Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet

Johnson was born near Amsterdam, New York on 5 November 1741. He was the only son of Colonel Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, and his common-law wife, Catherine Weissenberg, a Palatine German immigrant. As his parents never married, he was baptized John Wysen Bergh by Rev. Henry Barclay February 7, 1741/2 as an Anglican in the chapel at Fort Hunter.[lower-alpha 1] His father was a military commander during the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) who had promoted the British settlement of the Mohawk Valley and trading with the Mohawk, and founded the community of Johnstown in Tryon County in the Province of New York.[1]

His paternal grandparents were Christopher Johnson and Lady Anne Warren, sister of Vice Admiral Sir Peter Warren (who married his eventual wife's aunt, Susannah Delancey, a daughter of Stephen Delancey), descendants of King William the Conqueror.[1]

From 1757 until 1760, John studied sporadically at The Academy and College of Philadelphia. From 13 years of age, he accompanied his father on military expeditions and conferences with the Indians.[2]

In 1771, Johnson became the last Provincial Grand Master of Masons in the colonies of Province of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.[3] At his father's death in 1774, Johnson became a wealthy landowner and succeeded to his father's title of baronetcy, along with his extensive estates and 20 slaves.[4][5] In 1775, he was appointed doorkeeper of the New York General Assembly.

Post-war Years

John Johnson's Manor House in Williamstown, Ontario

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, establishing the independence of the American Colonies. Johnson and thousands of other Loyalists were in permanent exile in Canada. The British had transported some Loyalists from New York and New England for resettlement to Nova Scotia, including more than 3,000 Black Loyalists: African-American slaves whom they had freed as promised for their service during the war.

In 1784, Haldimand appointed Johnson to distribute Crown lands (purchased from First Nations) along the St. Lawrence River and the north shore of Lake Ontario (what became known as Upper Canada) to Loyalists who had come to Canada, as some compensation for their losses in the colonies. The government wanted to encourage development of this part of Canada, as it was lightly settled. The exiles faced severe conditions in the early years, as they struggled to create settlements out of frontier lands, and the British were not able to get adequate supplies to them on time. Johnson estimated that he had arranged the settlement of 3,776 Loyalists during the first years. From 1787 to 1788 he worked with his subordinate at the Indian Department Colonel John Butler on the Johnson-Butler Purchase in acquiring more land east of the Toronto Purchase.

In 1791, Lord Dorchester recommended Johnson as lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, but London turned this recommendation down.

In 1796, Johnson moved back to Montreal, then the seat of government, where he served in the Legislative Council of Lower Canada and as head of the Department of Indian Affairs for Lower Canada. He owned land in both Upper and Lower Canada, including the seigneuries of Monnoir and Argenteuil in Quebec.[10]

Lady Mary Johnson, copied by Henderson, of Montreal, from a family painting

From 1765 to 1773, Johnson took as a common-law wife, fifteen year old Clarissa Putman (1751–1833) of Tribes Hill, New York, daughter of Arent V. Putman and Elizabeth Peek, of Dutch and Mohawk ancestry.[11] Before their relationship ended he married Mary Nicoll Watts. John and Clarissa were the parents of a daughter and a son:[12]

• Margaret Johnson (1765–c. 1830), who married James Van Horne, the son of Sheriff Abraham Van Horne, in 1791.[12]
• William Johnson (1770–1836), who was taken to Canada by Johnson where he was educated and became the lock master at The Cascades in Lower Canada.[12]

On June 30, 1773, Johnson married Mary Nicoll "Polly" Watts (1751–1815), a daughter of Hon. John Watts, President of the King's Council, of New York. After he escaped to Canada in May 1776 at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Lady Johnson was detained that year by the Whigs of New York as a hostage for the good conduct of her husband. After she was freed to join Sir John in Canada, the couple lived in Montreal during the winter and spent the summers on their seigneurie at Argenteuil, Ottawa on the Ottawa River. The couple also visited in England. Together, Mary and Sir John had ten sons, eight of whom served in the British army and navy, and eight daughters, including:[13]

• Anne Nancy Johnson (1774–1848), who married Colonel Edward MacDonnell (1766–1812), the Deputy Quartermaster General to the Forces in Canada who served as an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington.[13]
• William Johnson (1775–1811), Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, who married Sarah Delancey, granddaughter of Oliver Delancey.[13][14]
• Warren Johnson (1777–1802), Major in the 60th Foot.[13][14]
• Adam Gordon Johnson (1781–1843), Lieutenant Colonel of the 6th Battalion of Militia, who succeeded his father to the baronetcy.[13][15]
• John Johnson of Point Olivier, Montreal (1782–1841), Colonel-Commandant of 6th Battalion of Militia, who married Mary Diana Dillon (1809–1861).[13][14]
• James Stephen Johnson (1785–1812), Captain in the 28th Foot who was killed at the 1812 Siege of Badajoz.[13][15]
• Catherine Maria Johnson (1786–1850), who married Major-General Barnard Foord Bowes in 1805. Bowes died at the Siege of the Salamanca Forts in 1812.[13]
• Robert Thomas Johnson (1787–1812), Captain in the Army, who drowned in the St. Lawrence River in 1812.[13][15]
• Charles Christopher Johnson (1787–1864), Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, who married Susan Griffith Colpoys, daughter of Sir Edward Griffith Colpoys.[13]
• Archibald Kennedy Johnson (1792–1866), who married Jenet Robertson and Maria Langham.[13]

Their last surviving child, an unmarried daughter, died in London on 1 January 1868.

Lady Johnson died in Montreal on August 7, 1815.[2] Sir John died, at the age of 88, in Montreal, while still Superintendent of Indian Affairs, on January 4, 1830. Both are buried in a vault at Mount Johnson, near Chambly, Quebec.[16]

Vault Sir John Johnson,
Mount Johnson, 1885

• The Sir John Johnson House in Williamstown, Ontario, was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1961.[17][18][19]
• Lac Sir John, a small lake near Lakefield, Quebec (and as is the road Chemin Lac Sir John) is named after him.

Notes

Sources

• "Biography of Sir John Johnson". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.