JOHNSONS of Aberdeen, Scotland and Virginia

By Suzanne Johnston

Lorand [Dr. Lorand Johnson, M.D.] believed that the connecting ancestor between Virginia and Aberdeen was James Johnston, he called him the Quaker Merchant. He believed him to be the son of Thomas Johnston of Craig. When I first got acquainted with Lorand, he believed as stated in his first book, that James Johnson in Virginia was James in Aberdeen who married Jean Ogilvie, and had 4 sons, James, William, John, and Alexander. That came from a book which stated that that line was extinct, when Caskieben was being disentailed. He made the assumption that the reason they thought it was extinct was because the family had come to Virginia. I proved to him that he was a generation off. I did find James Johnston and Jean Ogilvie in the St. Nicholas Parish Register in Aberdeen, and the birth of 4 sons, James, William, John, and Alexander, but their births were too late to be considered as sons who were in Virginia having children in 1700. Lorand then realized that he should be focused on the father of James, who was also James, the son of Thomas Johnston of Craig.

James Johnston supposedly came to Virginia in 1696 with his three sons William, John and Alexander, leaving the son James who married Jean Ogilvie back in Aberdeen. In his first book, Lorand cited a reference for the passage of James and his sons to Virginia on a ship belonging to his brother-in-law Charles Dun. (Cameron, Landings and Sailings, Edinburgh, 1842, Vol. 2 pg. 246). When I tried to find that book, I found no evidence that it had ever been in print, and Lorand couldn’t remember where or when he saw it. He said he saw it while in medical school, and then actually discounted it. He later came to believe that there was no record of the passage of James because he was a Quaker, and it being illegal to transport Quakers no one would make a written record of it. So, in the absence of any shipping record for James and his three sons, the question is was Lorand right, was there a James, and were William, John and Alexander his sons? There definately was a James, and there also was a William, John and Alexander as well as a number of other Johnsons. The question now is were they who Lorand said they were. I personally don’t believe that Lorand was right. I don’t believe that William and John were brothers, or that they were sons of James.

Lorand believed that the family were all Quakers way back in Scotland, and came to Virginia as Quakers. I don’t believe there is evidence for that. There is no evidence in the extant early Quaker records of Johnsons. In 1699, when the Quakers were building a new building at Curles, the contributors were listed, and there were no Johnsons. In 1702, the women’s meeting signed for support of a monthly meeting at Curles, and again there were no Johnsons. There is no record of Edward Johnson supposed son of Dr. Arthur Johnston in the Quaker records, nor is there any Quaker record at all for William Johnson and Sarah Massie. All info we have on both of these people is in the St. Peter’s Parish Register. The children of William and Sarah Johnson are all in the Quaker records, as are many of the children of Edward and Elizabeth Johnson. John and Lucretia Massie Johnson are found first in the St. Peter’s Register, and then in the Quaker records, and for a time appear in both simultaneously.

Then, there is the letter of Gershom Perdue who was born in 1790, and wrote in his 88th year, that William and John Johnson were not brothers, that John was descended from William the Conqueror, and William was Sr. William Johnston of Scotland. Gershom Perdue was a Quaker, and had lived his whole life in the area with the Johnsons, and knew them well. He knew the whole story of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper and the Massie’s etc. I tend to believe him. Wirt Johnson Carrington also did not believe them to be brothers. So, I think we have been looking in the wrong place. We should be looking for John and William separately, and I suggest that we should be looking for them in families which were in Virginia for many years prior, not just arriving in Virginia in 1696.

There are, of course, several Johnsons who were in Virginia practically from the beginning. There was John Johnson, the ancient planter, who in 1624 had 100 acres on Archers Hope. According to Lorand, he was the son of Sir Robert Johnston of Crimond and Isabel Boyse, and the grandson of George Johnston and Christian Forbes of Caskieben. Lorand says he was sent by Alderman Johnson to Virginia in 1619, along with his cousin John Boyse, and they settled in Jamestown. John Johnson had a son, and a daughter who married Ed Travis, whose father is prominent for transporting a number of people to early Virginia. There are numerous references to a John Johnson over the years in Virginia:

1637 John Johnson was clerk of the court.

1659 John Johnson was assignee of Thomas Allin for 600 acres of land

Will of Creen Johnson mentioned Elizabeth Allin.

Margaret the wife of John Johnson.

1666 John Johnson and Mary Johnson were imported to Virginia

1667 John Johnson was attorney for James Vaulx

1668 John Page imported Mary Johnson & John Johnson

1675. James Vaulx imported John Johnson.

It is difficult to tell if these are all the same John Johnson, because people did travel back and forth, and their transporters often got credit for them more than once. So, a John Johnson is certainly one to be considered as a progenitor.

