The parents of Robert Johnson and Margaret Berthwaite, who came to Pennsylvania from Ireland in 1714, have not yet been determined. (Data of William Perry Johnson, Genealogist and Editor, North Carolina Genealogy, POB 1770, Raleigh, NC 27602, 1974.)
Robert Johnson and his wife Margaret, nee Berthwaite, were recieved by the Friends in Pennsylvania on the 5th of the 12th month, 1714 from Carlow Meeting in Ireland. They settled on a 200-acre tract of land in New Garden where he died in 1732. He was survived by his children, Benjamin, James, Joshua, Robert, Abigail, and Ann. (The Immigration of teh Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750, Albert Cook Meyers, Swartmore, Pa., 1902; (History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope, Louis H. Everts, Philadelphia, 1881.)
New Garden Township was in Chester County, Pennsylvania, adjoining Mill Creek Hundred in New Castle County on the Delaware. County Carlow and the town of Carlow are in the Province of Leinster, Ireland, Adjoining County Wicklow.
Son Joshua Johnson was born at Coleboy (Coleby) in County Wicklow on the 29th of the 07th month, 1696 and married Sarah Miller, daughter of Gayen and Margaret Miller. Sarah was born on the 01st of the 09th month, 1704 in Kennett Township, Chester County. Joshua and Sarah were the parents of James, Lydia, Margaret, William, Sarah, Joshua, Hannah, Robert, Dinah, Rebecca, and David Johnson. (History of Chester County, Pennsylvania.)
Abigail Johnson became the wife, successively, of Thomas Wickersham, Isaac Bailey, and Mordecia Cloud. (History of Chester County, Pennsylvania.)
Caleb Johnson died in 1728 and Sarah Johnson died in 1718. (History of Chester County, Pennsylvania.)
Robert Johnson Jr. married Katherine, daughter of Simon and Ruth Hadley (Hadly) and had: Hannah, Simon, Caleb, Lydia, Stephen, Jonathon, and Isaac. (History of Chester County, Pennsylvania.)
Benjamin Johnson married Mary, daughter of Ephraim and Rachel Jackson of Edgmont, on the 05th of the 09th month, 1729. (History of Chester County, Pennsylvania.)
Robert Johnson Jr. apparently was born on the 11th of the 11th month, 1704 and married katherine Hadley at New Garden Meeting on the 19th of the 08th month, 1732. (Data of Frank L. Baird, Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, PA. 1975.)
Ann Johnson and Samuel Jackson, son of Ephraim and Rachel Jackson, were married on the 16th of the 09th month, 1727, at New Garden Meeting. (Data of Frank L. Baird.)
It has been published that Robert Johnson, Sr. was born at Radnor in Wales and that Margaret Berthwaite Johnson was born in Braithwaite, Cumberlandshire, England. (The Broyles Family Ties, John Kenneth Broyles, Sr., publication data missing; data undocumented.) Another record reproted that Margaret was born at Coleby in County Wicklow, Ireland, and married Robert Johnson at Wicklow Meeting on the 29th of the 06th month, 1693. (Data Frank L. Baird.) This marriage data suggests that Benjamin Johnson was not born before 1694 anf that James Johnson must have been born about 1695.
Radnor is a town and a county in Wales adjoining England. Coleby or Coleboy does not appear on modern small-scale maps of Ireland.
Robert Johnson, Sr. of New Garden, Chester County, Pennsylvania, made his will on the 26th of the 01st month, 1732 and it was proved in Court on the 28th of the 11th, 1732/1733. It roved for his wife (unnamed); bequeathed 20 pounds each to sons James, Joshua, and Robert; 15 pounds each to his daughters Abigail and Ann. He left the plantation on which he lived, containing 360 acres, to son Benjamin, who was instructed to pay legacies. SOn Joshua and friend Benjamin "Fred" were appointed to be executors. The will was witnessed were Samuel Miller, John Willson, and Benjamin "Fredd". (Chester County, Pennsylvania, Will Book A-386.)
Caleb Johnson, "glaisier", of Chester County wrote his will ont he 26th of the 04th month, 1728 and it was proved on the 01st of October 1728. He made bequeaths of 15 pounds each to his brothers James, Joshua, Robert, and Benjamin; and to his sisters Abigail, wife if Isaac Bailey of Marlborough, and Ann, wife of Samuel Jackson, late of Edgmont. The remainder of his estate went to his mother and father Robert and Margaret Johnson. The executor was Robert Johnson od New Garden. (Chester County, Pennsylvania, Will Book A-283.)
