John Johnson

d. 1659 · Roxbury MA

Died 1659

He came to Massachusetts probably in the fleet that carried John Winthrop over in 1630, bringing his wife Margery and his children. On 19 October 1630 he desired admission as a freeman and he was made one on 18 May 1631, in the same court record that carries Roger Mowry and Roger Williams among the men asking for the same thing.

He settled at Roxbury and became, in the phrase of the standard dictionary of the first settlers, "a man of estate and distinction." He was a representative at the first General Court of the colony in 1634 and for many years afterwards, joined the Artillery Company in 1638, and held the office of surveyor general of arms and ammunition. His wife Margery was buried on 9 June 1655 and he married second Grace, widow of Barnabas Fawer. He died on 30 September 1659.

His will speaks of five children. Savage names Isaac and Humphrey and conjectured that the other three were daughters, all born in England. A later compiled account gives him sons Isaac, John and Humphrey and daughters Mary, who married Roger Mowry, Elizabeth, who married Isaac Heath, and Ann, who married William Makepeace. The Suffolk county records confirm the eldest, describing the wife of Roger Mowry of Providence as "the eldest daughter of John Johnson, late of Roxbury."

Sources

James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (1860), vol. 2, Johnson; William A. Mowry, The Descendants of John Mowry of Rhode Island (1909), citing the Suffolk records vol. 3 p. 374; Oliver Ayer Roberts, History of the Military Company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (1895), vol. 1, for the offices, the tavern and the estate; J. Wingate Thornton, Lives of Isaac Heath and John Bowles (1850)

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Cite: Heirology, "John Johnson (d. 1659)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/john-johnson-1659-3eec1b.