Pollock and Johnston Families

Some of my ancestors were Johnstons from Laragh in south Aghnamullen. They were Catholic going back to at least the early 1800s, but family lore says they were once Presbyterian.

Hello Diane,

Thank your for your reply. Do you know the names of your Johnston ancestors or any other information on them - birth dates, marriages, etc...? Is County Monaghan primarily Catholic or Presbyterian? Do you know of any current churches in and around Aghnamullen that might have been around in the early 1800s?

I live in the U.S., so I'm trying to reseach as much as I can online about the area. 

Thank you,
AJ

County Monaghan a mix of Catholic and Presbyterian. Presbyterian congregations in Aghnamullen included Corlea (not filmed by LDS), Crieve (baptisms filmed back to 1819, marriages to 1845), and Loughmourne (filmed to 1846), so looks like all too late for you. Was Mary Culbraith Johnston born a Culbraith or a Johnston? Johnston a very common name in Monaghan. (I'm in the US too.)

Ah, yes, that's the issue I'm having, not finding records pre-1820. I'll contact the churches to see if they possibly still have any written records before 1820 or if they can point me in the right direction. 

Good to know that Johnston is a common name in Monaghan and Presbyterians are common, too. 

As for Mary Culbraith Johnston, I believe she was born a Johnston with Culbraith as a middle name. But not positive. Any search I do for Culbraith or Culbraith-Johnston does not have any results in Ireland or Scotland. Though Culbraith does have various spellings. I've been to the cemetery that Mary, her husband, and children are buried in in New York. The paperwork the cemetery has shows Mary's name as Mary C.J. Pollock. A will shows the name Mary C.J. Pollock as well. The tombstone is too worn down to read anything on it and there are no records as to what was written on her tombstone. 

I have seen this information on Irish names and wonder if it will be of help to figure out the names of the parents of Mary and John. 

For sons

The 1st son was named after the father's father. 
The 2nd son was named after the mother's father. 
The 3rd son was named after the father. 
The 4th son was named after the father's eldest brother. 
The 5th son was named after the mother's eldest brother.

For daughters

The 1st daughter was named after the mother's mother. 
The 2nd daughter was named after the father's mother. 
The 3rd daughter was named after the mother. 
The 4th daughter was named after the mother's eldest sister. 
The 5th daughter was named after the father's eldest sister.

http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-names.html#sthash.MgkeUHR3…

Thank you for your information. Do you know much about your Johnston side? 

Alan

My Johnstons lived in Laragh going back to the late 1700s. My grgrgrandfather and his brothers were James, John, Edward, and Thomas, and all were millers. However, unlike most millers in the area, they were Catholic. There's evidence their Presbyterian father or grandfather married a Catholic McMahon and the children were raised Catholic. But without church records, much of this is reading tea leaves!

Laragh is way down in County Wicklow, by Glendalough. I was there in 1996, twenty years before I knew my ancestors were from Ireland. 

You're so right about much of this is reading tea leaves without church records. Guess I need to get back to Ireland to see if I can find anything there - if any records still exist. 

Just spotted your reply, Alan. There are lots of Laraghs in Ireland, including three in Monaghan, one of which is in Aghnamullen.