Holbrook line: John Johnson of Roxbury, Immigrant

 It doesn't help matters at all that we have at least two ancestors named John Johnson on our tree. For a long time, I've been reluctant to write about this one because I thought it was possible that I had the two men confused on my tree.  However, I've been thrilled to find, and finally read, a book called "The Biography and Genealogy of Captain John Johnson from Roxbury, Massachusetts: An Uncommon Man in the Commonwealth of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1630-1659" by Gerald Garth Johnson, whom I assume would be a distant cousin of ours.  The book was published by Heritage Books in 2008, so the scholarship is recent.  As my son and my sister would say "Cool beans!" 

To give the bare facts, we don't know for sure where John Johnson was born nor whom his parents were, but it appears likely that he was from the area of Great Amwell or Ware, Hertfordshire, England.  He married his first wife, Mary Heath, at Ware in 1613, so he was likely born sometime around 1590, give or take a few years.   He seems to have learned to read, write, and "cipher" as a child but there is no evidence for that except that he possessed these skills in his adult life.  He was a Puritan, probably deeply religious, and he had ten children before he came to America, unfortunately without Mary.  She died in 1629 and John Johnson came to Massachusetts on the Arabella, with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630.  He was the quartermaster for the ship, meaning he was responsible for providing and rationing food for the trip across the ocean, and perhaps for a time when the ship landed.  Only six or perhaps seven of the children were still living, and we don't know whether all of the children came with him or whether some were on other ships of the same fleet,  Mary, the oldest, would have been just sixteen, which perhaps was considered old enough to watch over the other children while on the trip. 

Not much is known of Johnson's life in England but somewhere he must have acquired the skills and abilities that allowed him to become prominent in the life of Roxbury.  He apparently went to the new village as soon as he landed, and was part of the town's development for the rest of his life.  He was referred to as a yeoman, so he had little status coming to town but soon was respected by all  Among his accomplishments, he was a selectman for most of his life there.  He served as constable for many, many years.  He was "Surveyor-General of the Arms" for the entire Massachusetts Bay Colony , as well as Captain of the Roxbury Military Company and clerk of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts.  (He had likely been a member of the Honourable Artillery Company of London, but the identification is not certain).

Johnson was frequently called on to witness wills or to inventory estates, as well as to represent townspeople as attorney or power of attorney.  As a Puritan in a Puritan town, he helped found the first church and may have helped to construct the first meeting house.  He donated toward the establishment of the first school in Roxbury.  As Surveyor-General, he helped build bridges and decide boundaries, including settling disputes, or what could have become disputes, between neighboring towns. 

Are you impressed yet?  He did all this while raising his family, running a farm, and owning a tavern in Roxbury.  He was a land owner and a land dealer, providing for farms for two sons as well as selling land for profit.  John did have some help.  He married for the second time, to a woman named Margery, probably about 1633. but possibly before coming to America to 1630.  Margery died and Johnson then married Grace Negus Fawer before October 14, 1656.  (She was either childless or had no surviving children when she died in 1671, since she left her estate to her two brothers).  So on top of all that he did for the community, the church, and the colony, Johnson was also a family man.  He may have had step children, although none were mentioned in his will. 

John Johnson died September 30, 1659.  The book I referred to earlier gives his complete will and an inventory several pages in length.  His estate was valued at about 668 pounds, and the inventory shows many more items than were typical in a New England household in 1659.  This is even more remarkable because Johnson's house, including town and military records and the town's ammunition, burned to the ground in 1645.  Johnson had quickly replaced everything of the household that was destroyed, and possibly more besides. 

The author is certainly proud of John Johnson and I think we should be, too.  He was respected in his time both for the work he did and for the results, as he was regarded as successful.  I'd love to learn more about him but this is so much more than I expected to find, that I am truly grateful for this book.  If you want to learn more about John Johnson, or about Puritans in general, you couldn't do better than to read this book!

The line of descent is:

John Johnson-Mary Heath
Mary Johnson-Roger Mowry
Nathaniel Mowry-Joanna Inman
Joanna Mowry-Walter Phetteplace
Sarah Phetteplace-Elisha Eddy
Enos Eddy-Sarah Brown
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph B Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants