JOHNSTON, WILLIAM G. (1??? LIVING 1849)

JOHNSTON, WILLIAM G., Presbyterian minister, St Andrew's Church, Chatham, 1831-33; m. 1832, Jane (Creighton) Graham, of Chatham parish; living in 1849.

During the ministry of the Rev. James Thomson, as elsewhere noted, St Andrew's Church, Chatham, had both 'Kirk', or Established Church of Scotland, and Secessionist adherents. Thomson succeeded in holding the congregation together for fourteen years, but after his death in 1830 the two factions quarreled and went their separate ways. The Presbyterians in Newcastle had inducted a Kirk minister that year, in the person of the Rev. James Souter, and the Kirk followers in Chatham wanted such a pastor as well. Accordingly, they issued a call in Scotland, to which the Rev. William G. Johnston responded, while their Secessionist counterparts found a minister of their own persuasion in the Rev. John McCurdy of Nova Scotia.

Johnston began his term of service at St Andrew's Church in the latter part of 1831, but his tenure was both brief and troubled. Unknown to those who had contracted with him, his conduct had been "anything but high in and about Dumfries," in Scotland, and "by associating too freely with the lower orders, and tasting with them at all hours," he soon began "to sink" in Chatham too. Although he was engaged to a woman overseas, he decided to marry "a Mrs. Graham, a Widow and Tavernkeeper of his Congregation." The Rev. Mr Souter (whose words are quoted in these paragraphs) was approached about "tying the knot," but because he felt that Johnston's treatment of his betrothed was "heartless and cruel," he declined. However, the Rev. Samuel Bacon, who was "very accommodating in such matters, did this piece of service for them."

As controversy over Johnston's behavior grew, the "more respectable part" of his congregation ceased attending services. In order to entice him to "quit the church peaceably," the elders and trustees offered him "two years salary in full from the time of his commencement." Much to their relief he accepted, "on condition that they would proceed no further against him." He preached his farewell sermon on 30 June 1833.

Johnston went to the United States and was ministering in Coventry, R.I., in 1836. During his term in Chatham the Church of Scotland had listed him as one of its own, but he was subsequently identified with the Free Church. He was in Canada West between 1846 and 1849 as minister of the Free Presbyterian Church at Ramsay, in the Kingston Presbytery. His wife, Jane (Creighton) Graham, died at the manse there on 27 September 1849.