Re: JOHNSTON: Tara, Ireland, to Prescott Co., Ontario
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In reply to:
Re: JOHNSTON: Tara, Ireland, to Prescott Co., Ontario
Julie Johnston 1/15/02
Julie,
These people are descendants of Red Robin's brother Archibald.The second listing has an error that I've heard about but never knew where it came from - the parents are Archibald Johnston (double error) and Margaret Gordon.Janet Anderson over in Alberta had this same error when I contacted her several years ago.Just out of curiosity, where did this information come from?
The first listing shows one of our several connections with the Presley family.I've been in touch with cousin Fred Presley in Ottawa, Ontario, since 1995. We've worked very closely on several "thorny" issues.In fact we were on the phone twice this past week sharing information and scratching our heads together.We had both seen Catherine Johnson listed as a servant for John Quin.It did seem a little strange that John McQueen would have a servant, but it wasn't until I pointed out the childless 7 year stint for Red Robin and Fred picked up on the French Canadian enumerator that the light went on that Catherine was actually not a servant, her name had the typical French Canadian enumerator's error in the dropping of the "t" and that she was looking after her grandmother & grandfather as all of their children had moved off the family farm.
We've come across another French Canadian enumerator error.My grandmother's mother's maiden name was spelled Cutt (pronounced coot).The family moved to Montreal for some years.The French Canadians having difficulty with anglo-saxon-celtic names spelled it phonetically so that Cutt became a francophile Coote.When the family moved back to Ontario the spelling reverted back to Cutt but not all of the time.It gets a little hairy working with some of these old Canadian census records.Interestingly, nearly 100% of our Scots-Irish ancestors were literate.In going through one of the Canadian censuses I was quite surprised to see the high illiteracy rate among other nationalities listed and the higher death rate among their children.
Well, it's warming up a little so I've got to hit the road to finish up the current job that we're on - it is looking just beautiful.We had the supervisor for the largest builder in the county unexpectedly stop in yesterday to look at what we were doing.He was amazed and spent almost half an hour with us.I just hope that it results in some business.
Thanks for your continued efforts & good hunting,
Cliff.