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JOHNSON
See The Johnsons and Johnstons of Corrowaugh in Isle of Wight County, 1979, by Eddis Johnson
And The Allen Family of Surry County... by William Carrell, in The Virginia Genealogist, Vol.50, 2006

John Johnson, born about 1590, earned the title of 'Yeoman and Ancient Planter' by arriving in Virginia before 1616, remaining for at least three years, surviving the massacre of 22 March 1622, and receiving patents of land from the Virginia Company under their rules issued in November, 1618.  The rules provided that those who came to Virginia at the Company's expense would be provided 100 acres of land after serving the Company for seven years, at an annual rent of one shilling per 50 acres.  John was granted land under this provision by Gov. George Yeardley between 10 Apr 1619 and 18 Nov 1621, though the exact date is unknown.  But this dates his arrival in Virginia between 1612 and 1614   He lived on 15 acres on Back River in the northeast portion of Jamestown Island and raised crops, probably including  tobacco, on 85 acres on Archer's Hope Creek, in the area called Jockey's Neck, (now site of the Williamsburg Winery) and 50 acres west of College Creek.  He may have been related to Sir Robert Johnson who visited the Virginia Colony in 1619.  His wife Ann may have been one of the "maids" imported in 1619. She died about 1653. John, with wife and two "infans" are listed as "living in Jams iland" 16 Feb 1623/4 in John C Hotten's Original Lists of Persons of Quality...1600-1700. London, 1874, page 178.  The muster of residents of James City taken 24 Jan 1624/5 lists John, his wife Ann, daughter Ann, age 4, and his son John, age 1.  They apparently voyaged back to England in the mid-1630's, since his heirs were granted 450 acres in Upper Chippokes, Surry County, on 25 Jan 1637/8, for re-importing his family of four and bringing five servants, Walter Travis, Nich. Cosones, Walter Johnson, Dorothy Barnett, and Katherine Dowse.  What relation these five people may have been is not known at this time.  But John apparently died soon after their return, as Edward Travis repatented the 900 acres 25 Feb 1638/9 in the names of "Edward Travis and John Johnson, sonn of John Johnson dec'd." Ann apparently died about 1658, before John (Jr) sold the 15-acre home site to Edward Travis in 1659.
. 1. Ann Johnson (1620) married about 1636 Edward Travis (died after 1682)
. . . 11. Edward Travis, Jr (c1637-12 Nov 1700) married Elizabeth Champion (?)
. 2. John Johnson, Jr. (1623-after 1659)
. Some sources list additional children, but only Edward Travis and John Johnson, Jr, were granted 
. land 25 Jan 1637/8, as the heirs of John Johnson Sr.
· This John Johnson was NOT the son of John Johnson and Hannah Throckmorton.  
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· This John Johnson was NOT the John Johnson who married Ann Gooch (Goche).  
.
 · There is NO EVIDENCE that this John Johnson was related to the Johnstone Family of Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.  
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· There is NO EVIDENCE that this John Johnson was related to Alderman Robert Johnson of London, shareholder in The Virginia Company in 1617, and therefore descended from the Johnston Family of Aberdeen, Scotland.. 
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For discussion, click here