James Johnson of West Nottingham, Chester County, made his will on the 02nd, 12th month, 1758 and it was proved on the 06 July 1761. He made cash bequeaths of one pound each to John Butterfield and his wife Hannah; two pounds to his daughter Abigail; and one pound to her husband Thomas White. He left his plantation in West Nottingham to his wife Ruth for the support and education of his younger children and upon her death to be sold and the proceeds divided among his children, Hannah Butterfield, Abigail White, Sarah, Margaret, Mary, Ruth, Rachel, and Susanna Johnson as they become of age. He appointed his wife Ruth Johnson and William Knight as executors. Witnesses were George Sayer, William Crookshank and Charles Brown. This will appears to be that of James Johnson of New Garden who married Ruth Mickle of New Garden on the 02nd of the 07th month, 1731 and died on the 30th of the 05th month, 1761, aged 67. This appears to be the son of Robert Johnson, Sr. (Data Frank L. Baird.)
Joshua Johnson of London Grove Township, Chester County, made his will on the 10th of 10th month, 1782 and it was proved on the 05 June 1783. He bequeathed to son James 29 pounds, 3 shillings, in addition to what he had previously given to him; to son William, during life, he left a lot of ten acres with the house in which William lived on the east side of the home plantation plus 100 pounds; to daughter Hannah, wife of Thomas Woliston, 36 pounds, 9 shillings; to son Robert 5 pounds; to daughter Rebecca, wife of John Chambers, 100 pounds, she returning to executors 100 pounds of old paper currency given to her previously; to son David all smith tools; to son Joseph, 5 pounds, to daughter Elizabeth, wife of Ephraim Wilson, 38 pounds and a clock; and to granddaughter Sarah, daughter of James, 10 pounds. Joshua Johnson ordered his executors to sell the plantation containing about 170 acres. The remainder of his estate to go to James, Hannah, Robert, Rebecca and Elizabeth, excepting his desk which he recieved with his last wife and which was to go to her son John England. The executors were Robert Johnson and friend John Pusey. The will was witnessed by Joshua Pusey, Benjamin Allen and Francis Wilkinson. (Data of Frank L. Baird.)
The will of Abigail Cloud, widow of Mordecai Cloud of East Marlborough, Chester County, was dated 12th of the 05th month, 1757 and proved on 05 January1759. Her legatees were son Isaac Bailey, a clock and table; daughter Abigail Cloud, 83 pounds, 10 shillings at age 21 years; son Joseph Cloud, 83 pounds, 10 shillings at age of 21 years; daughter Sarah Harlan, a couch; Hannah Harlan all remaining household goods; son Abner Cloud, a colt; granddaughter Abigail Harlan, a saddle; and to daughters Sarah, Hannah, and Abigail, all wearing apparel. The executor was brother Robert Johnson and the witnesses were William Cloud, Mordecia Cloud and T. Woodard. (Data of Frank L. Baird.)
The New Garden Metting records show that Sarah Johnson, daughter of Robert Johnson, died on the 22nd of the 05th month, 1718. (Data Frank L. Baird.)
A map of Chester County, as it was constituted about 1780, shows Mill Creek Hundred as the division of New Castle, Delaware, which lies between White Clay Creek and Red Clay Creek, adjoining New Garden and Kennet Townships of Chester County, Pennsylvania. East Marlborough, West Marlborough, and Londongrove Townships surround Kennet and New Garden to the north and west. West Nottingham Township is the extreme southwest corner of Chester County, on Octorara Creek, adjoining Cecil County, Maryland, and Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
One branch of the Johnson family in America has been identified as coming to Pennsylvania from Ulster Providence in Ireland. Ulster encompassed all of the counties in north Ireland, most of which are now known as Northern Ireland and are under English rule. From Pennsylvania some Johnsons moved south into North Carolina, especially Guilford and Randolph counties. Members of the Johnson family were involved in the founding of Trinity College at Durham, North Carolina, which is now Duke University.
