John Johnstone of Newbie was the second son of William Johnstone of Gretna and Newbie. Commonly, a connection has been assumed having Wiiliam as a son of Clan Johnstoun Chief James Johnstoun.
I have coordinated a private group of Johnston-and-variants since 2005. We have now connected over 100 Y-DNA Cousins worldwide. Fortunately for us the late Margaret Cameron had her Johnstone genealogy traced back to family on the Johnstone of Axletreewell farm, a Johnstone of Newbie holding in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Now some 33 of us Y-DNA Cousins connect back to the Johnstone of Newbie line, thanks to Margaret's interest in her/our family.
We also have in our Y-DNA project a line said to be descended from Herbert Johnstoun of Poldean. We now need a second known Poldean family corroboration. We have traced one such family, von Johnston in Germany, but we have failed to convince one of their members to do a Y-DNA test. So the Poldean line remains unverified in our project.
If the Poldean connection that we have is correct, then Williiam Johnstoun of Gretna and Newbie cannot be a son of the
Clan Chief James Johnston. His common ancestor to a Clan Chief would be back ca. 1201, a very ancient connection, but a connection nonetheless. In addition, I have come across another Johnstoun of Graitney (Gretna) who was living before William, making it impossible for William to have been the first.
The Johnstones of Gretna and Newbie never had a title bestowed upon any of them by any King of Scotland. Rather, they bought their lands, and became known by the designation "of Newbie" which signified land ownership. Their kinship to the Clan Chief was always assumed as our Chiefs were noted as having spent considerable time visiting and staying with them at Newbie Castle which has been demolished, and its land is now farmed. King James (the number escapes me right now - early 1500s) knew the value of having the Johnstouns of Newbie as his strong allies and friends, but he also feared their political power. He kept them in check by requiring us to keep 200 spearmen at arms ready at all times to protect the Annan-Gretna region from the predatory raids and attacks of the English, and at our own expense! Visitors of this area at the time described the Annan-Gretna region as a vast devastated wasteland from English predatory raids. Our ancestors had such a difficult time surviving that the King is said to have sent money privately to help us - welfare assistance in effect.
If you believe that you have a connection back to the Johnston-and-variants in Scotland, contact me, and we'll take it from there. Please note that we cannot help you unless you are willing to do a Y-DNA test first to confirm that you are part of the I-M223 haplogroup.
