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Hi Sarah

Thanks for the message.  I'm not too sure if we have any connection.  It would be nice if we had.   
 
I've traced the line back to a William Johnston born circa 1849 who married an Ann(e) Miller in Falkirk in 1871 - his father was a John Johnston with his mother's maiden name being what looks like "Jessie Miller".  The old script looks like "Jefsr" the 'f' looking like a capital "S" from other parts of the document.  Ann(e) Miller's parents were Robert Miller and Mary (nee Russell).  Before that it all gets horribly confusing.  I'm still trying to unravel this "Miller" connection.

The William Johnston birth seems to be formally recorded in 1851 - March 26th to a John and Janet (nee Miller) Johnston in Falkirk.   I'm probably skating on thin ice so cavalierly connecting a "Jessie" to a "Janet" but there are just too many other similarities.

I've got no family lore of tribe-members moving to New Zealand, but the lore I have been handed down is a bit shaky on closer inspection.  There are offshoots of the tribe in the US (of the MacIntosh persuasion) and Canada (of the Ferguson persuasion).

Hope that helps things.

Hello Fiona

I might have something - am not sure, I've got some kind of Baird-Douglas connection that I can't explain. 

I have an ancestor named James Baird Grierson born circa 1884 in Lochmaben (according to Census 1891), a Driver with the Army Service Corps who died on Active Service in Egypt in October, 1919.

Having hammered my head against a brick wall in terms of birth records for him, I have discovered that his mother was a Janet Imrie, who on her marriage certificate (also in 1884) to an Alexander Grierson called herself Janet Imrie Douglas.

From the 1891 Census, James Baird is registered as the stepson of Alexander Grierson, however, on the Imrie Douglas/Grierson marriage certificate, Janet is listed as a Spinster. 

I am making the dangerous assumption that James Baird (Grierson) was born out of wedlock.
His mother (the Janet Imrie Douglas) was also born out of wedlock, to an Isabella Imrie and a Thomas Moffat.   

Don't know if it helps, but happy to share info.

JLJ

Well, it had to happen sometime that someone would be looking for the Johnstons in the Bo'ness area !!   

My strand of the clan has a tradition naming eldest sons after the paternal grandfather.  My fathers name was William, his grandfathers name was William etc.

The clues I have relate to my fathers grandfather; a William Johnston, who lived at James Watt Avenue in Bo'ness and died around 1972/73 at a very ripe old age.  His fathers name was most likely "John" or "Johan" - there is family lore of Swedish ancestry from circa 1860's, the family name reputedly changing around the time of the First World War.

He was, apparently, associated with the Town Council in Bo'ness; possibly a Councillor (most likely an "Independent") and was listed (in my late grandfathers death certificate) as a Mechanical Engineer to trade.  In terms of family; a son named "John" (born circa 1917) and a daughter "Helen" or "Ellen". 

Does anyone have any info on this strand of the clan - much appreciated.