John JOHNSON and Margaret (Margery, Marjorie)
Husband John JOHNSON 1
Born: By 1588 - prob Hertfordshire, England Christened: Died: 30 Sep 1659 - Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Buried: 30 Sep 1659 - St Eustry Cemetery, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts AFN: 1THQ-MLMarriage: By 1633 - England
Other Spouse: Mary Heath (1600-1655) - 21 Sep 1613 - Ware, Hertfordshire, England
Other Spouse: Grace Negus (Fawer) ( - ) 1 - by 1656 - Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts
Wife Margaret (Margery, Marjorie) 1
Born: Christened: Died: 9 Jun 1655 - Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts Buried: 9 Jun 1655 - Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts AFN: 84KW-M9
Children
1 M John JOHNSON
Born: 17 Nov 1679 - Roxbury, Massachusetts Christened: Died: Buried: AFN: 84SL-0H
2 M John JOHNSON
Born: 8 Jun 1680 Christened: Died: Buried:
3 F Deborah JOHNSON
Born: 19 Feb 1682 - Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts Christened: Died: Buried:
General Notes (Husband)
Captain John Johnson. Born England. Died Roxbury, Mass., on Sept 30, 1659 Will dated 30th.
There are several versions of who he married. Some of them may depend on who he was. On the other hand, see the research below, who he was is not much of a mystery; neither are his wives and children. Ten children; five of whom came to New England. All by his first wife, Mary Heath. He had a total of three wives.
I'm descended from two of his children; Mary and Isaac. My brother in law is descended from Capt. Humphrey.
I don't know if it is really known where he was born; Great Migration doesn't mention it and I have no source. Information could possibly come from confusion between several John Johnson's. He married in Waring, into a family that sometimes celebrated bmd events in an adjacent parish in Essex. A NEHGR article (Douglas Richardson, 1992, pp 261-278) states that a thorough search of the christening and probate records of Waring and the surrounding area failed to find him. There are extensive records on a large Johnson family there.
I have preserved the often repeated notion that he was born in Kent, but I've seen no source for that and doubt he came from Kent. This could conceivably be based on confusion with another JOhnson family. He was immediately from Hertfordshire and was probably born there.
Ancestry of Emily Jane Angell states that Savage reports on seventeen John Johnson's, creating the material for confusion. It states that he was the only John Johnson found in Roxbury, but outside Roxbury his identity is not as easily established.
Searching Google for John Johnson Herne Kent, I found;
From http://kinnexions.com/smlawson/johnsonm.htm
"It is highly recommended that any search for the JOHNSON ancestry begin with the detailed research presented in The Biography and Genealogy of Captain John Johnson from Roxbury, Massachusetts, by Gerald Garth Johnson (2000, Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, MD), available from the publisher ../smlsource/pubs.htm. (In other words, this web page is an ad for the book, in which you're expected to invest $40 or $50 to learn the obscure info on an obscure ancestor, LOL.) The author summarizes and critiques a number of conjectures about the JOHNSON roots, presenting abstracts from English records and reaching to the conclusion that Capt. John JOHNSON's "ancestry remains a mystery."
"Caution: This ancestry JOHNSON in England requires source documentation before it can be accepted for Capt. John JOHNSON. With the extensive Hertfordshire connections of the HEATH family, ancestors of Capt. John JOHNSON's wife's family, it may be that the JOHNSON is also from Hertfordshire, rather than Kent. The following is presented subject to verification. One clue, other than the location of the HEATH family, may be the name Humphrey given to a son of Capt. John Johnson and Mary Heath. This name has not been seen among the known kin of Mary (Heath) Johnson, so may appear in the early Johnson family.
"The following are noted. Genealogies of Woodstock Families, Volume Seven, by Clarence Winthrop Bowen (Worcester, MA 1943), page 147: "John Johnson of Herne, co. Kent, England, came with the Winthrop Fleet, 1630" - no documentation cited. Capt. John Johnson Genealogy, by Paul Franklin Johnson (Los Angeles, CA 1948), page 426: "John Johnson, son of John Johnson, was born possibly in Wilmington Parish in Kent near London, England, about 1590" - no documentation cited. "The Heath Connection...", by Douglas Richardson, NEHGR, 146:270 (July 1992): "Thus, the question of John Johnson's parentage and place of birth remains unanswered.""
But now we know where the notion that he was from Herne in Kent came from. Or maybe not. We don't actually even know for a fact that he hasn't been confused with another New England settler.
On http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~syafam/louckstxt11.htm, we learn that he may have been confused with EDWARD Johnson. The biographical details of this Edward's life once arriving in New England are those of John Johnson.
"The Johnson family lived in Canterbury, Kent, England. His children were baptized there, the first at St. Mary Magdelene, the second child was buried there, presumably before it could be patized, and the other six all at the church of St. George the Martyr. This last church was bombed in World War II and now only the tower exists.
"He did own land in a parish called Heron [Herne] Hill, and a place in that parish called Waterham, but apparently never lived there. The property was inherited from his uncle Edward Pordage of Beakesbourne who died in 1616. He still owned that property at the time of his death. "
Note that if there was a John Johnson born in Kent, which is not unlikely, that wouldn't make him the John Johnson of Ware, Hertfordshire.
However, I'm not aware of John Johnson having lived in Woburn, and "Edward Johnson"'s biography fails to mention Roxbury. .
Adding Woburn to my Google search on the theory that will lead me to some OTHER John Johnson or whoever who quite possibly came from Kent and lived in Woburn, I find, back on that ad for the book site cited above, quite possibly the answer to the riddle. (People who hog genealogical information for profit aren't necessarily poor researchers.)
John Johnson was not confused with ONE person, but, to judge from who the Web purports were the parents of this JOhn JOhnson from Kent, atleast two people.
"John JOHNSON - b. about 1550, possibly in Wilmington, Co. Kent. Possibly the son of Geoffrey JOHNSON and Bridgett HARBOTTLE. John's will was dated Dec. 14, 1643. In it he names wife Alice, daughter Alice and husband John HOLMDEN, daughter Joane, daughter Susan and husband Jeremy MANNING, and sister Alice ROGERS. Lived at Wilmington Parish, Kent, England. The home (called Barne End) which was the residence of the Johnson family from 1590 to 1648, was originally built about 1460, had a major addition in 1770, and still stands.
