Looking for Johnstons......Part 1

......is like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack and isn't helped by the fact my mother told me next to nothing about her father's family. I've tended to push this branch of the family to one side because it's all too difficult but I'm learning to have patience and take one small step at a time and slowly I'm getting results.

This is my grandfather John Kirkpatrick Johnston. (1874 - 1940)

Prior to 2007 I knew

• the family came from a small village called Lochfoot about 5 km west of Dumfries in Scotland.
• my grandfather was born on the 24th September, 1874 ( from an old birthday book of my mothers)
• he came to New Zealand as a young man. 
• his father's name was also John and he married an Agnes (probably Corrie) 

In the 1990's my mother's eldest sister, Edith,  died and as my mother was the last surviving child she inherited a few special family items but it wasn't until after she died in 2007 and they came to me that I discovered an envelope that contained several BMD certificates including my grandfather's baptismal certificate.

It confirms the birthdate ,  that he was baptised on the 10th January, 1875 and his parents are John and Agnes. But the big surprise is the location - Barrow in Furness , Lancaster, England. That makes a huge difference because with so little information I wasn't prepared to tackle ScotlandsPeople's pay to view site but I can search the English census records.

You wouldn't believe how many John Johnstons there are and most of them seem to have married women named Agnes. 1871 -81-91...........so many looked at but none appear to be my John and Agnes. Perhaps they went back to Scotland?

I'm discouraged and the Johnstons get pushed under the bed again.