Geoff - Thank you for the "plug", but, sadly, the Clan Johnston/Johnstone Association (UK) has had to be wound up, along with its website. Its demise was due in part to the poor health of the Clan Commissioner who ran it, but mainly to falling membership numbers. As far as I know, the sister associations in the USA, Australia and New Zealand are still operational. The American association especially does have a very informative website www.clanjohnstone.org. Tony - I am aware that this list covers the counties of Northumberland and Durham, and that that is the particular area you are interested in, but the further back you get you may well find that the people with the earliest examples of the name Johnson, Johnston or Johnstone originally came from just over the border in southern Scotland. The Johnstone Clan has its roots in the Anglo-Scottish borders region, notably in Annandale in the county of Dumfriesshire. In 1124, King David I of Scotland granted to the first Robert de Bruce, a Norman, the Lordship of Annandale and 200,000 acres. It was Bruce's descendant, the eighth Robert de Bruce, who was destined to lead the Scots in their heroic fight for independence from England. The de Bruce family was to play a pivotal role in the identification and development of the Johnstones, the two families becoming close allies over the years. Five hundred years after the title of the Lordship of Annandale had been granted to the De Bruce family, King Charles II was to grant it to Lord James Johnstone, the Chief of the Johnstone Clan. Anyone who knows anything about the history of the Border Reivers will know that, roughly between 1300 and 1600, the Johnstones were heavily involved in this lifestyle. They were certainly at "deadly feud" with the Maxwells throughout most of the 16th century. I notice that the documents that Tony quotes from are dated during the 1400s. The Johnstones actually rose to prominence in the mid-1400s, so I doubt if there will be very much information on the name before that. In any case it was not customary before the Normans arrived in these islands in the 11th century for people to have surnames. A man was normally only known by his Christian name, e.g. John, David, etc. If we remember also that a man would be known by the name other people gave him (i.e. not one he had invented himself), it is easy to understand how the man's son would be named by reference to his father, e.g. John's son, David's son, giving us the origin of the names Johnson and Davidson. So, on this basis, the originator of the clan was just called "John". I can do no better than quote from Russell C Honey on the subject of the origin of the name:- "One of the Norman Lords arriving in Scotland in the 1100s was a man named "John". At that time surnames were not being used. They did not appear until 1,000 AD. The first people in Scotland to acquire surnames were the Norman nobles, who came from France with William the Conqueror and were of Viking ancestry. The "John" mentioned, had lands granted to him by the Bruce family. Documents show the name as simply "John", that being the only name he had. Those lands became known as "Johnstun" or "John's town". "Tun" from the Celtic language translates to "town" or "lands". His son Gilbert was to first use the surname Johnstun in the period from 1170 - 1194. Gilbert was the first member of the family of Johnstone who took the surname, derived from the lands called after his father John." I apologise to Brian for taking this discussion out of the realms of Northumberland and Durham, but since Tony wishes to go further back with this particular name I thought it best to point out that its origins are outside this area. Cheers Pat Pierpoint ex-Secretary and Genealogy Officer Clan Johnston/Johnstone Association (UK) > -----Original Message----- > From: northumbria-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:northumbria-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Geoff > Nicholson via > Sent: 03 March 2015 18:53 > To: tonyemprieore@charter.net; northumbria@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [NMB] Jonson-Johnson-JOhnstoe etc > > > > You might also try contacting, if you haven't done so > already, the Clan Johnson Association. If you don't have > their details you could try Googling for them. Don't be put > off by the word "Clan" - they cover all Johns(t)on(e)s > anywhere, especially those who originated on either side of > the Scottish Border. > > Geoff Nicholson > -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. SPAMfighter has removed 16456 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len Do you have a slow PC? Try a Free scan http://www.spamfighter.com/SLOW-PCfighter?cid=sigen --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com