Alice -
Children of John and Alice Johnson
Abraham - Lived and died in England.
William - Perhaps the William JOHNSON who d. Dec. 9, 1677; settled at Charlestown, MA; and had son James (b. 1643).
Edward - b. Sep. 1598, Wilmington, Co. Kent; bap. Sep. 16, 1598, Canterbury, Co. Kent; d. Apr. 23, 1672, Woburn, MA. To MA from Herne-Hill, Co., Kent, England. Freeman May 18, 1630; member of artillery company 1637; settled first at Charlestown, then at Woburn, MA. Founder of Woburn 1642; representative from 1643-1671, except 1655; captain; and town clerk about 30 years. Author of a history of New England - the Wonder-Working Providence. Married about 1620 in England to Susan MUNNTER (bap. Oct. 5, 1597, St. Marys, Dover; d. Mar. 7, 1690, Woburn, MA). Children: Edward married Catherine BAKER; William died as infant; George; William died as infant; Martha; Matthew married first Hannah PALFREY (daughter of Peter and Edith, and sister of Rebecca, who married Peter ASPINWALL, ancestor of Pres. Franklin ROOSEVELT), and second Rebecca WISWALL; and John married Bethiah READE.
Solomon - Possibly the Solomon JOHNSON of Sudbury, MA 1639, who married Elinor; freeman 1651; and father of twins Joshua (or Joseph) and Nathaniel, Mary, and Caleb (accidentally shot May 4, 1654, Watertown). Solomon lived in "Watertown liberties" in 1654 as a widower, and married second, at Watertown on Feb. 1, 1686/7, Hannah GRAFTE (or CRAFT?).
John - Some claim that this is Capt. John JOHNSON <johnsonj.htm> of Roxbury, MA. See also his cousin, grandson of Francis Johnson. (Notice that the web site above ran him together with his brother Edward.)
Alice - Married John HOLMDEN of Darenth. Possible daughter: Mabel.
Joane -
Susan - Living in 1678 as a widow. Married Jeremy MANNING, son of Jeremy (d. 1651) and Cicely MANNING, and grandson of Henry MANNING (d. 1620). Henry, also called Harry, MANNING was probably the son of William, who descended from Symon MANNING as follows: Symon; Stephen (d. 1309); William (d. 1342) and a daughter of Richard de CHERFHOLT; Simon and Catherina; John and Alicia WALDEN; John and Juliana BROKHILL, daughter of Richard and widow of William WALLYS; Hugh and a daughter of Sir William BRANDON; Richard, father of William, Thomas and John. Children: Jeremy; Anne; and Sara. "
and
John and Hannah (Throckmorton) Johnson
John JOHNSON - b. about 1560. Son of Francis JOHNSON and Elizabeth THOROGOOD.
Hannah THROCKMORTON - Daughter of Sir William THROCKMORTON and Cicely BAYNHAM, and granddaughter of Sir Thomas THROCKMORTON and Elizabeth BERKELEY, and of Thomas BAYNHAM and Mary WINTER.
There was another theory or two presented as well.
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Genealogy of Captain John Johnson of Roxbury, Massachusetts, Paul Franklin Johnson.
The home of our ancestor in England has not been learned. As his known relatives resided about twelve miles from London on the River Lee, it is safe to say that he probably came from the same locality. Neither has the maiden name of his wife Margery been ascertained. Through the relationship mentioned in certain legal documents, it has been assumed by some that she was Margery Heath.
John Johnson, with his family, came to this country in the fleet with Winthrop, landing at Salem June 22, 1630. He settled in Roxbury, where he, with his son-in-law Richard Mowry, (Roger Ed.) was made Freeman May 18, 1631. He was active in the business of the Colony, as Juryman, serving on Committees, as Surveyor laying out the bounds of Towns around Boston. March 4, 1634/5 John Johnson and Richard Dumer were ordered to build a bridge across Muddy River. Five towns were to contribute to the cost. Mary 25, 1636 or 1635 he was chosen one of a Committee to determine the valuation of the several towns. September 8, 1636 he was again chosen for that purpose. May 17, 1637 he was chosen one of the Deputies to levy on the towns for raising fifty men to send against the Pequots. He was also chosen Surveyor General, an office, which at that time, included the care of the stock of arms and the ammunition of the Colony. An interesting account of the burning of his house, with the Colony's stock of powder, also the Town Records of Roxbury, of which he was Town Clerk, is given in Governor Winthrop's History, also in Drake's History of Roxbury. He was chosen Deputy to the House of Deputies to represent Roxbury in 1634, the first year of that Assembly; and was chosen for twenty-one years afterward, nearly all consecutively.
"Captain John Johnson was the first Clerk of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. His son, Isaac, was its Captain, and leader at one time. It is the oldest military organization in this country, founded March 13, 1638, and which still proudly maintains its existence. Upon the rolls of its members are to be seen the names of men who in their day, through the entire history of Massachusetts, were foremost in peace and war, and who occupied the highest place in science, art, and literature, and in social, political and military life. At no time could any but a distinguished citizen have become a member of its society."
Late in his life, John Johnson was granted one thousand acres of land in consideration of his great service to the Colony.
Duties and position of the Surveyor General are described by Osgood in "American Colonies in the 17th Century" Volume I, page 513:
"In the Massachusetts Bay System the germ of the modern military staff appears chiefly in the office ordinarily designated as that of Surveyor of Ordinance, or later as General Surveyor of Arms. Early in 1631 the general court chose a Surveyor of Ordinance, to be allowed £10 per year. But from 1632 to 1642 the business of the office was mainly transacted through committees. In 1642, owing to fear of an Indian attack and the desire that the colony might be well supplied with powder, John Johnson was appointed Surveyor General of the Arms. From that time until the downfall of the Colony government, the many references to the office indicate its importance. The Surveyor General of Arms was a custodian of the Colony's supply of ordinance, arms and ammunition; under authority from the general court, he delivered powder to the towns, and received back from them any excessive supplies which might have been issued. He could also sell ammunition. He was empowered to recover arms belonging to the Colony from individuals or towns that had them in their possession, to either preserve them pending an order of the general court, or to sell them at a fair price and procure others in their place. The purchases of ammunition were usually made through the Surveyor General, though in co-operation with the treasurer. Orders of the general court that he should loan munitions to individuals are common. When in 1643, arms and stores were brought from Castle Island, an invoice of the whole was given to the Surveyor General and the arms were delivered into his custody...."