Also to be considered is Edward Johnson. Most are acquainted with Alderman Robert Johnson secretary to the Virginia Company. His father was of Cayesmill, a cadet branch of Caskieben, and travelled from Scotland to London with James when he became King of England. At that point he took the English spelling of the name. Sir. Robert Johnson, father of the Alderman had shares in the Virginia Company and was considered an Adventurer. When he died in 1622, there was a motion made June 19, 1622 in the Virginia Company Meeting to this effect, "Motion made in behalf of Mr. Edward Johnson that in respect his father Sir Robert Johnson deceased was an ancient adventurer he might be admitted to enjoy his father’s right, being his next heir, and that he might have a patent with as much favor as the companie do grant to any other ancient Adventurers, both which requested the court condescended unto and gave an order for a patent to be drawn against the next court". So, what evidence do we have of Edward Johnson in Virginia?

1622 Sir Robert Johnson was deceased as an Adventurer and his son Edward Johnson became Adventurer in his place.

1627 Edward Johnson granted 50 acres in Virginia

1632 Edward Johnson leased property during the life of John Johnson and wife

and Luke Johnson.

1669 Edward Johnson, having attained the age of 21 possessed his estate (He

was therefore born in 1648).

1677 Edward Johnson appears in Blissland Parish.

1680 Edward Johnson and his wife Elizabeth appear in St. Peter’s Parish, with

If you look at the St. Peter’s Parish Register, you find Edward and Elizabeth first, then Anthony, Michael, William, John, Alexander, Francis and James all having children in that parish. I personally think that a good number of them are children of Michael. The Vestry Book of Blissland Parish is extant, but the Parish Register is not, and I believe that is where the marriage of Edward and the birth of his earlier children would have been found. It probably also contained the marriage of William and Sarah Massie, and John and Lucretia Massie. Since it doesn’t exist, we are going to have to find other sources to substantiate the claim. Incidentally, we also don’t know that Edward’s wife was Elizabeth Walker, only that her name was Elizabeth.

Lorand claimed that Edward Johnson in St. Peter’s Parish came to Virginia with his cousin a confirmed Quaker, after the yearly meeting in London about 1676. He cites Wirt Johnson Carrington as his reference, quoting her, "In 1676, George Keith and his wife Elizabeth Johnston and her cousin Edward, son of Dr. Arthur Johnston, and Keith’s daughter, attended the yearly meeting of Quakers in England. After the meeting, Edward Johnston and Keith’s daughter accompanied Wm. Edmondson, who returned to Henrico Monthly Meeting, New Kent County, Virginia. Keith’s daughter married George Walker of Kikatan and their daughter Mary Walker married Thomas Massie in 1698." Personally, I don’t think this is the Edward who appears in Blissland and St. Peter’s Parish. I don’t think that Edward came in 1676, because he appears in 1677 in Blissland Parish to be taking such an active part in parish affairs, and I don’t think he would have done that, had he been a new arrival. Also, had he been a avid Quaker, I don’t think he would have been so quick to be involved in the Parish affairs. I think that Edward was much more likely to be the Edward born in 1648, who had lived in the area, and was more familiar with local affairs. Also, that Edward would have been the right age for the Edward in Blissland in 1677. While I have found Wirt Johnson Carrington to be correct about almost everything she says, note that she did not say that Edward stayed in Virginia and married Elizabeth Walker, something she might likely have done had that been true, because she mentioned Mary Walker as having married Thomas Massie. So, I do not think her statement can be taken as proof that Edward Johnston son of Dr. Arthur Johnston (if there is such a son, and there is no proof of that) is the Edward Johnson in Blissland and St. Peter’s Parish.

There is obviously much research to be done, to sort this all out. It would be much simpler if the Blissland Parish Register existed, and if all the early Quaker records exist, but they don’t. After 30 years at this though, I don’t think that John and William are brothers, nor do I think they were sons of James Johnston Quaker merchant, fish monger, etc. as Lorand labeled him. I do think that some of Dr. Arthur’s descendants were in Virginia, and indeed that a number of the early Johnson inhabitants of Virginia were of the Caskieben family. That would be expected with Alderman Robert Johnson in his prominent position there, and it is known that he persuaded a number of his relatives, and probably his brother to go to Virginia.

This is actually a very exciting time in the research, I think. For so many years, people have just been accepting James as father of John and William, and them as brothers who married two sisters. I am pretty sure that is not the case, and if we can really scrutinize the records and put our heads together, we may yet come up with the puzzling solution.