Genealogical account of the family of Johnston of that Ilk, formerly of Caskieben, in the shire of Aberdeen, and of its principal branches

11 PREFACE.
and which is in the possession of Mr. David Morice John-
ston, — the Index of Retours, and the Acts of the Parlia-
ment of Scotland, — both published under the direction of
the commission appointed in 1806, and the Register of
the Great Seal of Scotland, — the references to which are
taken from the manuscript index in the Signet Library.
Much valuable information was obtained from the ac-
count of the family in Douglas' Baronage, and from the
" Genealogy of the Family of Forbes," published at Inver-
ness in 1819.
From about 1670 to the present time, my authorities
(with the works already mentioned) chiefly were, — Play-
fair's Baronetage of Scotland, parish registers, family
papers, inscriptions on tomb-stones, and the testimony of
old persons connected with the family, and well versed in
its history. My own knowledge of facts and dates was
also of some little service.
I may observe, that although the branches afterwards
treated of, are the only descendants of the Caskieben
family known to me, there are existing, in all proba-
bility, persons not here taken notice of, whose ancestors
may have come off the main stock at a remote period,
especially as it is said that of Stephen, the founder of the
Caskieben family, all the Johnstons in the north are de-
scended. Such persons it was by no means my intention
to exclude from this account ; and had any such come
under my notice, and been able to produce well authen-
ticated pedigrees, I should have been happy to have given
them a place.
Edinburgh, 1st October 1832.