Died Sept 30 1659 Roxbruy, MA, married 1st in England, Margery ____. She died Jan 9, 1655, buried at Roxbury, MA, Apr 9, 1655.
Captain Johnson was married second to Grace Negus, widow of Barnabas Fowler. Grace died on September 29th, according to town records. (Year not given)
For detailed information on his life and possible ancestry, refer to THE BIOGRAPHY AND GENEALOGY OF CAPTAIN JOHN JOHNSON FROM ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, by Gerald Garth Johnson (2000, Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, MD), available from the publisher.
[He married Mary Heath, daughter of William Heath & Agnes Cheney, in England. Died on 9 Jan 1655. Buried Roxbury, Mass., on 9 Apr 1655.] don't know where this comes from as it isn't in Captain John Johnson Genealogy.]
Many authorities add JOHN to the list of children and generally as first child. This seems to be an error, perhaps stated by Farmer's General Register, page 163, which give "1 JOHN: who died in 1661." The JOHN who died in 1661 was a son of Captain Isaak Johnson as shown by the church records. It is certain that no JOHN came over with the family. There is no evidence whatever that there was any child other than the five given .
The list of children provided by this source includes Sarah b 1627, and four more b 1675-1683. Names correspond with five of the names here but can't be right.
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Great Migration Begins, Vol 2, from NewEnglandAncestors.org, contains the following, which confirms John JOhnson's three wives, and that he was the father of Mary Johnson, not Elizabeth, who married, according to this document, Roger Mowery, John Kingsley, and nobody else.
Origins: Ware, Hertfordshire.
Migration: 1630
First Residence, Roxbury.
Occupation: Quartermaster. On 8 Sep 1642, John JOhnson was assigned the duty of distributing the gunpowder to the major towns ni the colony "taking into serious consideration the present danger of each plantation by the desperate plits & conspiracies of teh heathern". On 7 March 1643/4 Richard Davenport, Captain of the Fort of Massachusetts at Castle Island, was instructed to demand at any time from John Johnson, surveyor general, for every soldier one sufficient musket, sword, rest and pair of bandilers with two fathom of match for each musket. He signed a report of the committee concerning the rebuilding of the castle and batteries on Castle Island.
Church Membership: "John Johnson" was #9 on Eliot's list among the first comers to the Roxbury Church, without comment.
Freeman: Requested 19 Oct 1630 and admitted 18 May 1631.
Education: His inventory included "two Bibles, one psalm book and eight books more. One pound 5 shillings", but he made his mark to his will.
Offices: Deputy for Roxbury to General Court 1834-57. Committee to view ground and set bounds for Charlestown and Newton 7 Nov 1632. Committee to put a cart bridge over Muddy River 6 Aug 1633. Committee to purchase lands for the Indians "to live in in an orderly way amongst us", 4 Nov 1646. Arbitar in Saltonstall vs Watertown 27 Oct 1647.
Paymaster for the building of Boston prison. 17 Oct 1649. Committee to properly supply ministers. 6 May 1657.
Committee to settle impotent aged pesrons ro vagrants. 14 May 1645, and numerous other committee appointments. (Was all this easy to manage if he could not read and write?)
Coroner's jury. 28 Sept 1630. Roxbury constable 19 Oct 1630.
Admitted to Ancient and Honorable Artillery Comapny, 1638. (Huh?) Surveor General of Arms and Ammunition. 8 Sept 1642. Comittee to review colony defenses. 26 May 1647.
Estate: On 1 Apr 1634 he paid 20s. toward the building of the seafort.
In the earliest list of Roxbury inhabitants, about 1642, John Johnson's valuation of 15 pouns 12 s. and 5 pounds 8 s. with six goats and four kids, was one of the highest in the town.
In the Roxbury land inventory in the eary 1650's John Johnson held thirteen parcels, six of which had been granted to him by the town: "his house, barn and house lot on the back side of his orchard, together with liberty to enclose the swamp and book", eight acres; three acres of marsh, twenty acres of mowing round: ten acres of woodland: four acres by Rocky Swamp: one hundred and ten acres and one quarter in the last division, first adn third allotments: Fiftyone and a half acres in the thousand acres near Dedham, bought of Edward Porter and John Petit; six acres bought of James Mrogan; sixteen acres and a half bought of Richard Goad; an acres and a quarter lately the land of Thomas Lamb; three acres of woodland lately the land of John Stebbins; four acres of fresh meadow "altely bought of John Papepoynt", and thirteen acres and twenty rods of land, wood and pasture bought of Thomas Gardner.
He took in a servant, Samuel Heffortd, for three years on 1 Dec 1640. He deposed 7 Sept 1642 that he had sold three acres of meadow to John Sams.
John Johnson was granted 40 pounds "for his service done the country diverse years past" on 14 May 1645. On 7 Oct 1646 he petitioned with others for the land formerly granted them between Dedham, Watertown and Sudbury: Johnson was to receive four hundred and thirty-six acres. On 18 Oct 1648, John Johson and others were to receive lands formerly granted between Andover and Redding "in the place whereabouts the bridge should be built". He sold one hundred acres to Richard parker, 24 May 1650. On 22 June 1652, John Johnson received land in Roxbury from Thomas and Dorothy Hawley.
In May 1656, John Johso n and Elezer Fawer were instructed by the General Court to divide the estate of Barnabus Fawer equally so that Johnson's third wife, Grace (Negus) Fawer, and her son Eleazer Fawer, received half each.
On 6 May 1657, "Mr. John Johnson having been long serviceable to the country in the place of surveyor general, for which he hath never had any satisfaction, which this Court considering of, think meet to grant him three hundred acres in any place where he can find it. Whitin the year, Johnson had sold this land to Mr. William Parks.
In his will, dated 30 September 1659 and proved 16 October 1659, "John Johnson of Roxbury" bequeathed to "my beloved wife" my dwelling house and certain lands "I have already given" during her natural life according to a deed also 60 punds for her household furniture "which house and lands, after my wife's decease, I give unto my five children to be equally divided, my eldest son having a double portion"; to "my two grandchildren who have lived with me, Elizabeth Johnson and Mehittabel Johnson", 4 pounds each; to "my sons Isaak Johnson & Robert Pepper" confirm the parcel of lands of fifty five acres in the third division "I have formerly given them"; residue to "my five children equally idvided, my eldest son having a double portion", sons Isaac Johnson & Robert Peccer executors; "my dear brethren Elder Heath and Deacon Park" overseers: "If my children should disagree in any ting I do order them to choose one man more, to these my overseers& and stand to their determination".
The inventory of "John Johnson late of Roxbury" was presetned 15 October 1659 and toatlled 623 pounds 1 shilling, 6d., of which more than 350 pounds was real estae: "20 acres of meadow, 80 pounds; "the house and land about it", 190 pounds, one lot near Stoney River let to John Peairepoint for years" 40 pounds, "in the Great Lots one pasture of about twenty acres", 40 pounds, and domestic luxuries in this inventory were a considerable number of linens, cushions, rugs and blankets. His personal military accourtrements inlcuded "two fowling pieces and one cutlass, 2 pounds.
In her will, dated 20 Dec 1671 and pvoed 29 Dec 1671, "Grace Johnson", being "very weak in body", bequeathed to my two brotehrs Jonathan and Benjamin" all my estate equally divided: "my brother Jonathan Negus" executor, they shall give to them that was helpful to me in my sickness".
Birth, by about 1588 based on date of first marriage.
Death: Roxbury, 30 Sep 1659 *"John Johnson, Surveyor General of all the arms, died & was buried the day following."
Marirrage:
1 Ware, Hertfordshire, 21 21Sept 1613, Mary Heath; she was buried at Ware, 15 May 1629.
2. By 1633 Margery ___. "Margery Johnson the wife of JOhn Johnson" was #90 on Eliot's list and probably caem to New Engalnd in the spring of 1633. "Margery Johnson the wife of John Johnson was buried at Roxbury 9 June 1655.
3. By 1656 Grace (Negus) Fawer, widow of Barnabas Fawer; she died after 21 Dec 1671 (date of will) and before 29 Dec 1671 (probate of will).
There is no doubt that one of the five children named by John Johnson in his will was at one time the wife of Hugh Burt, it is not certain which daughter, Sarah or Hannah, she might have been. Sarah is the more likely candidate, and, if it was she, she went on to marry William Bartram. This difficulat and unsolved problem has been discussed by Helen S. Ullmann and by Dean Crawford Smith and Melinda Lutz Sanborn (TEG 6: 178-84; Angell Anc 390, see also NEHGR 149:230-39.
John Johnson was the confidant of powerful men, filled an important position in the affairs of the early colony and in the development of its defenses, and was involved as an overseer, attroney, witness and appraiser in the affaris of many of its neighbors. He owned a considerable estate at his death. With all these advantages, he kept a low profile in his personal life and never achieved a consistent rank of Mr."
John Johnson was freed entirely, in "regard of other public service without any pay to the company". This implied that he was not yet sixty years old in 1640.
A great tragedy to the Johnson family as well as to the town of Roxbury, occurred when John Johnson's house, with a substantial supply o f the oclony's gunpowder therein, caught fire and burnedin March of 1645. Many of the major diarists of the time recorded the event:
John Johnson, the surveyor general of ammunition, a very industrious and faithful man in his place, having built a fair house in the mids of the town, with diverse barns and other outhouses, it fell on fire in the daytime, no man knowing by what occasion, and there being in it seventeen barrels of the country's powder, and many arms, all was suddenly burnt and blown up, to the value of four or five hundred pounds, wherein a special providence of God appeared, for he, being from home, the people came together to help and many were in the house, no man thinking of the powder til one of the company put them in mind of it, whereupon they all withdrew, and soon the powder took fire and blew up all about it, and shook the houses in Boston and Cambridge, so as men thought it had been an earthquake."
Eliot remarked, "In this fire were strange preservations of God's providence to the neighbors and town, for the wind at first stood to carry the fire to other houses, but suddenly it turned and carried it from all other houses, only carrying it to the barns and outhousing thereby, and it was a fierce wind, & thereby drove the vehement heat from the neighbor houses. "
At the General court 14 May 1645, John Johnson moved that copies be made of important documents that had "very hardly escaped" the fire.
Assistant Governor, Thomas Dudley, was a close associate of John Johnson's, and Dudley bequeathed to "John Johnson, suvey general of the Arms and one of his beloved friends", 5 pounds if he lived two years after Dudley's death, and asked that Johnson and the others should "do fore me and mine as I would have done for them & theirs in teh like case".
Pope, for no apparent reason, credited John Johnson with a son John who "came to Roxbury" and was an "efficient citizen".
John Johnson has been frequently treated in print by excellent genealogists. In 1948 Mary Lvoering Holman produced an account that would be the standard for many years (Stevens-Miller Ancestry 318-22]. In 1922 Doublas Richardson and the team of Dean Crawford Smith and Melinda Lutz Sanborn simultaneously and independently discovered the English orign of John Johnson and published useful information on his family and his many connections with other early New England immigrants. [NEHGR 146: 261--78; Angell Anc 377-91].
Þan Crawford Smith, The Ancestry of Emily Jane Angell, 1844-1910 (Boston 1992).
Article says, "American genealogists have been aware for some time that hte immigrant John Johnson (ca 1590-1659) of Salem and Roxbury, Massachusetts, was related in some way to Elder Isaac and William Heath of Roxbury, and that the Heaths were also kin somehow to the immigrant, Edward Morris, and to Morris's sister, Elizabeth (Morris) Cartwright. Such knship i sproved by a series of Johnson, Heath and Morris Wills, reviewed by Reay G. Hurlburt in Capt Johnson Nd his wife, Margery of Roxbury - Who were They?" in TAG, 22 (1945-6); 47-49.
John Johnson must have married Margery after arriving in Massachusetts. His wife, Margery, appeared much further down Rev. Eliot of Roxbury's church membership list than JOhn's, with those who came about 1633.
