G2G: Question on William (Johnson) Johnston (abt.1805-1856)

Question

Regarding William (Johnson) Johnston ... I am having great difficulty continuing my paternal family tree. I can only get as far back as William Johnston who had a son named William Jackson Johnson. There are so many Johnson's/johnston's and I believe that William Johnston may have been born in either Ireland or England. Somebody, anybody, please help. 

Answer 1

Hi cousin Patricia.  We are 8th cousins...and around here, that is pretty close!

I ran WikiTree Sourcer, chose FamilySearch and I found a William Johnson married to Elizabeth (Jones) Johnson married 09 April 1821 with 7 children, one is William Johnson.

This sort of looks promising.  But they show slightly different birth dates than you show and no death dates or locations. Family Search also hits a brick wall as no parents are listed.

The children are born in England, all with the Johnson name, not Johnston.

Is listing his birth name as Johnson and current name Johnston messing with the search?  

William Johnson 1801

 FamilySearch "About" Page  

Family Search "Details" page

Family Search "Sources" page with 16 sources

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Elizabeth (Jones) Johnson 1804

Family Search "Details" page

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The Son: William Johnson born  21 Oct 1831

Family Search "Details" page

Comments

Thank you for your answer. I am hitting a lot of brick walls. So how are we 8th cousins--just wondering how we are connected.  I found baptism records on ancestry.com showing a William Johnson (there are many born in 1805), and show the parents names, but there are so many it is hard to nail down. My half brother did a Y-DNA test, and our Haplogroup is Scotland with the first surname Graham. Now trying to figure out how Johnson's tie into the Clan Graham.

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@Patrica:  This is how we are 8th cousins:

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I like this feature of Wiki Tree

Answer 2

Do you have a brother or male Johnson/Johnston relative who can take a Y-DNA test on FamilyTreeDNA?  That could offer some insight.

Comments

Yes, my brother did take a Y-DNA test. I'm not. quite sure how to interpret the results yet. We have his haplogroup--he got the Y-700 the most narrowly defined. As far as we know, the haplogroup is Scottish, and Graham seems to be the original clan name. Possibly changed name to Johnston to escape persecution, not confirmed though. What clues should I be looking for that would help?

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I'd recommend checking out the Johnson Project at FTDNA and asking some questions:

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/johnson/activity-feed

I did a Y-DNA test and was blessed enough to encounter a group, which included a Y-DNA cousin who knew a lot about Y-DNA.  I'd encourage reaching out to the Y-DNA cousin who has the closest genetic distance to your brother and see if that turns up anything.

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Thanks, I did do that, and he has been helpful

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Great!