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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 2007-01 > 1167784804
From:
Subject: Re: [S-I] Johnstons in Co. Monaghan
Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:40:04 +0000
Hi Diane,
You need to research the parish and the history of the mills. Who owned them? Where did they come from? What is the history of the parish? Are there histories of the families in that parish? I know there are for several parishes of interest of mine in Antrim -- Monaghan I do not know. Grab a copy of Ryan "Irish Records" and turn to Monaghan. Or try doing that with "Irish Ancestors" by Grenham. The 101 lists of easy to get stuff, arranged by county. Beyond that there's Hayes and other indexes (see www.rootsweb.com/~bifhsusa -- the guide to British research).
Who was their landlord? This is KEY. It gives you access to estate records. If they lived on an estate, you locate the estate records. How do you find those? You need to learn how to look for them -- it's a research project. You can read articles about it, chapters in books, take classes. It cannot be taught in an email.
I have not heard of any conversions of Catholics in 1798, other than the usual patter. Many Scots were Catholic, so don't make assumptions about their origins. At the time of the public plantations, several
Scottish undertakers were Catholic and they brought over Catholic tenants. In Fermanagh you had
many Johnstons/Johnsons (you must research both names) due to the migration of a Border clan of this name. Many Borderclans were Catholic though all were rather fuzzy about religion since they had no
churches (destroyed) -- many in Fermanagh were Church of Ireland. They did not have a tradition
of Presbyterianism, which is associated with the central area of Scotland (and they didn't like them
folks).
Why can't they be English? If you researched the surnames you'd find plenty people with the surname were English and plenty moved to Ulster. Actually the ethnic history of Uslter is quite complex. It ain't either/or Scots/Irish or Protestant/Catholic.
Most likely your ancestors had not got a clue what their ancestors were (any more than we do unless we do a lot of research). Their mythology about their past conformed to their religion, most likely. Just like ours!
If I were you I'd find a male cousin and do a DNA test. If you do 37 markers, this'll tell you if they were Irish or English or Scots (etc). It'll let you spend a few eons on the Internet in Ysearch looking for matches. You can quickly check the Borders project to see if you match the Johns(t)on tribe there.
The worse problem you may have is that they were of the local type of R1b1c7. The alleged
descendents of the Ui Neills are SO alike that you gotta upgrade to 67 markers to determine which sept you match. Otherwise it's all like. Or maybe they were Norse -- something a little less thick in
that area. Being Monaghan and not Derry, maybe they're Reillys or O'Rourkes and they're as
thick on the ground in Monaghan as O'Doherties, McLaughlins and O'Cahans in Donegal and
Derry.
However for the paper trail there's a lot you can do but it is not easy. You'll need to do some reading and studying about pre 1820 records in Ireland and in Monaghan in particular.
Best of luck!
Linda Merle
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