Gerald, >> Except that the Johnstone came from stone referring to estate, not son. << The same reference from which I got much of the information listed "ston" as opposed to "stone" as a patronymic, which was the form I listed. >> And the 1790 census puts Johnson third, not fourth. There were 21,000+ Smiths (based on a trade as in black smith, silver smith...), 11,000 Jones and 10,600 Johnsons. << Thats what I get for trusting tertiary information rather than going to the primary documents. The article to which I referred listed Johnson as fourth, and further stated that the top five names today are the same top 5 as in 1776, only the order has changed slightly. I did not check the actual census figures. >> There were Jonssons from Sweden in the Swedish settlements along the Delaware that were established by 1638 that blended into the New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania colonies in the next 150 years and likely their names became fully Anglicized like their customs. So there is some early history of Svenske Johnson in this country as well as Johnsons from the English islands. << Quite true, however their influence on surnames was relatively insignificant in comparison to what it would be 100 years hence. As an interesting aside, the first President of the United States was a Swede (no George Washington was not Swedish). See: http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/washington/washington.html Further, the flag of Philadelphia is Blue and Yellow, in recognition of the founding Swedes whose flag comprises the same colors. Regards, Eric

Eric H. Johnson wrote: > > Gerald, > > >> Except that the Johnstone came from stone referring to estate, not son. > << > > The same reference from which I got much of the information listed "ston" as > opposed to "stone" as a patronymic, which was the form I listed. Because Stone referred to the land, not family. A family estate. Clearly over a couple millennia of surnames, there have been MANY sources for the surname Johnson, from varied customs greatly modified by biased reporting clerks who spelled what they wanted, not necessarily what the reported said or used, neglecting whether the reported could read or spell. And once the colonial and post colonial era clerk wrote on rare paper with rare and near permanent ink, no amount of protest would cause him to change the record. So when researching the line we have to accept all versions, from Jonson through Johnson, Johnston, Johnstone to Jorganson as potential ancestors. We can't be sure that in the days when surnames were not heavily used that the occasional surname didn't come by adopting one from an admired neighbor totally unrelated. Surely in some places the effective surname came from the name of the village, perhaps earlier from the name of the province. That usage may primarily depend on how far the named was from home. Gerald