The name of Margaret "Berthwaite" Johnson probably was "Braithwaite". Samuel Braithwaite witnessed the wedding of Andrew Dale, son of Matthew Dale, Jr., and Margaret Astick, daughter of William Astick, on "7 /7 / September 1716 at a publick assembly of the aforesaid people met to worship God in the West Street of Drogheda." (Dublin, Ireland, Mens Meeting Marriage Book 2). Andrew Dale was the brother of Joshua Dale who married Mary Mitton. Joshua and Mary Mitton Dale were the parents of Sarah Dale who married William Wethereld and had Martha Wethereld who married Stephen Johnson. Since Robert Johnson, Sr. and Margaret Berthwaite/Braithwaite were of the same generation as Andrew Dale and Margaret Astic, perhaps Margaret Berthwaite/Braithwaite and Samuel Braithwaite were related. Drogheda is in County Meath, north of Dublin, no great distant apart.
Margaret Braithwaite, daughter of William Braithwaite, Governor of Kent Island, Maryland, was the first wife of Alexander Magruder (1610-1667), who emigrated from Scotland to Calvert COunty, Maryland. Magruder married, secondly, Ellizabeth Hawkins (Burke's american Families from Landed Gentry.) This provides a Scots background for Margaret Berthwaite to match that of Robert Johnson, Sr.
Dr. Lorand V. Johnson, Caskieben Historian for Clan Johnston/e in America and author of The Ancestry of John and William Johnson, proposes that Robert Johnson, Sr. of New Garden Meeting, Pennsylvania, was Robert Johnston IV, son of Sir Robert Johnston III of Crimond, near Aberdeen, Scotland, by his wife and distant cousin Agnes Johnston, daughter of George and Christian Forbes Johnston of Caskieben. Chronologically, however, if Robert Johnson, Sr. of Ireland and Pennsylvania is connected to Sir Robert Johnston III of Crimond it must be as a grandson. Since Robert of Pennsylvania was married in 1693 and died in 1732 he was undoubtedly born after Sir Robert III of Crimond died in 1641. Sir Robert Johnston III sold Crimond to Robert Burnet and was dead by 1641 when Agnes Johnston was described as his relict. According to various charts prepared by Dr. Johnson, Sir Robert Johnston III of Crimond and Agnes Johnston of Caskieben are known to have had the following children:
*Colonel William Johnston, Royalist commander and hero of the Battle of Brig-o-dee, who married Hester Dethick
*John Johnston who married Elspeth Cruikshank and died in 1697
*Robert Johnston IV
*Jean Johnston who was born 07-02-1608
*child born 04-08-1610
*James Johnston born 12-09-1917
*child born 10-20-1618
The children of Colonel William Johnston of Crimond are known so Robert of Pennsylvania must have been the son of either John, James, or Robert Johnston IV. Perhaps he was Robert V.
Robert Johnston III of Crimond was one of the sureties on the marriage contract for his brother-in-law John Johnston which was signed on 26 October 1597 at Lundie, Scotland, prior to John's marriage to his second wife Katherine Lundie (Lundy). RObert Johnston III of Crimond was a witness to the sale of the Johnston estate in Leslie Parish, Scotland, to John Leith, Friar of Mongerrie, by his brother-in-law John Johnston of Caskieben in 1595. Robert Johnston III of Crimond was elected Provost of Aberdeen in the autumn of 1635 but was removed from office by the Lords of the Privy Council in January, 1636. Alexander Jaffray of Kingswell, who converted the Johnstons to Quakerism, was appointed to replace him. At Michaelmas, 1637, Robert Johnston III of Crimond was re-elected as Provost of Aberdeen and continued in office until Michaelmas, 1638.
Through extensive research, Dr, Johnson determined that all of the Johnston/Johnson family which became Quakers come from the vicinity of Aberdeen. While in prison with George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, Alexander Jaffray, Provost of Aberdeen and owner at the time of the Johnston estate, Caskieben, was converted by Fox to his religious principles. Upon his release from jail, Jaffray instilled the Quaker concepts into the students of Marischal College, who accepted the teachings of Fox as a welcome alternative to the bloody rivalry between the Church of England and the Presbyterians whose fanatical adherents had long been locked in warfare as Royalists and Covenanters.
Introduced during the Commonwealth Period in England (1649-60), Quakerism was not universally persecuted under Cromwell. Most anti-Quaker violence arose from local prejudices. After the Restoration in 1660, official policies against Quaker worship were enacted under King Charles II. By 1670 the penalties against the Friends had become very harsh. Many Scottish and English Quakers fled to Virginia and Pennsylvania to escape the persecution. It is known that many Scots Quakers fled to Ireland and to England before proceeding to America. Besse's sufferings of the Quakers (publication data missing) lists many Johnsons and Braithwaites in England and some in Ireland and Scotland who were penalized for their religion. One Robert Johnson was listed in Yorkshire as were several Braithwaites.
