Excerpt from John Johnston of New York, Merchant Johnston, chiefly as it is set forth in his journals and letters. In 1804, at the age of twenty-three, he came from Scotland to New York with a total capital, according to his carefully kept note-book, of and by his own energy and industry raised himself to a prominent position in the merchant guild of his adopted city. In the references to his Scotch parents I have not sought to trace their origin - a family duty which has been undertaken by my cousin, John Humphreys Johnston. It is enough for all purposes of this sketch to know, as my cousin has told me, that our forebears were of gentle blood and fallen fortunes a combina tion only too well known in Galloway, as the result of civil and religious upheaval and spoliation, during the Revolution and Covenanting persecutions. Foreword I wish here to record my indebtedness not only to the members of the family of James Boorman Johnston, my father's brother, who have freely allowed me to use possession, but also to the cousins same kind privilege. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.