My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES MATTHEW JOHNSTON, carpenter, Wilkinsburg, was born in Wilkins township in October, 1822 and is a grandson of Charles Johnston (see biography of H. M. Johnston). His father, Andrew Johnston, was a farmer in Wilkins township, and built a gristmill, which he operated. He died when Charles was a child, and his widow, nee Margret Robertson, went to Rock Island, Ill., where she died at the residence of her son in December, 1883: both were members of the Beulah Church. They had seven children: Charles, James, Rebecca, William, Archie, and two daughters who died in infancy. When eighteen years old Charles M. left the farm to learn the carpenter’s trade. He spent two years at Freeport and nine in Salem, Westmoreland county, Pa., at milling. Nov. 3, 1846, he married Mary Trees, a native of Salem, and following are the names of their children: Thomas Trees (deceased), Emma Jane (wife of James Cruikshank, deceased, and mother of three children: Omar Trees, and Louisa and William Johnston, deceased), James Andrew, Joseph and Edward Riley (deceased), Charles M. (a bookkeeper in Pittsburgh), Oliver N. (in Wilkinsburg). Thomas Trees, Mrs. Johnston’s father, came from England when twenty years old, and lived in Salem fifty-five years. His wife, nee Elizabeth Hill, was also a native of England. In 1873 Mr. Johnston came to Wilkinsburg, where he has followed his trade most of the time since. He is a member of Beulah Church; is a Freemason, a member of the I. O. O. F., and a republican.