J$urde£ Oglcmdar* JWe/iJwrps Twisden More Jlfortzri Hanlumi Mbstyn MM . Ufa*wn nvowti Jhmer PREFACE. Transmitting to posterity the acts of those who have deserved well of their country, has in all ages been countenanced by persons of public spirit and learning, and I should not presume to take this liberty were I conscious of advancing any particular incon= sistent with the utmost truth and impartiality. Our nobles, whatever imperfections some of their members have displayed, have gained universal applause among all ranks of people for their gracious affability, candor and humanity. Even their enemies have ad= mired those public and private virtues which distin= guished them in learning and solid judgment; and what may seem paradoxical to many, they have generally stood for the maintenance of an equal balance between the prerogative of the crown and the legal rights of the people; and how many have suffered on that account our histories show. n? JOHNSON. General Sir William Johnson, the eldest son of Christopher Johnson, Esq., of Warrenstown, by his wife Anne, a sister of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, was born in Ireland about 1715. Owing to what the General termed " a family dispute as to my marriage " he went to the American colonies where he immediately took over the management of the estates of his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, in the valley of the Mohawk. Here he first established himself upon a tract of land on the south side of the Mohawk River and about twenty miles west of the City of Schenectady, which he named Warrenburgh. He began to colonize this tract and traded with the Indian tribes over whom he acquired an early influence which was greater than that ever possessed by any other white man, for the Mohawks chose him as their Sachem, and on the resignation of the Albany Indian Commissioners in 1744, Governor Clinton appointed him Colonel of the Six Nations. Eleven years later General Braddock, who was then preparing an expedition against Crown Point, appointed Johnson to the chief command, a position he well merited, for meeting the French at Lake George, Johnson gained signal victories and saved the colonies from French invasion. These splendid exploits brought General Johnson a grant of .£5,000 and the Baronetcy on November 27th, 1755. The General's wife, Mary Wisenburgh, was the daughter of a German planter whose estates joined Johnson's Mohawk tract. By her he left a son, Sir John, who succeeded to the title and estates. Other children there were, perhaps eight (though some writers say more) most of whom were the issue of the last of his two wives or mistresses and concerning which relationships no marriage records appear. The General's opinions and sympathies all bore on the side of the patriots in their controversies with the mother country, and he died at his country seat (Johnson Hall) lamenting the impending struggle, on July 4th, 1774. His successor in office was not (as appears in many heraldic publications) the second Baronet, but his nephew, Guy Johnson. Guy Johnson was born in Ireland about 1738, came to America as a youth and ably assisted General Johnson in the Indian Department, and on Sir William's death he was provisionally appointed his successor. Guy Johnson, a staunch but hot-headed loyalist, lived in great splendour at his seat " Guy Hall," in Tryon County, New York. Here his utterances are said to have precipitated the Rebellion and to have cost his family the Staten Island estates. Sir John, second Baronet and son of Sir William Johnson, married (June 30th, 1773) Mary, the daughter of Hon. John Watts, then President of the Council of New York. Unlike his father, Sir John was an ardent Royalist and on the outbreak of the American Revolution expatriated himself to Quebec, later setting up his seat at Mount Johnson, Montreal. Sir William George Johnson, fourth and present baronet of this line is now seated at St. Mathias, Montreal. Two other titled branches of the House of Johnson, both of whom descend from Christopher Johnson, before named, have formed marriage alliances with American families, namely: — I. Sir Henry Johnson, Baronet, Lieut. Colonel under Lord Cornwallis, with Rebecca, daughter of David Franks, of Philadelphia. His resting place is marked by a splendid monument at the Abbey Church, Bath. II. Sir Henry Allen Johnson, Baronet, with Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick Philipse, of Philipsburg, New York. Captain Isaac Johnson, one of the founders of Roxbury, Mass., and later of Charlestown, came from a family of considerable prominence in Clipsham, Rutlandshire, a family whose line have been traced to the Johnsons of Kibblesworth in the Palatine. They have always claimed as the most remote ancestor Christopher Johnson, son of William Johnson, of Loup House, and grandson of William of the same place, born about 1620. They had a grant