John Johnson and Mary Heath ahd 10 children between 1614 and 1628, recorded at Ware or Great Amwell. Four apparently died in England, and only five were still lving at the date of John JOhnson's will. Four have been conclusively identified in New England records. The names and approximate birth dates of these four match perfectly with the records of John Johnson's children found in England.
Dean Crawford Smith and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, in The Ancestry of Emily Jane Angell, state
It is presumed that John Johnson came to New England with Winthrop in 1630, bringing his children, having buried his first wife in Ware some months earlier. Eliot lists his name alone, without comment, as a member of the First Church. His second wife, Margery, appears later, alone in an undated entry, but among many who came in 1633. This entry approximately dates their marriage.
John Johnson's public roles in his community began immediatel; he servied on a jury of inquest in 1630 and was chosen constable. He became a freeman 18 May 1631 (Shurtleff I366.
In all Suffolk deeds, John Johnson signed his name, and though the scribe who wrote a bill of lading and a letter for him to Mr. Pinheon of Aggawam in 1639 wrote that he had made his mark to his will, it is clear from teh shape of the marks that he had attempted to sign his full name. Thus he clearly was literate. He signed a report of the committee directing that regiments should meet in alternating years.
He was given a servant, Sam Efford, for three years in 1640, who had been abused by his last master, Jonathan Wade.
"It was ordered that the Surveyor (John Johnson) take out of the cattle which came from Providence the money Disbursed for that company, undertaking, which is twenty pounds three shillings and nine pence as per particulars 5 10 mo 1643. It is more than possible taht the person responsible for the cattle in Providence was Johnson's son in law, Roger Mowry, who had been a neat herd in Salem. "
"He may have been the John Johnson, who with Edward Carleton was arbitor in the matter of land claimed between Richard Saltonstall and the town of Watertown 11 Nov 1647 (Suffolk Deed I:87).
Of his five children, three left Roxbury for other towns, atleast for a time.
Items listed in Inventory of the estate of John Johnson.
Imprimis 2 fether beds 2 bolsters, 3 pilowes 2 sheets
3 blankets and A rugg with curtains and
valenss with a bedsteed
1 tabl 6 Joyn stools and a carpet
10 Cuishons 2 blanckets and a rugg
6 chairs 2 small Joyne stools
A liverey cubuerd with a cloath cuishon
2 cobirons an Iron and fyre shovell and tongs bellowes
1 drincking glass 1 houre glass
3 hats wering Aparell with boots stockings
bands caps hand cherches
2 bibls i psalme booke and 8 books more
12 lb of yarn 13 scains
1 curtain rod 1 pair of pinsers 2 pair of sheers
8 silver spoons
1 yard of linen cloth 1 box with 2 paire of sisers
with sum other small things
1 box with spice
1 bed steed with 1 fether bed & 1 flock bed
4 pillows 1 ould (hole) bolster with a quilt
a rugg
2 paire of sheets 26 napkins 4 pillowbers
1 cuberd cloath 2 table cloaths with 1 box
4 pillow beers 1 table cloath 6 paire of shaets
3 fruit dishes of earth
1 yard 1/2 of broad cloath
in red shagg bayes 3 yards 1/4
allmost 8 yards of searge
11 yards of stuffe at 3s for yard
on litl carpet 2 yards of linsiwoolsie
3 remnants of cotten 4 yards and od measure
2 yards of linsiwolsie that is milld
8 porrigers 3 cadl pots 1 pint drinking
pot and a drinking cup with a flagon
1 chest 28 yards of new cloath 2 s per hard
1 cass adn bottels with i pair of Irish stockings
2 Cahirs 2 cuishons 2 yards 1/2 cours linen
4 yards of cotton and linen
1 tabl cloath
4 yard 3/4 canves
4 yards 3/4 mor of canvis
2 ould blackets 1 ould packing cloath
2 remnants of stuff
3 pillow beers 5 napkins 3 towells
2 sives 1 basket 2 bodkins
2 pounds of yarne woolin and linen
1 clos stoole and 1 litl glass cas
1 fether bed 1 pillow 1 bolster 2 blanckets
1 coverlid with 1 bed steed
2 blackets deliverd to enry Bowen
6 sausers 4 small dishes 2 candlsticks 1 chamber pot
1 fether boulster e yards of dimitie
1 chest 2 ould green ruggs
6 paine on od speet
18 napkins towell 15 pillow beers or towells or napkins
1 trnck 5 s 1 trunck more 6s
1 tabl and forme
1 canopie for the bed
1 chest
apls in 2 chambers
1 steel mill
1 pannell 3 lins in wool 49 13d forth
1 woollin sheel an ould chest
27 pound of flzx 13d for
3 ould hoggsheads 2 barell 1 half bushels
1 ould cart rope 7 forks
1 bed 1 boolster 1 pillow 2 sheets 1 blancket
1 rugg coverlit 1 small fether bed with
1 small oul dbolster bedsteed
1 costeet 3 piks
1 woolin wheel and hemp in stalks 2 bed steads with ould matts
22 soft cheeses being 78 pound
2 fowling peeces & on cutles
24 cheeses being 83 pound
57 of pewter 18 2 sansers
1 ould pewter dish waits skalls
2 drinking potts to chamber potts 1 candle stick
1 ould small glagin and 3 drinking potts
2 poringers 2 candlestick 1 sawser botl
1 salt siller 1 drinking cup with ould pewter
in tinn warr 6 peeces
1 bras cettels 7 4 scillits
1 cettle 2 scillits bell metl 1 chaffing dish
1 ladl 2 scimers 3 candlesticks 1 thine
2 Bras cettls 2 bras cover
2 bras pots on Iron pott
pestl morter & warming pann
9 peeses of earthen warre 1 lanthern
on gratter on hechell
8 bottoms of yarn 3 bunches of flax
1 basket & trenchers in it & 2 tapps
2 paire cobirons 1 Iron 1 paire of
tongs 1 fire shoovell
1 peel 2 fine forrks 1 fork & 3 spitts
1 small table 3 chairs 4 stools
9 napkins a litl tabl cloath
1 litl napsack 8 spoons 11 trenchers
2 lamps 2 spoons 1 morter
1 box with the suger in it & pepper
1 drinkin sack 1 shreding knife and clever
3 pails 2 platters 1 ould paile
lumber in the meale room with 1 cetl
