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You have entered the website containing the archived records of the Johnston family, originally of Stromness in Orkney, Scotland. The records, which date from the latter half of the 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th, relate to the three principal members of the family, together with their relatives, friends and business associates:
The original archived records, mainly letters and quasi legal documents, are deposited in the Orkney County Archives in Kirkwall. The author of the website has scanned these records for the purpose of making them available to a rather wider audience. Transcripts have been prepared of many of the letters but this is an ongoing process and will take many years to complete. At a time when the English Channel was hazardous to merchant shipping during the wars with France, Stromness, was a town of some importance and prosperity as the last stopping off port for ships going north about the British Isles to cross the Atlantic. There were strong links between the merchants of Stromness and the ships trading with the American colonies. In particular, Joshua's brother, James set up in business in Quebec shortly after the capture of that city from the French in 1759 and was joined there by several family members, including his younger brother John and his nephew, Joshua's son, John. Much of the correspondence is between family members on both sides of the Atlantic. A more detailed account of the Johnston family in Quebec is contained here.
Contact InformationContacts from researchers with an interest in the history of Stromness and the families that originated there are very much to be welcomed. It is hoped that the archive will provide a valuable resource to improve the knowledge of the history of the town. It is also hoped that researchers interested in the early history of Quebec following the conquest will find an interest in this archive. Much has been written about the influx of Scottish merchants to set up in business in the city although detailed records have proved hard to come by. James Halcro-Johnston
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Little is known of the elder John Johnston and there are very few records
that can be traced specifically to him. His father was Richard Johnston
and his mother Marjorie Cursiter and the family possibly originated from Birsay,
a northern parish of the mainland of Orkney. John was married 5 Dec. 1717
to Marjorie Crafts, the daughter of a London shipowner who is reported to have
come to Orkney as an ensign in Cromwell's army. John Johnston came to
prominence as the Stromness merchant who initiated the dispute with the
merchants of Kirkwall, a royal borough, with regard to the payment of royalties
for their trade, a process which culminated in the eventual bankrupting of his
fellow merchant, Alexander Graham. Joshua Johnston qualified 1749 in
Edinburgh as a notary public, roughly equivalent to a modern lawyer, and appears
to have been largely instrumental in promoting the Stromness merchants' legal
case in the dispute with Kirkwall. Many documents in the archive, drafted in the names of prominent Stromness families, appear to be his working papers. He married, 19 Jan.
1749, Margaret Halcro, the eldest daughter of William Halcro, a prominent Orphir
landowner from whom he inherited the Coubister estate. His son, John,
after serving a seven year apprenticeship with his uncle in Quebec, and after
marrying there his first cousin, Jane Harris Taylor, returned to Orkney in 1788
with his young bride to take over from his father. By that time, the
family had become significant property owners and John moved the family home
from Stromness to the parish of Orphir. From a map dated 1792, Joshua
Johnston owned a number of properties in the Chalmersquoy area of Stromness and
this would appear to have been where the family originally resided.