William Samuel Johnson (1727 - 1819)

Born 7 Oct 1727 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Ann (Beach) Johnson — married 5 Nov 1749 in Stratford, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 14 Nov 1819 at age 92 in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States

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Preceded by US Constitution Ratified March 4, 1789

William Samuel Johnson US Senator (Class 3) from Connecticut[1] 1789—1791

Succeeded by Roger Sherman

William Johnson participated in the American Revolution. Join: 1776 Project Discuss: 1776

Biography

William Johnson was a Founding Father in the American Revolution.

William Johnson is Notable.

William Samuel Johnson was a delegate and Senator from Connecticut. Johnson was born October 7, 1727 in Stratford, Connecticut, United States.. William graduated from Yale College in 1744 and Harvard in 1747. William was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Stamford. He was a member of the colonial house of representatives in 1761 and 1765 and of the upper house in 1776 and again from 1771-1775. He served as a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress held in New York in October of 1765. William was Connecticut agent extraordinary to the court of England to determine the State title to Indian lands 1767-1771; judge of Connecticut Supreme Court 1772-1774; member of the Continental Congress 1785-1787; delegate to the Federal Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and one of the signers of the Constitution; served as the first president of Columbia College of New York City 1787-1800; elected to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1789, to March 4, 1791, when he resigned; died in Stratford, Conn., on November 14, 1819; interment in the Christ Church Episcopal Cemetery, Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA

Probate

His will is dated 1 December 1806 with codicils dated 13 March 1811 and 3 November 1819 and proved on 17 November 1819 in Stratford. He mentions that he entered a marriage contract with Mary, his present wife on 9 December 1800. He also mentions his daughter, Charity Kneeland, his grandson Gulian Crommelin Verplank, Esq, son of his deceased daughter Elizabeth, the children of his deceased son Robert Charles Johnson (Catherine Ann, Mary Ann Bayard, Charles Frederick, and Sarah Alexander), and his son Samuel William Johnson. His inventory was completed on 28 July 1820 in Stratford.^[2]

In 1821, his estate distribution was set out to his widow, Mary, and his heirs.^[3]

Sources

• Davis, Charles. History of Wallingford, Connecticut (Charles Henry Stanley Davis, Wallingford, Connecticut, 1870) Page 642.
• Orcutt, Samuel, Rev. (1886) A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Part II Genealogies. Published by the Fairfield County Historical Society. vol. 2, page 1125
• Connecticut Society of Sons of the American Revolution
• Find A Grave Memorial# 4712
• William Samuel Johnson on Wikipedia
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Dictionary of American Biography; Groce, G.C. William Samuel Johnson: A Maker of the Constitution. New York: Columbia University Press, 1937; McCaughey, Elizabeth. William Samuel Johnson, Loyalist and Founding Father. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980.
• Andrews, Rev. W. G., "William Samuel Johnson and the Making of the Constitution", Fairfield Historical Society, Reports and Papers (Bridgeport, 1889) Page 10
• Wilcoxson, William Howard. History of Stratford, Connecticut, 1639-1939 (Stratford Tercentenary Commission, Stratford, Conn., 1939) Page 556-63
• Shepard, James. The Tories of Connecticut, The Connecticut Magazine (Connecticut Magazine Co., 1898) Vol. 4, Page 148-9. "Dr. William Samuel Johnson of Stratford was one of the most noted men of Connecticut ever arrested for Toryism..."

Footnotes

1. ↑ Resigned, vacant March 4, 1791 – June 13, 1791 when successor elected.
2. ↑ “Probate records v. 7-8 1820-1834”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L92K-Y6G4 : 18 January 2023), FHL microfilm 007627135, image 17-20, Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, Vol 7, 1820-1829, Pages 1-7.
3. ↑ “Probate records v. 7-8 1820-1834”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L92K-Y6VK : 19 January 2023), FHL microfilm 007627135, image 42-45, Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut, Vol 7, 1820-1829, Pages 50-55.