The Johnston and Hamilton Families of Crear: A Memoir of Two Argyll Families

Bessie Johnston, my great-grandmother, came from Crear in Argyll, not far from the Mull of Kintyre. When she came to New Zealand as a war bride, almost all contact with her family in Scotland was lost. Bessie's family cut her off and she died, tragically young, in 1922.

For almost 80 years, the Johnston connection remained a mystery. Then, out of the blue, we received a letter from Mary Harris of Ontario.

This is an account of how the mystery was solved and what happened to the Johnstons.