Marty and Karla Grant

!NOTES:Marty Grant's 6th Great Grand Parent.;

!NOTES:From Gloria Johnson 2009:
1. Reverend Rev. William JOHNSTON/JOHNSON, born Abt. 1735 in ?Albermarle Co., VA; died February 26, 1814 in Anderson Co., TN. He was the son of Thomas JOHNSON and Anne. He married (1) Martha "Pattie" WHARTON in VA. She was born in Prince George Co., VA, and died Aft. 1794 in VA. He married (2) Martha JONES Abt. 1757 in Albemarle or Bedford Co., VA. She may have been born May 20, 1728 in Albemarle Co., VA, and died Aft. 1773 in Buckingham Co., VA. She may have been the daughter of Lane/Lain JONES and Anne BARBER.

Notes for Reverend Rev. William JOHNSTON/JOHNSON:

Family history does not tell us the parentage of the man known to the Johnson/Johnston Family of Knox County, TN, as the Reverend William Johnson. The history of the family of William Johnson is recorded in two works by Katherine Baker Johnson and Edna Grant Simpson. Mrs. Simpson quoted the previous work and supplemented it. (see citations below) The earliest record of the family of William Johnson is contained in the pension record of his son, Robert Johnson. Robert states that he was born in Albemarle Co., VA on April 7, 1759. (Part of Albemarle Co., was cut off to form Buckingham Co., in 1761.) He wrote that he lived in Bedford Co., VA until 1787 when he moved to Knox Co., TN. There is a record of William Johnson receiving a Land Grant from Virginia for 300 acres in Buckingham Co., VA. On September 23, 1778, when he purchased 400 acres in Bedford Co., VA he stated that he was a resident of Buckingham Co., confirming that he was the same William Johnson. This information correlates with that given by Robert in his pension file.

While in Buckingham Co., William was a member of the Buckingham Baptist Church and was a delegate along with Rane Chastain to a meeting in Orange Co., in May of 1771. According to Rosters and Soldiers of TN (TN DAR 1960-1970, Vol. 11) Elder William and son Robert, a soldier in the Revolutionary War were both signers of the petition to the Convention of Virginia while living in Albemarle Co., VA which asked for independence from England. William along with Rane Chastain was a delegate to the General Association of Baptists in 1775 when these delegates from sixty churches decided to formulate their opinions and desires in an address which considered freedom from British Rule and Freedom of Religion. (See Early Baptist of Virginia by Howell, 1857 and Semple's History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia, 1810.) William was a famous Baptist minister of his time, founding many churches in both Virginia and later in Tennessee.

Mrs. Simpson writes that she believes that the family of Rev. William came to Knox Co., after the February 24, 1794 sale of land in Bedford Co., VA, not in 1787 which Robert stated in his pension. (See pension file of Robert Johnson.) After reading the details contained in Robert Johnston's pension, I wonder why a man who remembers so much as he did at age 72 would make such a significant error in the date of his move to Tennessee? A possible explanation might be found in the Knox County Court Files for 1792-1795. There is a court case of William Johnston vs. Anderson Asburn in 1793. The crime was the selling a horse to William Johnston which Anderson Asburn either didn't own or didn't deliver. The crime appears to have occurred on September 21, 1791. There is a bond, an arrest order, list of itemized court costs and case background and resolution. This case shows that William Johnston was in Knox Co. TN prior to his selling the land in Bedford Co., VA. Perhaps the family moved to East Tennessee while keeping the farm in Bedford Co., VA. Then in 1794 William could have returned to Bedford Co., to sell his property. However, the records show that Rev. William and his wife Pattie sold their farm February 24, 1794 in Bedford Co., VA. There is no record of William's bringing a wife into Tennessee. 1796 Joseph and Rev. William returned for Joseph's marriage to Mrs. Sarah Hale Moody. (see Bedford Co. marriage records and Quaker records by Hinshaw) It is feasible for him to have returned at least twice.