John Johnson Jr was born about 1623, married about 1643, but his wife's name is unknown, (see Allen) and he died after 1659, but there was a John Johnson alive in 1704 and paying taxes for land on James Island, as the Quit Rent rolls of that year listed him as owner of 260 acres there.  With his brother-in-law Edward Travis, John Jr patented 900 acres due his father on Upper Chippokes Creek across the river in what is now northwest Surry County in 1638. He sold his half of that property to Robert Roberts 5 Jun 1653, no wife named.  On 25 Mar 1654, he repatented his father's100 acres on Jamestown Island, with 35 acres added making, with the 15 acre homestead, a total of 150 acres (Patent Book 3, p.27).  On 8 Aug 1659, he sold the 15-acre Jamestown Island property to Edward Travis.   But this transaction was accomplished by Edward repatenting the property, rather than by deed.  Or if there were a deed, it did not survive the various fires in the Statehouse in Jamestown and the Courthouse in Williamsburg, most disastrously during the Civil War.  For a deed of sale would show a wife's name.  And there were often deeds of gift to children, eliminating the need for a will.  And there is no record of the sale of the remainder of the Jockey's Neck land out of the family.  In fact, a search for a chain of title for the property found nothing from 1654 until 1842.
When he sold his land in Surrey County in 1653, he had no wife.  But he was only 30 years old, and may have remarried.  But nothing has been found about John Johnson Jr after 1659.   There was a John Johnson who paid quit rent on James Island in 1704.  Whether he was living there or not, we do not know.  It could have been John (1659) who lived in Isle of Wight County, but may have still owned the land on James Island.
. . . A John Johnson "of Lower Norfolk" apparently sided with the rebel Nathaniel Bacon, for in 1677 he was exempted from the king's pardon, property forfeit, and hanged.  Whether this was John Jr (1623) age 54, or someone else altogether, is not known.
     Some researchers give a death date of 1681 in Jockey's Neck, but no clue where they got that date.

We do not, in fact, have any record of wife or children for John Johnson Jr.   Eddis Johnson, in The Johnsons and Johnstons of Corrowaugh in Isle of Wight County, 1979, explains on page 29 his reason for claiming that Robert Johnson was the son of John Johnson Jr, thus: "Any documentary evidence regarding his ancestry, time and place of birth, and first marriage would have perished in one of the three fires that destroyed the statehouses at Jamestown and the records at Williamsburg during the Civil War.  However, the circumstantial evidence is persuasive that he was the sone (sic) of John Johnson, Jr.,..... In the perspective of time, place, and history, the continuity of this relationship is logical.  Furthermore, there is no evidence that Robert Johnson came to our shores as an immigrant or as the son of an immigrant.  It is also significant that no other of family of Johnsons appears to have made a prior claim of descent from John Johnson, Yeoman and Ancient Planter."  Unfortunately, this argument may not be as persuasive to others as it was to Mr. Eddis Johnson.  Actually, at least three men named Johnson were in the area, were of appropriate age to be sons of John Johnson Jr, and for whom no record of immigration has been found.  They could all be suspected but not proven to be sons of John Johnson, Jr:
  0. John Johnson (1642?) some researchers claim there was another John Johnson.  But no one says
      what happened to him, nor is there ANY documentation that he ever existed.  He also would have
      been too young to be the father of John Johnson (1659) although possibly (but still unlikely) the father 
      of James Johnston (1662) who married Mary, daughter of Robert (1643)
. 1. Robert Johnson (1643?-after Oct 1698) married c1668 Katherine, of whom below  
 .2. William Johnson/Johnston (1648-1719) blacksmith, married (secondly?) Sarah, daughter of 
. . . Owen Griffeth (died 1698) His land in Isle of Wight County adjoined Robert's.  
. . . . 21. Jane Woodward, daughter by Phillarete Woodward, before her marriage to John Giles
. . . . 22. John Johnston (1674?-1753) married Mary Pace, lived in Northampton Co, NC
. . . . 23. William Johnston (1676?-1748) of Edgecomb Co, NC
. . . . 24. Thomas Johnson (1678?-1746) married Mary, lived in Isle of Wight/Southampton Co, VA
. . . . 25. Benjamin Johnston (1688?-12 Feb 1767) married Mary, lived in Southampton Co, VA
. . . . . . . .25X. William Johnson (c1722) married Hester Matthews 
. 3. John Johnson (1659-1707) married c1687 Mary; m.1701 Mary Thompson Day, of whom below
There were two William Johnsons, of the same age, who owned land in both Surry and Isle of Wight Counties at the same time.  William Johnson (1648-1719) above left a will in Isle of Wight County (Will Book II, page 9) made 10 Apr (year not given), proved 28 Sep 1719, listing his wife Sarah, sons John, William, Thomas, Benjamin, and his friend Hardy Council.  Executor son John Johnson.  Witnesses Hardy, Robert, and James Council.  The connection to the Councils indicates a relationship to the Allen/Hardy Family, and identifies this William as a possible brother of Robert(1643) Johnson and/or John(1659) Johnson.  However, yDNA testing of his descendants indicates his haplotype was I-M253 
. . The will of Owen Griffeth, 9 Sep 1698, in Isle of Wight, lists wife Mary, sons Edward, Owen, and John, daughters Ann and Sarah, grandson John, granddaughters Patience, Margaret Edwards, and Judy Edwards.  Executors wife Mary and son-in-law William Johnson.
. . The other William Johnson (1648-1710) married Elizabeth Grantham, and left a will in Surry County (Will Book 6, page 28) made 4 Nov 1709, proved 4 Jul 1710, listing wife Elizabeth, sons William, Richard, Aaron, Moses, and daughters Martha and Mary.
     One of these William Johnsons is apparently the son of Martin Johnson of Surry County.  But I do not know which one, nor whether Martin was in any way related to John the Ancient Planter.