1 chees pres with milk vesells & a bottl
1 ould sadl 1 tab 1 new barll 1 littel tabl small lumber
1 ould pott of Iron with 1 hole in it
cheans beatl rings wedges 3 axes
in teh seller tubs and other caske
1 yoak shackl and pinn
3 tramells 1 crosscut saw 2 winbls
ould Iron 2 tramells 1 gridiron
pott hooks 1 hamer 3 litl hooks
5 cows 2 oxen
dung grindston
8 planck 300 boards
300 clove boards & polls
1 cart & wheels
1 plow 1 ould plow
12 ew sheepe
3 weathers 1 ram
2 ew lambs
Indian corn About 70 bushells
haie in the barn
oats 15s 4 swine
1 hors 1 cow
16 Cerkes
pott hooks shovell 3 forks 1 raak 1 yoake 1 hack
1 mony 23 in peag
in molt 10 bushells
in wheat 2 bushells
36 bushells of indian corn
ould Iron beetl rings chaine & padlock
buter About 19 s
20 ackers of medow
the hows and land About it
1 lott ner stonie river let to John peairepoint for years
in the great loots 1 pastur of about 20 accers
About 10 Acceres of land ner the great loots 12 Accers brought of Thomas Garner
1 peer of new cloath at bro peariepoints
1 box in the parler
1 brass pott
1 ould warming pann
1 pillyon
2 mor smothing Irons
2 bushells of barly (by Isaack Johnson)
in peagg 1 bushelll 1/2 indian corn (by Mr. Roberd Pepper)
in wood prised at
2 paire lirum 4 ould haows
Appls in the two orchyards yet to gather
2 linin wheels
1 new halter for A hors 1 bucket with what belongs to the well
in fowls
in total 623.01.06
debts 38.00.00
6 boxes
in Jarcie yarne
From this it looks as if John Johnson was fairly well off. It begins to make sense that he should have been a confidant of the assistant governor Dudley.
Ray G. Hulburt, Capt. John Johnson and wife Margery of Roxbury -- who were they? TAG, July 1945, Vol 22(1). pp47-49.
Some have assumed on no evidence Hulburt had seen, that they were from Lincolnshire, whence came Isaac Johnson, one of the founders of the colony. William Eugeine Johnson, John Johnson and other Johnsons, says they were from East Anglia. Notes in teh anks Collection in the Congressional Library say they were from Dartford, and in another place that they were from Wilimington, both of which parishes are in Kent.
L license was issued dated Sep 12, 1623, for John Johnson, aged 24, of Langton parish and Margaret Cole, spinster, to marry at Grantham. Taht date makes it impossible for them to have been parents of Isaac, son of John of Roxbury, who married 1637.
SlmemmingIn Compendium of American Genealogy, Margery's name is given as Fleming. No evidence.
statement so often made taht Margery was a Scudder.
General Notes (Wife)
Most often identified as Scudder, but apparently she wasn't.
The Pepper Genealogy has some notes on wills and so forth of a Scudder family of Kent; a daughter Margery had married a John Johnston - of Kent.
From TAG, Jul 1945,Scudder: William Scudder of Darenth, Kent, in his will (NEHGR 47 :423; Waters' Gleanings, 1: 679), Jul 27 1607 naemd wife Margery, unmarried daugther Margaret, John Johnson Sr and Jr. Taht is the only evidence found so far for the statemetn so often made that Margery was a Scudder.
According to Some notes on inconsistencies in published genealogical data and additions thereto
(Ancestry.com), the Scudder material in the Pepper genealogy is the source of the notion that Margery was a Scudder. Only if John Johnson was from Kent, which he was not.
William Scudder of Darenth, Kent, in his will (NEHGR 47:423, Waters'' Gleanings 1:679 Jul 27, 1607, named wife Margery, unmarried daugther Margaret, John Johnson sr and jr. That is the only evidence that I have found for the statement so often made taht Margery was a Scudder.
Identified by Father's Will. However, Great Migration Begins does not identify her last name. "Margery Johnston the wife of John Johnson" was #90 on Eliot's list and probably came to New England in the spring of 1633. (Great Migration Begins)
From Ray G Hulburt, Capt John Johnson and wife Margery of Roxbury, who were they, TAG Jul 1945, 22(1), 47-49,.
"William Scudder of Darenth, Kent, in his will (NEHGR 47:423, Waters'' Gleanings 1:679 Jul 27, 1607, named wife Margery, unmarried daugther Margaret, John Johnson sr and jr. That is the only evidence that I have found for the statement so often made taht Margery was a Scudder. "
She has also been probably incorrectly identified as Morris, based on the relationships among the Johnson and Morris family.
Hulburt giveds more consideration to the possiblity that she was among the descendants of Thomas Miller of Bishops Stortford, Co erts, who came to America. One was Elizabeth, wife of Isaac Heath. He refers to Spencer Miller, New York Gen. and Biogr Record, vol 70, statement that both Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret Miller Waterman, in their wills call Isaac Johnson cousin. "I have a certified copy if the latter ((1670), and it does not so call him."
He also cites tangled relationships among the Weld family, but no particular evidence.
Quite a number of families seem to have come from Nazeing and Bishops Stortford in Essex. MOre discussion in Oct 2007 NEHGR. Eliot and Miller families. Seven children of Bennet Eliot alone went to New England.
I found this on the Nazeing Christians. Not it explains who was Margeret, but she and John Johnson were clearly Nazeing Puritans.
In common with a number of others in Nazeing, subsequently known as the Nazeing Christians,[S5] Edward Riggs and his family were Puritans. Early in 1633 they left England to sail to America as part of the Great Migration to New England, probably sailing from London, on either the 'William and Jane' or the 'Mary and Jane'
Unless stated otherwise, Savage's Dictionary[S5] is the source for all the following information on other prominent settlers in Roxbury which he identifies as having migrated from Nazeing.
