Topic: Cousins!

Most people seem to have a number of first cousins and many seconds and thirds, but my father Warwick Johnston had a lone brother who died as a baby, and my mother Vada d’Archy had one sister who never married. Consequently I have no first cousins.

My maternal grandmother Lily Hunt 1876-1946 came from a family of ten and only five of them had children surviving childhood. Her mother Margaret Morgan 1838-1920 had 5 siblings yet no known nephews/nieces. The Hunts were my only known distant cousins for many years – mainly one family – mostly I only saw them at Christmas but our friendships have developed as adults and with the help of e-mail.

On the other hand My paternal grandmother Bertha Wade 1874-1947, born in New Zealand, had 6 siblings and 3 had children. Her mother was a Macloskey. My Paternal grandfather Alexander Johnston had 3 siblings; 2 had children.

Growing up I did not know of any Johnston, Macloskey or Wade cousins. Or any d’Archys.

This all changed gradually when my Aunt Betty d’Archy was approached by a family historian Dr. Ann Prendergast who was interested in the d’Archys even though only related to them through marriage – her great great Aunt Margaret Prendergast 1844-1915 married my great grandfather Francis d’Archy 1854-1925. She did tell my Aunt there were a few d’Archys around but my Aunt was not much interested (“I’m too old!”). But she DID tell me ….

This started my interested in genealogy but it was some years before I could find the time to do anything. When the internet and e-mail started suddenly records became far more accessible.

The d’Archy researcher was very forthcoming and became a good friend – I visited her whenever I could and she was very generous with sharing all her research. Through her I made contact with several d’Archy second and third cousins.

Then I decided to look for some Johnston second cousins. I did track down two, descendants of my granddad’s brother Charles – one of whom, it turned out, once worked at the same university as I did in an associated department. It was quite possible that our paths crossed more than once but I did not know his surname and never made the connection until years after his death. I do have several friends who were his students so know a little more about him that I would otherwise have discovered (!). His widow had a huge old Johnston family bible which went a long way to solving one family puzzle and to confirm the names of my GGG Grandmother Mary Cochrane’s siblings, often missnamed or missed in online trees.

Granddad Alexander and his brother Charles Johnston had another brother who was drowned and a sister Margaret who in 1886 married FJA Huxtable, who came from a HUGE family. Eventually I made contact with one of Margaret (Johnston) Huxtable’s sons and through him the descendants of a granddaughter. To say that that contact opened the Johnston family floodgates is an understatement! Best of all, one of the third cousins lives in my adopted country New Zealand and even in the same city (I am Australian and almost all other cousins are in that country). Myke and I see each other occasionally when his work allows and I have collaborated with one of his brothers to produce several family histories.

DNA opened still more doors. A small match with a Prendergast distant cousin developed into an on-line friendship and when I mentioned where I lived in NZ she said “Oh but my sister lives there!” So now I have another distant cousin living in the same city, who I see often. I have also discovered a couple of Macloskey third cousins, three of them living in New Zealand. I see them occasionally as they live in other parts of the country.

I made DNA-match contact with several distant Hunt cousins in England and through them the Hunt family tree has also expanded hugely. My great grandfather Edwin Hunt 1837-1895 and two of his sisters emigrated to Australia; one did not marry but the other has hundreds of descendants with whom I also find occasional DNA matches. Also with some distant Johnston cousins. the latter contact was invaluable as it ‘proved’ the identity of my GGG Grand Aunt Margaret Cochrane, who definitely married a Donald in 1780 and not someone else as a number of on-line trees assert.

So although I do not have any first cousins, I feel far from alone!!