John (Wysen Bergh) Johnson (1741 - 1830)

Born 5 Nov 1741 in Amsterdam, Tryon, New York Colony

Ancestors

Died 4 Jan 1830 at age 88 in Montréal, Lower Canada

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Biography

Brigadier-General Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet (5 November 1741 – 4 January 1830) was an American-born military officer, magistrate, landowner in the British Indian Department who fought as a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War. He was the son of Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, who was the first British Superintendent of Indian Affairs. He inherited his father's baronetcy and estate in 1774.

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

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

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

Sir John moved to Canada during the American Revolutionary War with his family and allies, as he was at risk of arrest by Patriot authorities. During the war, he led the King's Royal Regiment of New York and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1782. That year Sir John Johnson was also appointed as Superintendent General and Inspector General of Indian affairs, a position he filled until his death in 1830. After the war, he was appointed by the Crown to distribute lands in Upper Canada to exiled Loyalists, and estimated he helped resettle nearly 3800 in 1784. He also served in the Legislative Council of Lower Canada.

Sources

• Browning, Charles Henry (1883). Americans of Royal Descent. Philadelphia: Porter & Costes. p. 16. Retrieved 7 August 2019.

assnat.qc.ca: "John JOHNSON (1741-1830)"

The Chancellor Robert R Livingston Masonic Library of New York: The History of the Grand Lodge of New York, New York Masonic Library.

Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, page 37

The Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, Bart, Volume 2, Page 512

The Mohawk Valley During the Revolution, by Harold Frederic, 1877.

"White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America", Fintan O'Toole, 2005.

"Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.

Sir John Johnson at Montreal and Niagara, Haldimand Collection. Bryan, William (August 1874). "Sir John Johnson". American Historical Record. 3 (32): 340–344. Retrieved 25 July 2013.

Gorgen, Paul F. (2017). "Ladies of the Valley: Molly Brant, Clarissa Putman and other women with Rona'sharón:nih (European) Partners". Iroquoia. 3: 7–40. Retrieved 21 April 2021.

Vrooman, John J. (1950). Clarissa Putman of Tribes Hill: A Romantic History of Sir William Johnson, His Family and Mohawk Valley Neighbors Through the Flaming Years 1767-1780. Baronet Litho Company. Retrieved 7 August 2019.

Debrett, John (1839). The Baronetage of England; With Alphabetical Lists of Such Baronetcies as Have Merged In The Peerage, Or Have Become Extinct. And Also of The Existing Baronets of Nova Scotia and Ireland. Seventh Edition: Including The New Baronets Created at Her Majesty's Coronation in 1839, With The Arms Complete, From Drawings by Harvey. London: J. G. & F. Rivington. p. 176. Retrieved 7 August 2019.

Burke, J. Bernard (1854). Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. London, p. 558.

Burke, J. Bernard (1854). Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. London, p. 559.

Morgan, Henry James (ed.). Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada. Toronto.

Sir John Johnson House. Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. Parks Canada.

Sir John Johnson House National Historic Site of Canada. Directory of Federal Heritage Designations. Parks Canada.

Sir John Johnson House. Canadian Register of Historic Places.