Note 218 — Chapter XXVIII

John Johnston, born at Craignear, Giant’s Causeway, Ireland, in 1763, came to Canada in 1792. Lord Dorchester introduced him to the partners of the North West Company, and he quickly decided to cast in his lot with the Western fur-traders. First settled at La Pointe, he married the daughter of an Indian chief. In 1794 he removed to Sault Ste. Marie, and lived there until his death in 1828. Although living on the American shore, he sided with the British in the War of 1812-15. Hearing of Colonel Croghan’s expedition, he armed all his men, about a hundred in number, and embarked with them for Mackinac, thus leaving his property at the mercy of Major Holmes. Johnston’s son served as lieutenant on the “Queen Charlotte,” and was captured by the Americans in the naval battle on Lake Erie. Bigsby, on his journey through the lakes in 1824, visited Johnston, and commented upon the value and extent of his library—“a thousand well-bound and well-selected volumes, French and English, evidently much in use, in winter especially.” For further details of his career, see Masson, Bourgeois, ii, pp. 137-142.—Ed.