of a crest during the Visitation by St. George, (1615) and claim to descend from William the Lion. This statement is in no manner improper in view of the marriage alliances with the House of Ros. Captain Isaac Johnson accompanied Winthrop to America, where by his wife Arbella, daughter of Thomas, Earl of Lincoln, he left numerous issue, having died December 19th, 1675, while storming Narraganset Fort. The Johnsons of Charlestown came from Canterbury, in England, with Winthrop, and their several branches were early represented in the settlements at Woburn, Haverhill and New Haven. Of these, Edward, early founder of Woburn, had a son William (born at Canterbury) the father of Edward Johnson, the first of the name born at Woburn (March 19th, 1658). Samuel, son of the last named, (born Feb. 21st, 1696) was the immediate progenitor of the several Massachusetts branches. Edward F. Johnson, of Woburn, descends from the Massachusetts historian, Edward Johnson, above named, a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from Woburn, who was born at Hern Hill, near Canterbury. Arms of the ancient and militant Prussian House of Johnson, now7 represented by Von. Schmidt de Johnson : ARMS : D'azur a trois roses mal-or-donnes d'arg. Cq. cour. CREST : Trois roses arg., rangees en fasce. MOTTO : " La Verite." Both the German and Swedish Johnsons who use this Coat-of- Arms claim one similar line of ancestry in Europe, and represent a branch entirely foreign to those already discussed. JOHNSON SEATS. St. Mathias, Point Oliver, Montreal, Canada : Sir William George Johnson, Baronet. Bath : Arthur Acheson Johnson. Norwald, Brandon : Descendants of the Rt. Rev. John Johnson, Canon of Norwich and " kinsman " of the poet Cowper. Castle Lyons House, Fermoy: Lt. Col. William Johnson, J.P., D.L. Arncliffe Hall, Northallerton : Family of Rev. Walter Rankin Johnson. Ulverscroft, Leicester: William George Johnson. The Close, Salisbury : Oswald Carnegy Johnson. Farnham Hall, Derby: Col. Herbert Alfred Johnson, J,P. Brookfield, Leicester : Thos. Fielding Johnson. Sweetenham Hall, Congleton : Ernest Johuson, J.P. Castlemeads : Rt. Rev. Edward Ralph Johnson. Mallow, Co. Cork: Rt. Hon Wm. Moore Johnson, son of Rev. Wm. Johnson, Chancellor of Ross and Coyne. Kenyon Hall, Manchester. WTinkleigh Court, Devon. Broughton Hall, Chester. Kings Mead, Windsor, Berks. Holland House, Spalding. Blundeston, Lodge, Lowestoft. Rounton Grange, Northallerton. Warrenstown, Dunsany, Meath. New England Register, VII., 158; VIII., 232, 359; XXXIII., 81, 333; XXXIV., 60; XXXVIII., 407. Essex Institute (Salem, Mass.) Historical Collections, XXXI, 204. Burke's Authorised Arms, 191 ; Heraldic Illustrations, 133; Landed Gentry; Colonial Gentry. Turner's Great Yarmouth, 47. Fletcher's Leicestershire Pedigrees and Royal Descents, 119, 157. Hasted's Kent, IV., 371. Berry's Kent, 153, 384. Claim of Martha, wife of Sir Henry Johnson, to the Barony of Wentworth, Sess. Papers, March and April, 1702. Visitation of Durham, 1615, (Sunderland, 1820) 85. Howard's Visitation of England and Wales, I., 85 ; II., 5 ; III., 17. Metcalfe's Visitation of Suffolk, 97. Visitation of Staffordshire, 1614 and 1663-4. Foster's Visitation of Durham, 191. Colby of Great Torrington, 22. The Genealogist, I., 105; VI., 260; New Series, VII.. 223. Misc. Genealogica et Heraldica, New Series, I., 450; II., 122. Harlean Soc, III, 14; VIII, 266, 456; XIII., 430; XVII, 12, 17; XIX, 119; XXI, 97; XLIII, 91. William Johnson's Massachusetts Histories. William Johnson of Charles­ town, Mass, by Cyrus Felton. The Descendants of David Johnson, of Leominster, by Rev. William Johnson. The Johnson Family of the Mohawk Valley, by J. Watts de Peyster. Paige's Cambridge and also Hardwick (Mass.). Wyman's Charlestown. Martin's History of Chester, Pa. Holgate's American Genealogy. Win- throp's New England, Holme's Annals. Edward Johnson's Rox­ bury Histories. THE O'NEILL. Irish historians inform us that this noble name and family descended from Heremon, seventh son of Milesus, the first of the Milesian race who conquered Ireland and who died anno mundi 3515. Niall The Great, 53rd in descent from Heremon, was King of Ireland A.D. 388. He subdued the Picts and ancient Britons and after ravaging the coast of Gaul was assassinated on the banks of the Loire, near Boulogne. For upwards of six hundred years after­ wards Niall's descendants exclusively occupied the throne of Ireland. Three kings of his posterity were named after him, viz.: Niall II, surnamed Frassach, who died 770; Niall III, surnamed Caille, drowned in the river Callen, A.D. 897, and Niall IV. surnamed Glundubh, " black knee," who was the 170th monarch. He fought many battles with the Danes, who held Dublin, and raising a great army to besiege this city, a battle was fought in which he was slain and his arm} routed, A.D. 917. From him this family took their surname of O'Neill or Clanna Neill.