James was born in 1761. Since he was a "Jr.", guess his father was a James Johnston as well. He was in SC, Camden Dist., by 1784, and in Georgia 1785. Was the first State Senator from Twiggs County. Married Mrs. Mary Garner (maiden named Horn or Pugh?). Sons: John, Wm.Young, Alexander. After Mary's death, he married Amey Lanier, dau. of Lewis Lanier. Sons: James Butler, William Kliber, and Thomas Jef. Johnston. James served as first State Senator from Twiggs Co., GA. Family in and around Macon. Beverly Shuler

----- Original Message ----- From: "Beverly Shuler" <bshuler@comcast.net> To: <JOHNSTON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 1:58 PM Subject: [JOHNSTON] James Johnston, Jr., Esq. > James was born in 1761. Since he was a "Jr.", guess his father was a James Johnston as well. snip > Beverly Shuler Please don't me misled into making that assumption. The use of Sr. and Jr. did not mean then what it may mean today. In fact today it is often not used the same in all localities. In the era of the mid 1700s -and before- the terms were used to differentiate between men of the same name - *no matter what the relationship*. If there were two James JOHNSTONs in a town the older would usually be Sr. and the younger Jr. They could be father-son, cousin-cousin, or not related at all. Many genealogical errors have been made by applying current usage to this practice. Regards, Sharyn