J. W. Johnston, Kilkee-born actor
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:22 am
At https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGJG-RPT is a transcription of the birth of John Johnstone in "Kilku" on 2 Oct 1876, to Charles Johnstone and Jane Hartney. [There is no apparent invitation to report transcription errors.]
The birth appears to have been registered twice, for at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGF6-65H and https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FRSZ-W94 are transcriptions of the birth of John William Johnston on 6 Oct 1876 - middle name added, E dropped from the surname, and birthdate four days later!
Numerous sources suggest that he celebrated his birthday on the earlier date and that he became an actor in America:
http://www.fandango.com/jwjohnston/overview/p35979 :
J.W. Johnston
Born:
October 2, 1876 in Kilkee, Ireland
Occupation:
Actor
http://www.aoltv.com/celebs/jw-johnston ... /biography :
BIOGRAPHY
Born: 10/2/1876 ยท Kilkee, Ireland
A tall, dark-haired actor from Ireland ...
[Note - and please avoid! - the cardinal sin of internet genealogy, an all-numeric date, which means completely different things to those accessing the internet from North America (October) and to those accessing it from Europe (February)!]
http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celeb ... ohnston.2/ :
Actor
Born:
October 2, 1876 in Kilkee, Ireland
Death:
July 29, 1946 in Los Angeles, CA
Biography:A tall, dark-haired actor from Ireland, J.W. Johnston ...
and many more.
He is enumerated (but described as born in co. Limerick!) in the 1901 census in Kilkee with his mother and aunt:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... _/1079872/
By 1911, he was gone; his mother had aged by 17 years and changed her birthplace from Limerick to Kilkenny; and his aunt had aged by 32 years and changed her birthplace from Limerick to Cavan:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... ne/365065/
All well and good until one consults Wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._W._Johnston
which currently reads:
"Born in the County Kildare village of Kilkea, about 75 km (47 mi) from Dublin, Johnston traveled to the United States as a young man, with Variety mentioning that his initial Broadway appearance was in Paul Potter's stage adaptation of Ouida's popular historical romance, Under Two Flags, starring Blanche Bates, which opened at Garden Theatre on February 5, 1901 and closed in June."
This must be Kilkea's revenge for the theft of Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, who even has a terrace in Kilkee named after him!
I will have to do some searching in the Ellis Island manifests and elsewhere before deciding whether to make one or two corrections to the above sentence from Wikipedia - it is, of course, possible that an aunt or mother decided to include in the Census of Ireland a young man who was 3,000 miles away on census night, treading the boards on Broadway.
The birth appears to have been registered twice, for at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGF6-65H and https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FRSZ-W94 are transcriptions of the birth of John William Johnston on 6 Oct 1876 - middle name added, E dropped from the surname, and birthdate four days later!
Numerous sources suggest that he celebrated his birthday on the earlier date and that he became an actor in America:
http://www.fandango.com/jwjohnston/overview/p35979 :
J.W. Johnston
Born:
October 2, 1876 in Kilkee, Ireland
Occupation:
Actor
http://www.aoltv.com/celebs/jw-johnston ... /biography :
BIOGRAPHY
Born: 10/2/1876 ยท Kilkee, Ireland
A tall, dark-haired actor from Ireland ...
[Note - and please avoid! - the cardinal sin of internet genealogy, an all-numeric date, which means completely different things to those accessing the internet from North America (October) and to those accessing it from Europe (February)!]
http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celeb ... ohnston.2/ :
Actor
Born:
October 2, 1876 in Kilkee, Ireland
Death:
July 29, 1946 in Los Angeles, CA
Biography:A tall, dark-haired actor from Ireland, J.W. Johnston ...
and many more.
He is enumerated (but described as born in co. Limerick!) in the 1901 census in Kilkee with his mother and aunt:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... _/1079872/
By 1911, he was gone; his mother had aged by 17 years and changed her birthplace from Limerick to Kilkenny; and his aunt had aged by 32 years and changed her birthplace from Limerick to Cavan:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/p ... ne/365065/
All well and good until one consults Wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._W._Johnston
which currently reads:
"Born in the County Kildare village of Kilkea, about 75 km (47 mi) from Dublin, Johnston traveled to the United States as a young man, with Variety mentioning that his initial Broadway appearance was in Paul Potter's stage adaptation of Ouida's popular historical romance, Under Two Flags, starring Blanche Bates, which opened at Garden Theatre on February 5, 1901 and closed in June."
This must be Kilkea's revenge for the theft of Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, who even has a terrace in Kilkee named after him!
I will have to do some searching in the Ellis Island manifests and elsewhere before deciding whether to make one or two corrections to the above sentence from Wikipedia - it is, of course, possible that an aunt or mother decided to include in the Census of Ireland a young man who was 3,000 miles away on census night, treading the boards on Broadway.