History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

THE JOHNSTOUNS OF TUNDERGARTH 23
minds not to be hard with him or any flowing from the stock his lords (hip) is
come off, and in testimony thereof the noble lord binds and obliges him and
his heirs never to seek any benefit of the said lands so long as the said James
Johnestoun and his heirs shall bruik the same undisposed nor to move any
pursuit against them."
In 1600, when Westraw was considering the purchase of Glendining, his
name appears among the chiefs charged with the care of the Borders. Hi.
family was called of Westraw long after he had parted with it, and before his
great-grandson obtained the Crown Charter which incorporated Glendining,
Daldurhame, and other lands into a barony of Westerhall.
In 1629 an Edinburgh tailor carries a decreet, obtained two years before
against Westraw, to the Privy Council, for payment of £97, 2s. 8d. for clothes
made for himself, his late wife, Eufemia, their son, James, their daughter, Elizabeth,
and their manservant, possibly a poor relation, as he had the same name
as his master. "Given for pursuer."
A MS. family history by Mrs Dewar, nee Johnstone, of Westerhall, states
that Westraw, who married Isabella, daughter of Walter Scott of Harden,
Jan. 2, 1643, left a second son, Francis, who is said to have married
an Edmonstone, and left a son, Francis, born 1669, died about 1712, having
married Agnes Brown. The elder Francis is probably the same as Francis
Johnstoun, merchant in Clydesdale, one of the twenty-one who on June 22,
1680, rode into Sanquhar and nailed to the Market Cross the famous " Declara-
tion and Testimony of the True Presbyterian, Anti-Prelatic, Anti-Erastian
persecuted party in Scotland," which disowned Charles II.'s authority, and
brought death, exile, or a prison on all who supported it.
The merchant, Francis Johnstoun, was accompanied by Richard Cameron,
who had been chaplain and tutor in the family of Scott of Harden, the maternal
relative of James and Francis Johnstoun of Westerhall. Cameron was killed
on the side of the Covenanters in one of the first battles. 1
The Johnstouns of Tundergarth appear in 1483, when the Lords Auditors
decree that John Johnstoun of Tundergarth, his son, Matthew, and John of
Ayill (Isle) should restore twenty-one oxen, four horses, and twenty-one sheep
1 Francis is not a common Johnstoun name, but in 1714 there is a sasine in favour of
Francis Johnston, second lawful son to James Johnston of Castlehill, in the lands of
Langshaw, and others, also in the lands of Castlehill in Tundergarth ; and in 172S John and
Francis Johnston (brothers), were baillies of Dumfries. In 1741 there is a sasine in favour of
Francis Johnston, merchant, one of the baillies of Dumfries, in lands in Holywood parish for
a debt. His daughter Margaret, married to John Graham, inherited lands from him in
Dumfries the next year. John Graham sues James Leslie Johnston of Knockhill, who was in
pecuniary difficulties in 1744.
John, the elder son of James Johnston of Castlehill, was returned his father's heir in 1730,
and is called the elder in Castlehill in 1746. His son, Mr John Johnston, minister, owned the
lands of Torbeck Hill in 1749; Thomas in Castlehill acts as a witness in 1714, perhaps the
same who, two years before, renounces his claim to Persbie and Pressbutts in favour of John
Johnston of Persbiehall, and sets up at Brocketlea, in the parish of Canonby. Thomas
Johnston in Castlehill is described as a merchant in 1749.
In 1712 there is a sasine in favour of Francis Johnston, son of Mungo Johnston in
Ragiwhat, in the liferent of lands belonging to Robert Johnston of Wamfray.
Johnston, wife of this Francis Johnston, seems to have been a Wamfray.