I started researching my Irish roots when a cousin wrote my father and his sister requesting information about their children in order to add names to a family tree he had received. I learned that he, John (Jack) Johnstone, had an email address and so we started corresponding. Within a few months we actually met in Co. Donegal, Ireland. The odd part is Jack lives in San Diego, CA and I live near Philadelphia, PA!

Having done most of the research from the United States and with the help of family members and other researchers I have been able to put together a pretty extensive family tree.

The purpose of this page is to tell you a little about my family in hopes that I may find others connected to my family and that others may get intersted in researching their family. And this page is dedicated to my grandfather Robert Johnston (19 December 1893 -17 September 1949). He is pictured below with 2 of his brothers and a gentleman I believe to be his cousin.

Standing: Alec Colquhoun and Joseph Johnstone.

Sitting: Alan Johnstone and Robert Johnston.

This picture was taken circa 1912. In the bottom right is the name of the studio, Colin Campbell, and I believe the location, Kirkcaldy in Fife, Scotland. Would love to know what these four were doing in Kirkcaldy since at the time I believe they all lived in Ireland!

One of the first things you'll notice is that my grandfather's name was spelled Johnston, while his brother's have an "e" on the end. It turns out that when my grandfather's birth was registered in Ireland, the registrar left the "e" off. He's the only one of 15 children to be missing the "e".

To start from the beginning, My great-great-great-grandfather was John Johnstone. I have not been able to verfiy his birth but I do know at some point he and his wife, Janet Harley, moved to Balmerino. Balmerino is a small town on the River Tay in Fife, Scotland. John and a number of his descendants were fishermen. A family member told me that John invented the "bag net" for salmon fishing.

The first was taken from the road next to the graveyard in Balmerino and shows Balmerino and the River Tay in the background.

The other is of my great-great-great grandfather's tombstone along with additional family members in that same graveyard.

The tombstone inscription reads:

In memory of Elizabeth Johnstone, spouse to William Rome, who died 27th August 1811, aged 21 years. John Johnstone born 6th June 1785 died 23rd October 1829. His wife Janet Harley born 13th June 1780 died 21st November 1862. Their daughters Grace Johnstone or McEwan born 30th June 1810 died 22nd June 1884. Sarah Johnstone or Duncan born 2nd December 1813 died 19th January 1896. Her (Sarah's) husband John Duncan born 1st August 1819 died 7th May 1850.

John and Janet had at least 9 children, one of whom was William Johnstone. William was born in November 1808 and was baptized 14 November 1808 in Graitney (Gretna) in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland. Family lore says William went to Ireland to peddle his father's bag nets to the salmon fisherman on Lough/River Foyle on the northern coast of Ireland in County Donegal. He came to reside with his wife, Katherine McCausland in Culdaff and together they had at least 5 children including my great-grandfather, Parland Johnstone.

Like his forebears Parland Johnstone was a salmon fisherman. Born in Culdaff (I still need proof of this!), I am told that he was given the fishing rights to Sheepshaven Bay in the Dunfanaghy/Port-Na-Blagh area. On a wonderful trip to Ireland in 1995 I had the pleasure of visiting this area for a few days and seeing where he and my other relatives lived (and still live!).

Parland then married Isabella Dinsmore of Horn Head. They were married on 14 February 1884 at Holy Trinity Church in Dunfanaghy. Below are a couple pictures I took of the Church during my visit.

Following their marriage it seems most of the family events took place at St. John's Church of Ireland in Ballymore, south of Dunfanaghy. While visiting the church I stopped at what I thought was the rector's house and it turned to be a one-room schoolhouse with a class underway. I explained to the teacher who I was and that I was looking for information about the family of Parland Johnstone. Well it just so happens that a few years prior to my visit the children in the class had to do a project using church records. Being fascinated by the number of children Parland Johnstone had, they decided to comb the records for the baptism dates of them. They came up with 13 of the fifteen and would you believe that the teacher still had a copy of the paper with the documentation and made a copy for me immediately.

The children were somewhat interested in this visitor from America and asked a few questions. As I was reviewing the paper I noticed that they did not distinguish between the children of Isabella Algeo and Isabella Dinsmore. When I told them that Parland had been married to two different Isabella's and mentioned their surnames a young girl said, "My mother is a Dinsmore!". Her mother turned out to be Hester Alcorn and me and three of my cousins had tea with Hester a few days later. In a word, AMAZING!

Getting back to the number of children, I mentioned earlier that there were 15. However the children only came up with 13. The reason was that sometime around 1892/1893 fishing must have gotten bad around Sheepshaven Bay and Parland moved over to a home on Fanny's Bay, northeast of Rosapenna. I took this picture when Helen Algeo Parke directed my father and I here during our trip and getting out of the car and looking over this site was a moment neither I nor my father will ever forget. It was in this home that my grandfather and his younger sister were born; my grandfather in 1893 and Isabella sometime before 1895 when the next sibling was baptized back in Ballymore.

At some point Parland moved out of the house on Breaghy and moved into what is now the Coves Restaurant in Port-Na-Blagh. On the last day of a small reunion we had while my father and I were there we had the pleasure of dining in my great-grandfather's living room. It was exciting and eerie at the same time. We had a great meal with great family and it was another evening I'll never forget.

And that brings us to my grandfather who I never had the privilege to meet. Being born in 1893 made him eligible to serve in World War I and I still have yet to get his records, though I know they are available. He also had a brother, Joseph Johnstone, that was killed on Armistice Day and is buried in LeCateau, France and another that died shortly after his return from the War. In 1925 my grandfather set sail from Londonderry, Northern Ireland on the SS Tuscania and arrived in New York on 27 October 1925. He was to meet his brother George who had come to the United States sometime earlier. He was a machinist by trade and continued on as a machinist when he settled in the Philadelphia area.

It was here in Philadelphia that he met my grandmother Mary Alice Devlin (Devlin page to be started soon!). They supposedly met at a dance at a local Orangemen's Club even though my grandmother was Roman Catholic. Mary Alice had arrived from Ireland in 1923 and together they were married on 6 February 1929. They had 3 children, the middle one being my father Allan Johnston. And as they say the rest will one day be history.