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The genealogy of this family was greatly complicated by Eddis Johnson, in The Johnsons and Johnstons of Corrowaugh in Isle of Wight County, 1979.  The book had a very specific agenda, which was to "prove" that President Lyndon Johnson was descended from both John Johnson, Ancient Planter, and from Arthur Allen (1608-1669) of Surry County, Virginia.  Many researchers have blindly accepted the contrived relationships he claimed, but failed to prove.  See also Allen  One speculation he presented as "fact" was Robert Johnson of Isle of Wight County as the son of John Johnson (1623) of Surry County, as described above.  Then, he claimed that Robert Johnson was born in 1643, married Katherine Allen and had a son John Johnson in 1663, Katherine died in 1692, after deeding land to their daughter Mary.  Then he supposedly married Ann in 1693 and had another set of children, whom he listed in his will of 1732.  However, that will lists a son John that is clearly not the same as the John Johnson born in 1659 (or 1663) and "my Two younger Daughters Mary & Sarah Johnson."  The Mary who received land in 1692 could not have been called a "younger daughter" in 1732, as she would have been in her 50's by that time.  So he would have had to have had two sons named John and two daughters named Mary, and lived to be 90 years of age.  All of which was unlikely in the 17th Century.
Robert Johnson, born about/after 1643, and died after a land grant in Nansemond County dated 15 Oct 1698 which named him as "Robt Johnson, Senr."  There was only one "Robert Johnson" in the Isle of Wight Quit Rent list of 1704.  So either Robert Senior had died, and that was his son, or he was still alive, but had not yet transferred the plantation to his son Robert.  Owning no land, Robert Junior would not have paid Quit Rent.   He married about 1668 Katherine (died after 1692). Eddis Johnson maintained that she was the daughter of Arthur Allen (1608-1669) and Alice Tucker, daughter or niece of Captain William Tucker, who was in Jamestown in 1610, but this seems very doubtful. (See Allen)  Robert patented 300 acres of land in Isle of Wight County in 1669, 2150 acres in Isle of Wight in 1681 adjoining Arthur Allen Jr, and the Nansemond County line, in Corrowaugh Swamp, and 42 acres in Nansemond County in 1698.  On 4 Aug 1692, Robert gave land on the northeast side of Corrowaugh Swamp, partitioned land, to Mary Johnson, but should Mary die before her husband James Johnson, he would have the use of the land during his lifetime, but then it goes to her children.   But Katherine signed that deed, so she was still alive on that date.  Robert and Katherine sold land to William Bush 12 Jan 1690/1.   Eleanor Johnson, possibly a daughter, witnessed that deed, indicating that she was at least 21 years old by that date, and probably their oldest child.  This places her birth approximately 1669, and Robert and Katherine's marriage about 1668.  This would be consistent with Robert being born about 1643, and married at the typical age of 25.  There is no documentation of any child other than Eleanor and Mary.
  1. Eleanor Johnson (c1670) there is no record of her other than the deed she witnessed in 1691.
  2. Robert Johnson (c1672-1733) married Ann. (see below) 
. 3. Mary Johnson (c1674) m.4 Apr 1692 James Johnston  (1662 - 30 Jan 1746) He was a near
      near relative of some kind, because the DNA of his descendants matches descendants of Robert
      (1696-1766) son of Mary's brother Robert (see below)
. . .  31..James Johnston, Jr.(1692-1749)  married Rebecca Darden
. . . . . .. . . Henry Johnston married Patience Matthews
. . .  32. John Johnston (1696-1783) married Peninah Holland 
. . . .    . .. .John Johnston (1724-1829) married Elizabeth Carr
. . . .    . . . . . . John Johnson (1764-1828) married Ann Eley
. . . . .    . . . . . . . ..Jesse Johnson (1795-1856) married Lucy Webb Barnett
. . . . . .    . . . . . . .. .. . Sam Ealy Johnson (1838-1915) married Eliza Jane Bunton
. . . . .    . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .Sam Ealy Johnson (1877-1937) married Rebekah Baines
. . . . .    . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) President of the United States
 .. . 33. Eleanor Johnson (1710) married John Bunn, then Isaac Ricks
       34. Other children
Eddis Johnson estimated Robert Johnson's birth in 1643, trying to claim he was the son of John Johnson (1623).  But he was probably born a few years later. Eddis then estimated his marriage to Katherine and his supposed eldest son John's birth in 1663.  However, since John received a grant of land 23 April 1681, and had to have been 21 years of age to own land, he had to have been born before April, 1660, and unlikely to have been the son of Robert, then no older than 17, and probably younger.  In addition, there is the will of his step-grandfather, John Hardy.  After Arthur Allen died in 1670, his wife Alice Tucker married John Hardy.  John Hardy's will, dated 7 Oct 1675, bequeaths "to my wife's grandchild John Johnson one cow when he comes to the age of Seventeen yeares" This indicates that John was born after 7 Oct 1658. Therefore, my estimate of 1659.  Eddis Johnson assumed that John Johnson's listing as Alice Allen Hardy's grandson meant that an unknown daughter of Arthur and Alice Allen, named Katherine, had married Robert Johnson.  But both Robert and Katherine were living in 1675.  It would have been most unusual for a step-grandfather to have mentioned him in his will if he were not an orphan.  It is therefore more logical to conclude that Robert and John were brothers, and possible (but unproven) sons of John Johnson Jr – Robert by John Johnson Jr's first wife, unknown, who died prior to 1653; and John by John Johnson Jr's second wife, who may have been a daughter of Arthur Allen.
Robert Johnson, born about 1672, wrote his will 4 Sep 1732, which was proved May, 1733. His wife was Ann.  We know little else about him.  Order of children and years of birth are NOT known.  Numbers 1-4 had already received their portion before Robert wrote his will.  The others are listed in the order mentioned in the will.  The years of birth in red are the years contrived by Eddis Johnson.  Mine might not be much better.  Mary and Sarah were named as "my younger daughters" in 1732, and were probably under 20 at the time.

