When Joseph Johnston was born in April 1841, in Cumberland, England, United Kingdom, his father, Robert Johnston, was 32 and his mother, Sarah Farrer, was 41. He married Mary Burnett on 7 June 1866. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 3 daughters. He lived in Great Ormside, Westmorland, England, United Kingdom in 1851. In 1881, at the age of 40, his occupation is listed as farmer in Woodend, Waimakariri, New Zealand. He died in 1888, in Woodend, Waimakariri, New Zealand, at the age of 47, and was buried in Woodend, Waimakariri, New Zealand.
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Dickens A Christmas Carol was first published.
Also known as the Wairau Affray, the Wairau massacre was the first serious clash of arms between the British settlers and the Maori people after Treaty of Waitangi. The fight broke out because of a fraudulent deed that a representative of the New Zealand Company was claiming to have so that settlers could clear the Maori off the land and arrest them if necessary. 22 settlers were killed, and four Maori were killed, including the wives of both the Ngati Toa chiefs.
The Crimean War was fought between Russia and an alliance of Britain, France, Sardinia and Turkey on the Crimean Peninsula. Russia had put pressure on Turkey which threatened British interests in the Middle East.
Scottish: habitational name, deriving in most cases from the place so called in Annandale, in Dumfriesshire. This is derived from the genitive case of the personal name John + + Middle English ton ‘town, village, settlement’ (Old English tūn). There are other places in Scotland so called, including the city of Perth, which used to be known as Saint John's Toun, and some of these may also be sources of the surname.
English: habitational name from Johnson Hall (Staffordshire), recorded as Johannestonc. 1233 and Joneston in 1314. The placename means ‘John's settlement’, from the genitive case of the Middle English personal name Johan, Jon (see John ) + Middle English ton ‘town, village, settlement’.
History: As far as can be ascertained, most Scottish bearers of this surname are descendants of John, probably a Norman baron from England, who held lands at Johnstone in Annandale from the Bruce family in the late 12th century. His son Gilbert was the first to take the surname Johnstone and their descendants later held the earldom of Annandale.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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