There are many listings for Rev. William Johnson in Baptist history. Katherine Baker Johnson and Edna Grant Simpson effectively discuss them. However, I must record a personal entry here. My favorite event, is the first that I found for Rev. William Johnson on a page from Goodspeed's History of Knox Co., Tennessee sent to me from a Hallmark correspondent. George Hallmark, my four times great grandfather, was a representative from Little Flat Creek Church at a meeting with my husband's five times great grandfather, William Johnson. On December 25th, 1802 delegates from nineteen Baptist Churches organized the Tennessee Association. William Johnson was chosen moderator. Robert Hamby reports that in 1805 George Hallmark and William Johnson represented Little Flat Creek.

The first list of early Knox County taxpayers are listed in an article entitled Early East Tennessee Taxpayers by Pollyanna Creekmore published in Vol. 26 of the East Tennessee Historical Society Publication, 1954. In the same company (a group organized geographically for convenience of collecting taxes) are listed Johnstons named William, Robert, Isaac, Joseph, Calvin and James. I assume that this is the father, Reverend William, sons Robert and Joseph, Robert's oldest son Isaac. Isaac and James are entered without a land quantity listed which I wonder if that means that they were there and counted, but did not have land that they were responsible for paying taxes on? This James may be James, son of William or another of his grandsons.

Rev. William Johnson took an active part in the organization of the Tennessee Association. His sons Robert and Joseph took an active part in Stock Creek Church formation. Joseph's son, William David was a member of Stock Creek, until Robert's death when he transferred his membership to Mt. Olive Baptist church where he served as a deacon and lay minister. In October of 1814 a request came from the East Fork of Poplar Creek, Anderson County to perpetuate the memory of Elder William Johnson, deceased on the 26th of February 1814. He is reportedly buried in the now abandoned Stock Creek Cemetery in south Knoxville where his grave is marked only with a stone.

Sources: Katherine Baker Johnson's "A Record of of the Johnson and Simpson Families with Allied Lines", published 1940 in Knoxville, TN found in the Mc Clung Collection, Lawson McGee Library, Knoxville, TN. Edna Grant Simpson's Johnson/Johnston Family of Knox Co. TN also found in the McClung Collection. Knox Co., TN, Marriage & Probate Records. Federal Census Records for the Johnson Family in Knox Co, TN 1830, 1840, 1850, 1869, 1870, 1889, and 1900. The French Broad Holston Country, A History of Knox Co., TN, Mary U. Rothrock Editor. p. 283-5. Brief Baptist Biographies by Robert Hamby, p. 356-7, 362. Goodspeed's History of Knox Co., p. 898-9. All the previous listed available from Knox Co. TN Library. Revolutionary War Pension File of Robert Johnson #5546 from East TN. Obituary of Polly Childress Johnson, wife of Elijah Johnson, son of Robert Johnson from the Tennessee Baptist, Dec 24, 1853 (From the Southern Baptist Historical Library, Nashville, TN). Bedford Co., VA marriages from Bedford Co., Order Book 1774-1782. "Our Kin" The Genealogies of Some of the Early Families Who Made History in the Founding and Development of Bedford Co., VA , by Ackerly and Parker (available in Bedford Co. VA Historical Society).

Note: Katherine Baker Johnson and Edna Grant Simpson both wrote that Wm. T. Johnson said that his grandfather Thomas told him that Rev. Wm was married twice & that he was from the 1st wife, Martha. This information is from "Our Kin". Joseph's family Bible shows that he was the son of Wm & Martha. The second wife Martha "Pattie" sold her dower 1794 in Bedford VA but she's not found in TN. It is not possible to determine which children came from which marriage. However, based on what we know of the birthdates and approximate ages, plus the fact that both Thomas and Joseph were from the first wife, I would speculate that either the second wife had no children or that Elijah was the only child from this marriage. Much remains to be investigated concerning this family. GKHJ1996

Notes for Martha JONES:

This Martha was, according to Katherine Baker Johnson of Knoxville TN, first cousin to Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, best known as Martha Washington. (See article on Rev. William Johnson in Baptist and Reflector, October 11, 1934). Ray Nance of Bedford Co., Virginia is also "convinced that Martha Jones, wife of Rev. Wm. Johnston, is the daughter of Lane and Ann Barber Jones, son of Orlando and Martha Macon Jones."