THOSE ALREADY IDENTIFIED
The earliest and most eminent was John ELIOT "the celebrated apostle of the Indians", born at Nazeing in 1603 and educated at Cambridge. He had sailed to Boston in the Lion, landing 2NOV1631, and became teacher at Roxbury and maintained the church records. Records of the Winthrop Society show him as originating from Nazeing, but state he was baptised at Widford, Herts; they also show these origins for his brother Jacob who settled in Boston.[S11]
John's brother Philip ELIOT and his wife and four children followed on the Hopewell under Capt.Bundocke early in APR1635, and Philip became a deacon in the church of his brother and a representative.
John RUGGLES, a shoemaker from Nazeing, came with his wife and child on the Hopewell with Philip Eliot.
Thomas RUGGLES, John's elder brother, followed in 1637 with his wife and two of his children. The third, 10-year old John, had sailed with his uncle in 1635 though the church records say he was brought over by Philip Eliot.
John GRAVES came with his wife and five children in May 1633, and may have sailed on the same ship as Edward and his family.
John Graves died 4NOV1644 and Thomas Ruggles on 16NOV1644. In the church records, the deaths are entered next to each other and John Eliot refers to them both as godly brothers, adding "these two broke the knot first of the Nazing Christians. I mean they first died of all those Christians that came from that town(sic) in England."
Eliot was referring only to the adult male church members, because John Graves's wife had died shortly after arriving and Edward and Elizabeth RIGGS had lost three of their four children before NOV1644.
OTHER POSSIBILITIES
Savage also identified William PEACOCK as coming probably in the Hopewell in 1635, aged 12 "with such a complement of Eliots and Ruggleses, that he may be well thought to have sprung from Nazing...". One transcript of the Passenger List of the Hopewell's first sailing in 1635 describes William as being "of Nazing, in Essex."[S10], but another describes him as "of Duffil, Derbyshire"[S12]. (Of the 67 passengers, 10 were from Nazeing and 7 from Duffil; and the person preceding William in the list was from Duffil and the one following was from Nazeing.) A Richard PEACOCK also settled in Roxbury as a glazier, and was made freeman 22MAY1639 (might he have been William's father?).
Savage didn't identify George Holmes and his family as having come from Nazeing, so it is possible there were other families from Nazeing who haven't been identified. These include:-
William Agar, landing with the original Winthrop Fleet in 1630, allegedly probably of Nazeing, Essex, and settled in Watertown (which was only a few miles from Roxbury).[S11]
William Curtis, landed 16SEP1632 from the Lyon and settled in Roxbury.[S5] Allegedly baptised 12NOV1592 at Nazeing.[S11]
There were three documented adult male Heaths and their families (our ancestors) that left Nazeing, England for New England between 1632 and 1635, plus two more previously undocumented Heaths we found in New England records in various New England documents who were close relatives and would have been too young to travel alone from England. All documentation found about the voyage from England was found in America as there are no English documents on these Pilgrims. The adult males were Bartholemew, John, William and Isaac Heath, their wives, and their children.
In many old documents Bartholomew is reported to be born in Nazeing, England. And William and Isaac are reported to be born in Little Amwell, England. Note: The compilers of this book could find no evidence of Barthlomew Heath being born in Nazeing, England, but a number of other researchers state "Bartholomew was from Nazeing". These English villages are about 5 miles apart, both located about 20 miles north of London. Most of these documents and archives are incorrect as the assumption was made by previous researchers, that because they left from Nazeing or Little Amwell, that they were born there. In two cases they were not born in the Parishes recorded and the third is suspect.
Now we turn to another perspective - John Eliot, (read Encyclopedia Britannica) in 1631 a young English Minister, born in Nazeing, England, sailed to New England with a group of Puritans. He apparently left Nazeing and sailed from London, England, landed at Massachusetts Bay, and settled in Roxbury (now a district of Boston). John Eliot is famous for writing the first Bible in the Indian language. What is not generally known is that he, and Elder Isaac Heath (Elder, means: Church Elder) worked together with the Indians, taught them English and learned their language, and wrote the Indian Bible. Isaac Heath and John Bowes (Isaac's son-in-law) formed the first school in New England, at Roxbury. (See John Eliot papers and notes, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.). John Eliot, in his memoirs stated: (shortened by the compilers of this book) that "He, a newly-ordained Church of England Minister, organized a group of the "Puritans" to escape from England.
Eliot made arrangements whereby over a period of years, the Puritans made Nazeing, England, a gathering location for the Puritans to move to until there was as many persons as needed to leave for New England. Now, reading other documents we found that in almost all cases, the Puritans, were led by a Minister. Further, it sometimes took many years to congregate enough people to leave England in sufficient numbers to survive the voyage and initial few years, in the New World. Remember, if a person was thought to be a Puritan in England in the early 1600's the most common punishment was death! It is thought, not proved or even documented, that many of the nonconformists baptized their children and were married in the Church of England, while at the same time attending religious Puritan meetings in other Puritan member's homes.
THE town of WALTHAM ABBEY is in the hundred of Waltham, and in the parish of Waltham Abbey or Holycross, which also includes the hamlets of Holyfield, Sewardstone and Upshire. The town itself is situated upon the river Lea, about a mile out of the main road as you turn from Waltham Cross; and is about 12 miles from the metropolis, the like distance from Hertford, and six miles from Epping. The Abbey, for which this place was famous, was originally founded by Tovy or Tovius, who was standard bearer to Canute; it was afterwards refounded by Earl Harold, who endowed it, and constituted it a college, consisting of a a dean and 11 secular canons, belonging to the Augustine order. Upon the dissolution of this abbey, a grant of its site, for the term of 31 years, was given to Sir Anthony Denny, whose widow purchased the reversion in fee, from Edward VI, for above £3,000. The only remains of the abbey which have survived the shocks of time are the ruins of the gateway which led into the abbey yard, the bridge which leads to it, some dilapidated walls, and the church, the architecture of which bespeaks its origin to have been long antecedent to that of the rest; notwithstanding its mutilated condition, this once magnificent pile still furnishes the architectural antiquary with many beautiful and interesting specimens of the Norman style; the pillars supporting the arches which divide the body from the side aisles are very massive, like those of the cathedral of Durham.
The places of worship are, the parish church, dedicated to St. Lawrence; two chapels for baptists, and one for Wesleyan methodists. The charities comprise a charity school attached to the church, founded by Thomas Leverton, Esq.; and Green's almshouses for Eight poor widows. The living of Waltham is a donative; the present incumbent is the Rev. W. Walley, and the resident curate the Rev. John Lewis Capper.
