Snow Hill

THE JOHNSTONES OWNED 482 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY FERMANAGH

WILLIAM JOHNSTONE settled in Ulster about 1660, and married Prudence, daughter of William Goodfellow, of County Londonderry, by whom he had one son,

JAMES JOHNSTONE (born 1683), of County Fermanagh, who wedded Joanna Gunnis, County Donegal, and (with a younger son, Christopher, Surgeon of the 17th Lancers, who was father of Christopher Johnstone, Colonel of the 8th Hussars)had an elder son and heir,

JAMES JOHNSTONE (1738-1808), of Snow Hill, County Fermanagh, who espoused Anne, daughter of John Johnstone, of Adragoole House, County Leitrim, and had issue,

JOHN DOUGLAS, his heir;

Andrew, Lieutenant, 8th Hussars, died unmarried at Calcutta, 1810;

Margaret; Mary.

Mr Johnstone was succeeded by his son,

JOHN DOUGLAS JOHNSTONE (1769-1842), of Snow Hill, who married, in 1798, Samina, youngest daughter of Samuel Yates, of Moone Abbey, County Kildare, by his second wife, Catherine, daughter of Sir Richard Johnston Bt, of Gilford, County Down, by whom he had issue,

JAMES DOUGLAS, father of JOHN DOUGLAS JOHNSTONE;

Richard Gosford (1807-40), died in Upper Canada;

John Douglas, CB, Major-General;

Fairholme;

SAMUEL YATES, of whom hereafter;

William;

Catherine; Anna Douglas, Samina.

The fifth son,

SAMUEL YATES JOHNSTONE JP DL (1815-95), of Snow Hill, a barrister, succeeded his nephew, John Douglas Johnstone, 1862; and died unmarried, 1895.

Mr Johnstone was succeeded by his nephew,

COLONEL JOHN DOUGLAS JOHNSTONE JP DL (1836-1906), of Snow Hill, High Sheriff of County Fermanagh, 1899, Colonel, Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment, Royal Sussex Regiment, and 101st Regimental District, who wedded, in 1869, the Hon Augusta Anna Margaretta Plunkett, daughter of Thomas Oliver, 12th Baron Louth, and had issue,

JOHN DOUGLAS, his heir;

Anna Maria; Randalina Augusta Caroline.

The son and heir,

JOHN DOUGLAS JOHNSTONE (1874-), of Snow Hill, espoused, in 1903, May, youngest daughter of Patrick Murphy, of St Andrew's, Milltown.

He served with the Mashonaland, 1897, with the British South African Company, also during the South African War with the RSA Field Force.

Snowhill (Image: A Postcard from County Fermanagh)

SNOWHILL, near Lisbellaw, County Fermanagh, is a handsome Georgian country house of ca 1740-50, comprising two storeys over a basement.

The front door is pedimented; and the house is gabled, with prominent quoins.

Snowhill ca 1830 (historic OS map)

The land where the house stands belonged to a family called Crawford at the beginning of the 18th century.

James Johnstone acquired Snowhill demesne in the 1780s, and the Johnstones occupied the house until 1921.

Ir was subsequently owned by the Eadies and John Judd, who sold the property in 1985.