In an effort to augment and clarify the information on the possible connection to the Johnson family, I wrote for more information on the Jones family from Mt. Vernon. >From the ladies guild there, I received a section from a book entitled "Old New Kent County, Some Account of the Planters, Plantations and Places in King William County, St. John's Parish, Vol. 2" by Malcolm Hart Harris, West Point, Virginia, 1977. This work documents the line of the family of Orlando Jones. The sister of Lane Jones, Frances Jones, married Col. John Dandridge. Their daughter, Martha Dandridge first married Daniel Parke Custis and second, George Washington. Lane and Frances's grandfather, Rev. Rowland Jones was the first rector of Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia. His father was Rev. Rowland Jones of Oxfordshire, England. Page 740 details the family of Lane Jones and his estate settlement in 1750. (York County Records, Book 18, page 75) An ejectment suit that insued provides the names of his children, including a Martha Jones. Other children are Ann, Laine, Orlando, Frances, Roland and William Jones. Plaintiffs include "William Johnson and Martha his wife." Also included is a birth date for Martha Jones of Mary 20, 1728. I believe that this is the source of Katherine Baker Johnson's information that our William Johnson was married to Martha Jones. If this is true, then Martha Jones would be older than Rev. William by about seven years. Is this likely in a time when women married young and men married late? This court case is evidence that A Martha Jones married to A William Johnson is a first cousin of Martha Washington, BUT is OUR Martha THE Martha JONES of this scenario? Was she even a Jones? I do not know where Mrs. Johnson found the name of William's wife. Seeking to get more specific family records, I wrote to Colonial Williamsburg and received a response from a historian there who works through the William and Mary Library in Williamsburg. I thought that coming from a long line of Anglicans, there might be some baptismal records in Bruton Parish for the descendants of the first rector's family, especially with a connection to the Father of our Country. I received an article from the William and Mary Quarterly, 1896, on the family of the descendants of Rev. Rowland Jones, first rector of Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia. It is similar to the above. It discusses the Henley Bible as a register of births of the children of Lain and Anne Barber Jones, with details provided by the court case. It goes further to say that "The line of descent is broken here, and a gap of forty-fvie years occurs before the family reappears in Albemarle, in the presence of Lain and William Jones, who were surely sons of Orlando." From the above more current book, we know that Lain and William are brother and half brother to Martha. But the years in which the children of Martha might be included, thus proving or disproving the connection to Rev. William Johnson, are missing.

Many questions remain. Is this OUR WILLIAM JOHNSON? How can we prove or disprove this? There are twenty seven William Johnson's in the 1790 US census including the one in Albemarle. But it is quite possible that our William was already in Knox County, if you believe Robert Johnston's pension file. Where did Katherine Baker Johnson find the first name of Martha and then the last name of Jones? Did she find the last name of Jones and then the connection to Martha Washington or did she find a William Johnson in Martha Washington's ancestral line and give our Martha the last name of Jones? I have entered this information in my family group sheet file. I realize that by putting it in print others will accept it without question. I thought about not including it. But perhaps the information will serve as a springboard for someone else to solve the enigma. I just want to go on record as saying that this is what I found, but as of yet I am not sure what it means.

Which children go with which mother? Except for Thomas and Joseph, we do not know which children belong to which wife. Thomas and Joseph are from the first wife, Martha ?Jones, according to family history. I would think that means that all the children who were born before Thomas and Joseph were from the first wife. This would then seem to make Alijah/Elijah able to be from the second wife, if she had any at all and if the birth dates are approximately correct. Information and comments welcomed! 1996