Page 1 of 1

J. W. Johnston, Kilkee-born actor

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:22 am
by pwaldron
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.

Re: J. W. Johnston, Kilkee-born actor

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:14 am
by Linda Klassen-Brown
Paddy in my research of the Johston/e's I have come across a few more bits of information about this John Johnston which I thought might be of interest.

Register of birth Kilkee, County Clare (sorry did not note the Church - still learning!) but did copy the entry which I will attach.

John William Michael Johnston October 2nd (date of baptism) parents: Charles Johnston Jane Mary Hartney - can't make out the place name

I have a draft card for him listing a wife and her name as Oneida Johnston - plus more information (will attach)

I found a marriage certificate for John & Oneida - also attached it is date 1914 and John is shown as divorced

I also found his petition for naturalisation which has some further interesting information including that he has a son born September 1898 in New York - which would presumably been with his first wife. I have yet to find any information on his fist wife.

I will try to attach the documents I have found in case anyone else is looking at this John W Johnston
Birth 1876 John W M Johnston.jpg
Birth 1876 John W M Johnston.jpg (2.47 MiB) Viewed 12232 times

Re: J. W. Johnston, Kilkee-born actor

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 2:18 am
by Linda Klassen-Brown
Couldn't add the second Naturalisation document which has more detail which was submitted with the application

Re: J. W. Johnston, Kilkee-born actor

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 6:27 pm
by pwaldron
Great finds, Linda.

Have you also been updating the Wikipedia page at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._W._Johnston ?

The register of baptisms in Kilkee parish, like most baptismal registers, does not indicate in which of the churches in the parish the baptism took place; John Johnston was more likely baptised in Kilkee Church than in Lisdeen Church.

Re: J. W. Johnston, Kilkee-born actor

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:55 pm
by Linda Klassen-Brown
Hi Paddy

Thanks - yes I did a bit of an update on the Bio @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._W._Johnston ? but need to do a bit more as now know he had a son'

I have just this afternoon found what I think is the entry for their (1st?) arrival in the USA. I still have not found a record of John's first marriage or the birth of his son - still working on that.

Re: J. W. Johnston, Kilkee-born actor

Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 9:06 pm
by Linda Klassen-Brown
Sorry should have added the details of this passenger record:

Name: Chas Johnstone
Arrival Date: 12 Aug 1882
Birth Date: abt 1842
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality: American
Place of Origin: United States of America
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England and Queenstown, Ireland
Destination: United States of America
Port of Arrival: New York, New York
Ship Name: Britannic
Search Ship Database: Search for the Britannic in the 'Passenger Ships and Images' database