Christopher JOHNSTON

  General Notes:

Christopher Johnson and Angelina Love were natives of Co. Fermanagh,
Ireland. They had at least seven children in the period 1831-1845, six
of whom came to Australia.

The two eldest, William and James, arrived in Sydney 10JAN1858 aboard
the "PETER MAXWELL". They were sponsored by "a cousin", John Clark of
Kiama, who paid four pounds each towards their passage under the
assisted immigration scheme then in operation. The precise relationship
between the Clarks and the Johnstons is not known.

Two more sons (John and Christopher), and three daughters (Sarah, Mary
and Bessie) booked their passage to Australia late in 1864. However,
shortly before they were to sail, Mary eloped with James Christopher
Johnson (son of Robert Johnson and Sidney Muldoon) and they were married
on September 2nd.

Family legend (the story being known both in NSW and Ireland to the
present day) has it that James then sailed with his wife and her
siblings, taking the place of his brother-in-law Christopher. The
shipping list for the "Himalaya" (arrived Sydney March 3rd, 1865) shows
the family as two brothers (John and Christopher) and three sisters
(Sarah, Mary and Bessie), all supposedly single. (Christopher later
married and raised a family in the Magheraculmoney area of Co.
Fermanagh, where he died in 1914 and was buried at Ardess).

Of the six children of Christopher and Angelina who emmigrated, four
certainly settled in the Kiama-Gerringong area (James, Sarah, John and
Mary). William is believed to have also settled in the area, while
Bessie has yet to be traced. The family later spread further afield, to
Albion Park and the Southern Highlands, and in common with most other
Illawarra farming families, spread to the Richmond River when that area
was opened up in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Christopher married Angelina LOVE.