johnstone moved to Galston, Ayrshire, where he raised his family working as a shepherd. George and his family were there at least between 1891 and 1901. The fourth brother, James Johnstone moved to Caernarvon in Wales when his father went there some time in the late 1870's-early 1880's. There he must have met his wife Sarah and they seem to have married in the area in 1881. James worked as as shepherd and his job must have made him move around the country quite a bit, as his children were born variously in Scotland, Cumberland and Devon. The family seemed to settle in Devon and were living in Lynton in both the 1891 and 1901 census.

The family trees below summarise what I know about the above branch of the Johnstone family. It is hopefully reasonably accurate, but if you spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me

Please click on one of the red links on the tree to move to a different page or part of the tree.

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry