While chatting with a fellow that I work with a while back I found out that his sister', husband's great grandfather was a judge in the 1900's. Previous to becoming a judge he was one of the lawyers in the Riel trials (they tell the story as "one of Riel's lawyers")
His name was Thomas C. Johnstone. They showed me a photo of him with a number of other dignitaries at the opening of the Qu'appelle, Long Lake railroad in the late 1880's/1890's.
Apparently (as the internet tells me) Johnstone was born in Ontario in 1850 and moved to Regina in 1882 to set up a law practice, was one of Riel's lawyers in 1885, later became the crown prossecutor for the Judicial District of Assiniboia and in 1906 was appointed as Judge of Western Assiniboia. In 1907 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan and retired in 1914.
So one day a few months ago this friend of mine tells me that his brother in law has a bunch of guns that were his great, grandfathers along with some other interesting items.
After meeting with them and talking for a couple of hours atthe kitchen table the brother in law picks up an old blue RAF bag and sets it in front of me on the table and says "what do you think"...long storey short, I ended up walking out of the house with the old RAF cloth bag carrying about 300 rounds of antique cartridges, a british bulldog, a large framed Iver Joshnson top break, an old large framed pinfire and an odd little .22 plinker... all that belonged to "Judge Johnstone".
I know someone is going to post the "this thread is worthless without pics" smilie but just be patient. I will get the goods set up for some photos this week.
What I did take pictures of with my phone was the really nice beaded indian artifacts that also belonged to the great grandfather. Have a look:
He's got a signal board with sheath, a pair of slippers/moccasins, horn container and leather bag. My opinion is the bag is a store bought item from long ago but the other beaded items are no doubt the real deal. Moccasons and signal board are different "tribes" but authentic and comparable to the pieces we have in the Royal Sask Museum.
Anyone interested in stuff like this?
His name was Thomas C. Johnstone. They showed me a photo of him with a number of other dignitaries at the opening of the Qu'appelle, Long Lake railroad in the late 1880's/1890's.
Apparently (as the internet tells me) Johnstone was born in Ontario in 1850 and moved to Regina in 1882 to set up a law practice, was one of Riel's lawyers in 1885, later became the crown prossecutor for the Judicial District of Assiniboia and in 1906 was appointed as Judge of Western Assiniboia. In 1907 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan and retired in 1914.
So one day a few months ago this friend of mine tells me that his brother in law has a bunch of guns that were his great, grandfathers along with some other interesting items.
After meeting with them and talking for a couple of hours atthe kitchen table the brother in law picks up an old blue RAF bag and sets it in front of me on the table and says "what do you think"...long storey short, I ended up walking out of the house with the old RAF cloth bag carrying about 300 rounds of antique cartridges, a british bulldog, a large framed Iver Joshnson top break, an old large framed pinfire and an odd little .22 plinker... all that belonged to "Judge Johnstone".
I know someone is going to post the "this thread is worthless without pics" smilie but just be patient. I will get the goods set up for some photos this week.
What I did take pictures of with my phone was the really nice beaded indian artifacts that also belonged to the great grandfather. Have a look:
He's got a signal board with sheath, a pair of slippers/moccasins, horn container and leather bag. My opinion is the bag is a store bought item from long ago but the other beaded items are no doubt the real deal. Moccasons and signal board are different "tribes" but authentic and comparable to the pieces we have in the Royal Sask Museum.
Anyone interested in stuff like this?
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