Looking for a marriage in Scotland

Question

Hello all,

I am trying to break through a long standing brick wall and am investigating a clue I have found in an old book about the Johnston/Johnstone families of Scotland.

The pertinent text is as follows:

Thomas Johnstone of Crawshalt married Janet Dobie. Their eldest son John went out to St Elizabeth, Jamaica as a surgeon. He died at Dumfries in about 1795 leaving a daughter, Mrs Moore. Her grandson is Mr Edgar T Briggs of Weybridge. Of John the surgeons five brothers, James a merchant in Maxwellton left sons, and William WS left a daughter who married a physician in Ireland. 

This paragraph is not entirely accurate but I have established the identity of Edgar Briggs and he is certainly a connection of Mrs Moore, although not her grandson, which gives me hope that the other information might be useful.

Can anyone help with a marriage record for Thomas Johnston of Crawshalt (I can't find where that place is) and a Janet Dobie? Or perhaps a death record for a Dr John Johnston in Dumfries?

The other leads are of course his brothers James Johnston of Maxwelton and William Johnston WS (what does this even mean?) 

Cheers, Elizabeth

Comments

This isn't a lot of help, but might lead to more. In the parish of Middlebie in Dumfriesshire, there was a property called Crawstown. And in the "Statistical Accounts" [https://archive.org/details/newstatisticala12clergoog/page/n379/mode/2up] a Sir G.F. Johnstone of Westerhall is mentioned as a landowner. In the tax records (ScotlandsPeople) I find a mention in Middlebie of a property called Crawdieknow.

And in the parish of Dunscore is a Crawston Hill, and a property named Crawston, but I find no mention of Johnstone there.

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Thanks Bobbie. That gives me a couple more leads to chase up. Every little bit helps!

Answer 1

In addition to the Statistical Accounts, the website Scotland's Places has the log books of place names that were used to make Ordnance Survey maps. I've found some otherwise very obscure locations from those logs.

Comments

Thank you for that tip. I'll follow it up!

Answer 2

Is there any chance the marriage/events are in Jamaica? Lots of plantations given Scottish names by their owners (whether they lived there or not).

The website is down at the moment but perhaps check The Centre of the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery to see if the family is recorded in the database.

And is the family name Johnstone?

Comments

Thanks for that idea. It is possible that the marriage was in Jamaica or even one of the other Caribbean colonies. The information that the son "went out" to Jamaica is the bit that led me to believe he was the first of the family to do so. However the source for that info can be a bit hit and miss - it's often a bit right but not quite all right! It's certainly worth my while extending the search to the colonies.