. 1. Catherine Johnson (1694?1668) married Hodges Council III (1695-1762), son of Hodges Council 
      (1677-1750)  Eddis Johnson said she married Robert Council, son of Hodges Council (d1699)
      but he was of the previous generation (1670's) and died unmarried. 
. 2. Priscilla Johnson (1696?1672) married a Council, but there is no documentation of who.  
      Eddis Johnson said she married John Council, son of Hodges Council (d1699). But he married 
      Josie Willis, and was also of the previous generation.
  3. Robert Johnson (1698?1696-1766) m.1719 Priscilla (Powell??) Isle of Wight Co, VA  [yDNA = E-L241]
  4. Ann Johnson (1700?1694-after 1755) m.c1719 Epenetus Griffin (1685-1755) Tyrell Co, NC
  5. James Johnson (1702?) married Mary, Dobbs Co, NC
. 6. John Johnson (1704?1698-1754) married Lucy and/or Ann, Southampton Co, VA
. 7. Abraham Johnson (1706?1701-1776) married Ann Jones
. 8. Isaac Johnson (1708?1704-aft.1792) married Priscilla
  9. Jacob Johnson (1710?1706-1763) married Mary Denson, SOuthampton Co, VA
10. Mary Johnson (1712?1708) listed in her father's will, unmarried in 1732, no further record
11. Sarah Johnson (1714?1710) married Walter Bryant after 1732, and moved to Edgecombe Co, NC

