Robert Johnston, the Tailor of Innerleithen
07/02/2016 14:06
[PDF Version with pictures] The Tailor of Innerleithen.pdf (240807)
Robert Johnston, my Great Great Grandfather, was born In Berwick-upon-Tweed in on 14th August 1835.
He married Isabella Bowhill Main (born in Kelso in 1836) in 1856. In the 1851 census Isabella was listed as working as a house servant in the home of Jessie Brookes in Rox Street, Kelso.
At the time of the 1861 census they lived at Castlegate in Berwick and had two children, Robert (aged 4) and Andrew (aged 2).
Ten years later at the time of the 1871 census they were living in Golden Square, Berwick and four more children had been born - Margaret, Elizabeth, James, and Elspeth. The oldest son, Robert, was now 14 and his occupation is listed as Tailor Apprentice, Andrew was 12 and listed as an Errand Boy.
By the time of the 1881 census the family had moved to Innerleithen in Peeblesshire.He was a tailor and employed others. (Others in the family were also tailors.) At the 1881 census the children listed were: Andrew, Margaret, Betsy, James, Euphemia, Arnold, Alexander and William. (The son Robert, my great grandfather, had married and moved to Earlston and later Hawick.)
At the 1891 census they were living at Marmion Ho, Innerleithen and the children listed were: Bessie, James E, and Euphemia. (Also living with them was an Agnes Rillie.)
At the 1901 census they were living at the Marre Buildings in Innerleithen and the children still with them were: Bessie (aged 36) and Alexander (aged 27).
Great great grandfather Robert Johnston died in February 1909 at Innerleithen and his wife Isabella Bowhill Main died in November 1922 at Walkerburn.
And their children?
Son Robert Johnston, my Great Grandfather, moved to Earlston, then Hawick, then Oban and then Glasgow. Read more about him on this page.
Son Andrew Johnston was a tailor, and later a hotel keeper. He married Marion Thomson Hope in 1886 and their children were Andrew Hope Johnston and Christina Johnston.
Daughter Margaret Johnston is described as a Woollen Winder in the 1881 census. She married Frederick William Pearce, who was a butcher, in 1891. The Pearce family - who had originally come from London and then moved to Dumbarton before moving to Innerleithen - ran a well-known lemonade business. There is lots of material, including photographs, on the internet on the Pearce family.
Son James Bowhill Johnston married Christina Gardner in 1890 in Walkerburn. They had five sons and five daughters.
Alexander Johnston died in the Midlothian Asylum in 1940.
William Fleming Johnston married Mary Watson and they had three children. He died in 1960 in Largs.
Euphemia Johnston is listed as a Woollen Knitter in the 1891 census. She married Richard Hill in 1895. They lived in Lawrence City, Essex, Massachusetts. She died there in 1946.
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