About two miles distant is HIGH BEACH, the situation of which is peculiarly beautiful and picturesque, being built close upon Epping forest; it is particularly to be noticed for the number of tasteful seats and elegant villas, as well as for the almost unrivalled extent of prospect and delightful scenery which is spread out on every side. The market at Waltham is held on Tuesday, and the fairs on the 14th May and 25th September. The entire parish of Waltham Holycross, including the hamlets before-mentioned, contained by the government returns for 1831, 4,104 inhabitants; being an increase in the population, since the census of 1801, of 1,064 persons.
NAZEING is a respectable little village and parish in the same hundred as Waltham Abbey, four miles from that town. It contains a parish church, which is dedicated to All Saints, and a population of 757 persons.
John Eliot
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John Eliot (1604-1690), English-born clergyman of the first New England generation and missionary to the Massachusetts Native Americans, translated the Bible and other books into the Algonquian tongue.
John Eliot's baptismal record, dated Aug. 5, 1604, is preserved in the church of St. John the Baptist in Widford, Hertfordshire. His father had extensive land-holdings in Hertford and Essex counties. When John was a child, his parents moved to Nazeing. Just before his fourteenth birthday he matriculated at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he prepared for the ministry. He took his bachelor of arts degree in 1622. In 1629-1630 he lived with Thomas Hooker and his family in Little Baddow, Essex. After the Separatist Hooker escaped to Holland, Eliot, who as a Nonconformist minister was also unsafe, decided to emigrate to New England, as many other young ministers were doing.
To the New World
Eliot arrived in Boston on Nov. 3, 1631, when the settlement was barely a year old. While John Wilson, pastor of Boston's first church society, was absent, Eliot was asked to occupy the pulpit. On Wilson's return Eliot was invited to remain as teacher. He refused, having promised Nazeing friends who were intending to emigrate that if he was not permanently engaged when they arrived he would be their pastor. The Nazeing group settled in Roxbury, Mass., and Eliot was ordained immediately as their teacher and later as pastor.
Pastor at Roxbury
Eliot stayed at Roxbury for the remainder of his years. The pleasure of his life was increased by the arrival of two sisters and, later, two brothers. Hanna Mumford, to whom he was engaged, had also come with this group. Their wedding, in October 1632, is the first marriage on the town record.
For his first 40 years in Roxbury, Eliot preached in the 20-by 30-foot meetinghouse with thatched roof and unplastered walls that stood on Meetinghouse Hill. The church grew with the town, and Eliot's long ministry was marked by imaginative leadership both within and without the membership circle. His share in founding the Roxbury Grammar School and his efforts to keep it independent and prosperous were only part of his contribution to the community. In addition to preaching and the care of his people, he also had the traditional share of a first-generation minister in various religious and civil affairs.
"Apostle to the Indians"
These numerous and valuable local services, however, did not give John Eliot the place he holds in American history. That place is described by his unofficial title, "Apostle to the Indians," for whose benefit he gave thought, time, and unstinted energy for over half a century. He was not sent to them as a missionary by church, town, or colony but went voluntarily in fulfillment of his duty to share in Christianizing Native Americans, which, according to the original Massachusetts charter, was expected of every settler and was "the principal end of this plantation." Long before either church or civil leaders realized that Christianization was an English wish rather than a Native American one, they had puzzled over ways of proceeding. Individual ministers had tried unsuccessfully to bring Native Americans to the meetinghouse.
Learning the Native American Language
The chief barrier between European and Native American was communication. Sign language and a jargon of pidgin English and Native American would do for barter but not for sermons. The Algonquian language, spoken by the various tribes of Massachusetts Native Americans, presented a formidable problem to those trained in classical and European languages; further, there were no written texts, dictionaries, or grammars. Eliot learned the language by taking into his home a Native American boy, a captive in the Pequot War, who had learned to speak and understand everyday English and also to read it; he could not write. The boy's pronunciation was very distinct. As Eliot listened, he made word lists which revealed inflexional endings, differentiated nouns from verbs and singulars from plurals, and gave many hints of language behavior to Eliot, who had a distinct gift for such understanding. The process of mastering this strange tongue well enough to use it for expressing his own thought was arduous, but Eliot persisted, and on Oct. 28, 1646, preached his first sermon in Algonquian to a small group of Native Americans gathered at the wigwam of a chieftain at Nonantum (now Newton). The Native Americans understood well enough to question him. They felt his friendliness and invited him to preach again.
First Native American Bible
A detailed report of the first four of these woodland meetings, taken down by another minister, was given to Edward Winslow, newly appointed agent of the colony. It was immediately printed in London under the title "The Day-Breaking, if not the Sun-Rising of the Gospell with the Indians in New England." Winslow drafted a bill which led to Parliament's chartering the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Native Americans of New England. Throughout England and Wales funds were solicited. With this money Eliot bought school supplies, carpenter and farm tools, cloth, spinning wheels, and other articles needed in the work of education and civilization to which, in addition to his Roxbury parish, he devoted the remainder of his life. The first edition of his translation of the Bible into Algonquian (1661-1663) was the first Bible printed in the Colonies.
This story has many chapters. Fourteen self-governing Native American towns were founded, native teachers and preachers trained, and new skills learned and practiced. But King Philip's War (1675-1676) destroyed the Native American towns; only four were rebuilt. The "Praying Indians," exiled to Deer Island, suffered lamentably. John Eliot died in 1690, before restoration of the villages had really begun. But he had lived to see the second edition of his Native American Bible. With this book he had written the beginnings of a pioneering story in race relations for his own day. His feat of translation is still a marvel to scholars.
Further Reading
A full-length study of Eliot is Ola Elizabeth Winslow, John Eliot, "Apostle to the Indians" (1968). He is also discussed in Walter Eliot Thwing, History of the First Church in Roxbury (1908); Samuel Eliot Morison, Builders of the Bay Colony (1930); and William Kellaway, The New England Company, 1649-1776 (1961).
Additional Sources
Tinker, George E., Missionary conquest: the Gospel and Native American cultural genocide, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.
1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (TM) (July 1996 (c), data as of 2 January 1996).
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