Robert Johnson of Ireland and Pennsylvania was apparently one of the Quakers who emigrated from Scotland to Ireland and thence to America, since Dr. Lorand V. Johnson unequivocally identifies all of the Quaker Johnsons/Johnstons as being from Aberdeenshire.
The emigration of many of the Johnston family to America was directly influenced by Alderman Richard Johnson of London who was the Assistant Treasurer and a chief organizer of the Virginia Company from its inception in 1599 until his retirement in 1625 and death in 1626. Alderman Richard Johnson was of Crimond. For political and economic reasons many Johnstons anglicized the spelling of their name to Johnson. After arriving in America many of them returned to the original spelling, such as Peter Johnston who died in Culpeper County, Virginia, about 1756 and Wiliam Johnston who died in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, in 1728.
The Johnstoons of Caskieben, who were educated at Marischal and Kings Colleges, were given responsible positions during the reign of the Stewart family, many of them in London. Some were in the retinue of King James I (James IV of Scotland) and apparently prospered under subsequent Stewart monarchs. Nevertheless,, because most of the English denigrated the Scots, Anglicization of the family name from Johnston to Johnson was commonplace.
Agnes Johnston of Caskieben, who married Robert Johnston III of Crimond, was a sister of Dr. Arthur Johnson (1567-1641) whose son Edward Johnston emigrated to New Kent County, Virginia, and was married to Elizabeth Walker.
John Johnston, brother of Agnes and Arthur, had a son Thomas Johnston by his second wife Katherine Lundie (Lundy). Thomas Johnston married Mary Irvine, had a son James Johnston born in 1651, and lived at Craig in 1656. James Johnston married Faith Leith and had two sons: William Johnston (Johnson) who married Sarah Massie in 1698 and John Johnston ( Johnson) who married Lucretia Massie in the same year. Sarah and Lucretia Massie were twin sisters. James Johnston, who married Faith Leith, was a merchant in Aberdeen and had land in King William County, Virginia in 1701. The brothers William and John Johnson settled in New Kent County, Virginia. (The Ancestry of John and William Johnson, Dr. Lorand V. Johnson, Shaker Heights, Ohio, 1980.)
Sir Robert Johnston III of Crimond was the son of Sir Robert Johnston II and Isabel Boyes, daughter of Edward Boyes (Boyce), Prebend of County Kent, England. Sir Robert II, a merchant and burgess who died in 1616, was the son of Sir Robert Johnston I of Crimond and Inverurie in 1536. Sir Robert I was the son of Sir Edward Johnston. Sir Edward was the son of Alexander Johnston of Crimond who was living in 1540. Alexander was the son of William Johnston, Laird of Crimond (Arms: pheon and lion heads affronte) and the Bendauch and Inglesmills, by his first wife who has not been identified. By his second wife, a daughter of Sir John Keith of Auquhorsk (sic), William Johnston sired Sir RObert Johnston of Cayesmill. WIlliam Johnston of Crimond, Bendauch, and Inglesmills, was the son of Gilbert Johnston I and his second wife Elizabeth Forbes, daughter of Alexander Forbes, 2nd Baron Pitsligo. Gilbert Johnston I, who died in 1476, was the son of John Johnston and Margaret Leighton, heiress to the lands of Inverton who was living in 1428. John Johnston was the son of Stephen de Johnstone and Margaret de Garioch (Garviach), daughter of Andrew de Garioch (pronounced "gherie"). Stephen de Johnstone (johnstoun), who was secretary to Thomas, Earl of Mar, has been identified as the son of John de Johnston, warden of the west Marches in 1378; son of Gilbert de Johnston (1296); son of Gilbert de Johnston (1249); son of John who resided in the castle of Perth before 1214; son of Uhtred of Tynsdale and Bethoc, daughter of King Donald Bane of Scotland; son of King Duncan I of Scotland.
Another discription in Dr. Johnson's book, identifies Stephen de Johnston as of the Annandale Johnstons; son of Sir John de Johnstonm hreo of Otterburn; son of Gilbert de Johnston; son of John de Johnston who lived during the reign of Robert the Bruce; son of Sir John de Johnston who swore fealty to King Edward I of England in 1296.
