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

24
THE JOHNSTOUNS OF HALLEATHS
taken by them from the lands of Inglistoun of Drumgrey. Possibly this was
the same Matthew Johnstoun who, with William of Johnstoun, was an executor
to the late Thomas Johnstoun in 1479. From that time they seem to have
been a well-behaved branch, as very little is heard of them ; the} are mentioned
in 1504, 1569, 1585, 1618, and 167 1, generally as loyal followers of the Chief.
Andrew Johnstoun of Tundergarth appears in 1604, and in 1613 John Johnstoun
is called gudeman of Tunnergarth. John and Andrew Johnstouns of Tundergarth
alternate till 1739, when "John Johnstoun, late of Tundergarth, now in Comlongan,"
was receiving the annual rent of lands in Penlaw. There was a
connection between the Johnstouns of Castlehill (in Tundergarth) with those of
Penlaw.
The Johnstouns of Halleaths appear in the sixteenth century. In 1672 an
heiress, Agnes Johnstoun, married to John Kennedy, owned Halleaths ; after
that the lands were mortgaged to a Johnstoun of Priestdykes. In 17 15, during
the Jacobite rising, Johnstone of Broadholm was one of the sheriff's deputes at
Dumfries.
In 172 1 Janet Forsyth, the widow of William Johnston, in conjunction
with John Forsyth, brought an action against George Kennedy of Halleaths
and obtained the liferent of Over Halleaths ; and in 1739 John, Samuel, David,
and Nicolas Johnston, children of the late George Johnston, drew the rents of
the lands of Halleaths.
In 1740 William Johnston, surgeon in Dumfries, brought an action against
Herbert Kennedy in Halleaths, and another the same year against Thomas
Johnston of Clochrie, also against Archibald Douglas, younger of Dornock,
in 1743.
The present owner of Halleaths, John Johnstone, was eldest son of Andrew
Scott Johnstone, J. P. (died 1901), who married Margaret, daughter of James
Mackie of Bargaly and Ernespie, Kirkcudbright. Mr Johnstone, like his father,
was educated at Eton. He was born in 1881, and lives on his estate.
From their arms the Johnstons of Cowhill, mentioned in 1769 as new
proprietors, appear to be cadets of Westerhall. George Johnston of Cowhill,
previously of Conheath, born 1738, was at the drinking competition at Friar's
Carse in 1789, immortalised by Burns in his poem "The Whistle." Sir Robert
Laurie, M.P., Mr Riddell, an elder of the kirk, and Fergusson of Craigdarroch,
competed for an heirloom in the same way in which it had been won some
centuries before. When Sir Robert fell under the table Riddell withdrew from
the " unholy contest," leaving Fergusson to win by finishing five bottles of
claret, as was certified by M'Murdo, the judge, and witnessed by Patrick Millar
and Cowhill. If such feats were at all common, it accounts for the reduced
average of life and extinction of families in the male line which is rather
noticeable in the eighteenth century.
Mr Johnston bought Cowhill from a Jacobite Maxwell in 1750, and pulled
down the tower to replace it by a large modern house. He was cousin to
Major George Johnston, who commanded a regiment in Australia during the
Governorship of Admiral Bligh, the cause of the celebrated mutiny of the