I read with some interest the bit that is posted on Geni about our surname Johnston. It appears to be the close and often copied, but not quite accurate, piece that has been told over and over again on various sites with little or no effort given to actually researching it.
Over the past several decades various researchers of our clan name and I have come up independently of the following history of our surname.
Ca. the early 1100s our Johnston family founder came up to St. Johnstoune, Scotland, from Northumbria. He was of Viking/Norman/Danish origins. In Viking fashion when he settled near St. Johnstoune he took a surname from a local landmark and modified it slightly to distinguish his ownership of it. In John's case he took the surname "Johnstoun". In researching the name of the town St. Johnstoune one finds that it was indeed named after a John and a farm, but the owner of the farm was not necessarily named John. This detail has been lost in time; however, we do know that he named his farm in honor of "St. John". Ergo, we have "St. John's tuin" or farm, not just some "John's farm", but the farm dedicated to the honor of St. John - named in his honor. Over the years our surname has morphed: Johnstoun>Johnston>Johnstone>Johnson. In one Scottish county 47 variants have been noted.
I have been co-ordinating a Y-DNA study since 2005 of over 80 Johnston and variants participants. From this we are sorting out some of the various lines of the Annandale Johnstons. They/we belong to the I haplogroup, more specifically we are of Danish-Viking origins.
Currently I an trying to determine the Y-DNA haplogroup of the Johnston of Caskieben line. If anyone can help me out with this, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks and good hunting,
Clifford "Cliff." Johnston
Pearland, Texas