The two linages do not match.
The branch of the Johnstons (Johnstones) of Annandale which rose to the nobility as earls of Hartfell ana marquesses of Annandale, descends from John de Johnstone of County Dumfries, who donated part of his East Lothian lands to the monastery of Soltra in 1285. He was the son of Hugo de Johnstone who was a proprietor of large estates in East Lothian during the reign of King Alexander II of Scotland (1214-1249). (A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Sir Bernard Burke, London, 1883, reprinted Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1978.)
Agnes Johnston of Caskieben, who married Robert Johnston III of Crimond, was also descended from Gilbert Johnston I, but by his first wife Elizabeth Vass (Vaus). Agnes was the daughter of George Johnston of Caskieben and Christian Forbes. George, who died about 1593, was teh son of William Johnsto and Margaret Hay. William, who was killed at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547, was teh son of James Johnston and Clara Barkley who died in 1548. James was the son of William Johnston and Margaret Meldrum. William, who was killed in the Battle of Flodden in 1513, was the son of Alexander Johnston ans Agnes Gloster who were married in 1476. Alexander Johnston was the son of Gilbert Johnston II and Elene Lichton. Gilbert Johnston II was the son of Gilbert Johnston I by his first wife Elizabeth Vass or Vaus. Gilbert Johnston I married, secondly, Elizabeth Forbes, and had William Johnston of Crimond, the forebear of Robert Johnston III of Crimond.
Alexander Forbes, 2nd Baron Pitsligo, succeeded his father Alexander Forbes, who was created the 1st Baron Pitsligo on 24 June 1633, much to o late to be the father -in-law of Gilbert Johnston I who died in 1476. Elizabeth Forbes, teh wife of Gilbert Johnston I, must have been the daughter of Sir Alexander Forbes I of Pitsligo who had by his wife, a daughter of the Errol family, three daughters and three sons including Sir Alexander Forbes II. Sir Alexander Forbes II obtained a charter of the Barony of Pitsligo and Kynaldy on 10 October 1476. He is known to have had two sons: John, his heir, and William Forbes of Dauch and New. Sir Alexander Forbes I was the son of Sir William Forbes and Agnes Fraser, daughter of William Fraser of Philorth. Sir William was rhe second son of Sir john Forbes. (A Genealogical History of the Dormat, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages.)
Christian Forbes, who married George Johnston of Caskieben, was the daughter of William Forbes, 7th Lord Forbes, and ELizabeth Keith who were married in 1518. ELizabeth Keith was a daughter of Sir William Keith and Janet Gray. William Forbes, 7th Lord Forbes, was a son of John Forbes, 6th Lord Forbes, and Christian Lundy (Lundin), a descendent of William the Lion, King of Scotland. The parents of John Forbes, 6th Lord Forbes, were William Forbes, 3rd Lord Forbes, amd Christian Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntley. Married before 1468, William Forbes, 3rd Lord Forbes, died before 1483. He was a son of James Forbes, 2nd Lord Forbes, and Egida Keith, daughter of Wiliam Keith, 1st Earl of Marischal, and Mary Hamilton. James Forbes, 2nd Lord Forbes, was the son of Sir Alexander Forbes, 1st Lord Forbes, and Elizabeth Douglas. ( A Genealogical History of Dormat, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages.)
Mary Hamilton, who married William Keith, 1st Earl of Marischal, was the daughter of james Hamilton 1st Lord Hamilton. William Keith, 1st Lord of Marischal, was the son of John Keith and Princess Jean Stewart of Scotland. ( A Genealogical History of the Dormat, Aneyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages.)
Elizabeth DOuglas, who married Alexander Forbes, 1st Lord Forbes, was a daughter of George DOuglas, 1st Earl of Angus, and Princess Mary Stewart of Scotland. Mary was a daughter of John Stewart, Earl of Carrick, who succeeded to the throne od Scotland as Kinf Robert III, by his wife Annabella Drummond. King Robert III died in 1409 and Annabella died in 1404. King Robert III (John Stewart) was a brother of Princess Jean Stewart who married John Keith. Their parents were King Robert II of Scotland, first of the Stewart kings, and Elizabeth Mure. Robert II was born 02 March 1316 and died 13 may 1390. ELizabeth Mure was the daughter of Sir Adam Mire of Rowallan.