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John Johnson (c1659-1707) married first Mary, whose last name is unknown, and second, in 1701 Mary Thompson widow of James Day. After John's death, she married Reuben Gladhill.  Her will of 30 Nov 1712 (Isle of Wight Will & Deed Book 2, p.543) named her only surviving child James Day.  

Eddis Johnson claims he is the eldest son of Robert(1643).  Both Robert and John received grants of land 23 April 1681.  Since John had to have been 21 years of age to own land, he had to have been born before April, 1660.  In addition, there is the will of his step-grandfather, John Hardy.  After Arthur Allen died in 1670, his wife Alice Tucker married John Hardy.  John Hardy's will, dated 7 Oct 1675, bequeaths "to my wife's grandchild John Johnson one cow when he comes to the age of Seventeen yeares" This indicates that John was born after 7 Oct 1658. Therefore, my estimate of 1659.  John Johnson Jr (above) was certainly born between 17 Feb 1622/3 and 23 Jan 1623/4 (was "infant" in the census of 16 Feb 1623/4 and one year old in the census of 24 Jan 1624/5) Therefore, John Johnson Jr was approximately 36 years old when John was born in 1659.  Robert is estimated to have been born in 1643, and would have been 16.   

In the land grants, both dated 23 Apr 1681, Robert Johnson of Isle of Wight patented 2150 acres of land for transporting 23 persons, and John Johnson patented 350 acres at Sommerton in Nansemond County for "Trans. of 7 pers: Jno. Culpepper 6 times; & Curtis Land."   (Cavaliers and Pioneers, v 2, p.221, Patent Book 7, p.93) Patents were granted for paying for the transportation of persons into Virginia, there was no restriction on how long in the past that may have been, and it was common to wait to accumulate a large number of importations to submit the request, so as to receive a large block of land.  The fact that John Johnson received land for six trips by John Culpepper indicates that these headrights had been stored up for a number of years - and not by John Johnson, who was 21 years old at the time. (See Bob's Genealogy Filing Cabinet for more on headright land patents.) This was apparently the John H Culpepper (1633-before 1695) who married in Philadelphia in 1688 Sarah Mayo (1668 Barbados-before 1726 NC) daughter of Edward Mayo (1649-1700) of Pasquotank Co, NC.   Edward Mayo was the brother of William Mayo (d.1713), imported in 1666 by John Hardy.  Adding information from William Carrell's article, William Mayo apparently marred a widow Johnson, daughter of Arthur and Alice Allen.  When Arthur died, Alice married John Hardy.  The widow Johnson died before a 20 Oct 1691 deed, when William Mayo's wife was Isabel, and likely before the Sep 1675 will of her stepfather John Hardy.  The widow's son, John Johnson, may have spent his teen-age years living with his grandmother and step-grandfather, Alice and John Hardy.  He witnessed Alice's power of attorney in 1681, granted to William Mayo.  Is this complicated enough?  See Allen  

As to John's father, the most likely candidate would be John Johnson Jr, who died after 1659, and might have been the John Johnson executed in 1677 for his part in Bacon's Rebellion.  But there is NO DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE to support this theory.

John Johnson (1659) purchased other land on Blackwater River 13 Aug 1687 from Mathew Tomlin.  And he patented land in 1692 adjoining James Allen and William Mayo.  John's will was written 7 January 1703/4, and proved 9 Aug 1707. (Isle of Wight Will & Deed Book 2, p.484, and a copy here)  He named four children in his will:

. 1. Martha Johnson (c.1688 - before 1747) married between 1704 and 1715  Hugh Matthews
 . . . She was listed as Martha Johnson in John's will, dated 7 Jan 1703/4, and as Martha Mathews in
. . . the deed selling her inherited land to her brother 16 Mar 1715.  So she was married some time
. . . between those dates, and not necessarily in 1715, as is usually given.
. . . Isle of Wight Will & Deed Book 2, p.484; The Great Book, Vol 2, p.271
. 2. John Johnson, Jr. married Mary and moved to Bertie Dist. NC before 10 May 1735, when he sold
. . . "225 acres of land in the lower parish [Isle of Wight County] commonly called "Piggs Neck" on the
. . . branches of Blackwater and bequeathed to him by the will of his father John Johnson, dec'd, on 7
. . . Jan 1703 and also by deed dated 16 Mar 1715 from Hugh Mathis and wife Martha Mathis."  This
. . . land was apparently purchased by his father, John Johnson, 13 Aug 1687 from Mathew Tomlin.
. . . Isle of Wight Deed Book 4, page 498.
. 3. Patience Johnson, no record found except her father's will
. 4. Mary Johnson, no record found except her father's will
. . . Patience and Mary are given animals and beds in their father's will.  But his land was divided
. . . between Martha and John.  Martha and John were given "one shilling apeice of last Wifes Estate
. . . to Cutt them Off from any part or parcell of it."  Apparently protecting Mary's son James Day and
. . . his inheritance from his father.  But Patience and Mary were not similarly cut off.  This would 
. . . seem to indicate that they were daughters of his second wife, Mary Thompson, and that they 
. . . were alive in 1703.  The will of Mary Gladhill, 30 Nov 1712, indicates that her son James Day 
. . . was her only surviving child of both husbands James Day and John Johnson.  From this we can 
. . . surmise that Patience and Mary were both born between 1701 and 1703, died between 1703 
. . . and 1712.
. . . . . . However, David Avant, Jr, in Some Southern Colonial Families, 1982, volume 2, p.152,
. . . suggests that when John's will refers to "last Wifes Estate" instead of "present Wifes Estate," it
. . . implies that Patience and Mary are John's daughters by a wife between Mary, mother of Martha
. . . and John, and Mary, widow of James Day.  But without additional evidence, this question cannot
. . . be answered, and is substantially moot - until descendants of Patience or Mary are located.

For more details, see The Johnsons and Johnstons of Corrowaugh in Isle of Wight County by Eddis Johnson, 1979.  And compare with The Allen Family of Surry County, Virginia: Its British Roots and Early Generations in America, by William Carrell, in The Virginia Genealogist, Volume 50 (part in each of 4 issues), 2006.

My possible line:

John Johnson (c1590-c1636) m. Ann

John Johnson, Jr. (c1623-after 1659) married a Daughter of Arthur Allen

John Johnson (1659-1707) m. Mary

Martha Johnson (c1688-before 1747) married Hugh Matthews (c1680-1751)

Benjamin Matthews (d.1762)

Benjamin Matthews (1748-1818) m.1775 Mary Sauls (c1750-1806)

Allen Matthews (1789-after 1870)  married Sity Riley (1789-1854)

Arthur Matthews (1827-1898) m.1866 Lucy Pierce (1840-1922)

Carson B Matthews (1874-1948) m.1913 Jeanne Marie Tynes (1878-1958)

Frances Mary Tate Matthews (1917-2010) m.1949 Virgil Raymond Liptrap (1907-1977)

James Matthews Liptrap (1951)

 

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