Ebenezer Johnson (1679 - 1768)

Born 12 Sep 1679 in Derby, New Haven, Connecticut

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1768 at about age 88 in Newtown, Fairfield, Connecticut

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Biography

Ebenezer JOHNSON was born 12 Sep 1679. He is mentioned in HISTORY OF THE OLD TOWN OF DERBY at http://books.google.com/books?id=PdULAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA739 as being son of Jeremiah & Sarah (Hotchkiss) Johnson, with brothers Jeremiah, William, John, Samuel, Moses, and Ebenezer, and at least one sister, Elizabeth.

An Ebenezer Johnson was a justice or judge in Derby, Connecticut, and was called "Major" Ebenezer Johnson, Esq. In other places "Captain" Johnson or "Colonel" Johnson is mentioned.
On 18 Feb 1706/1707, he sold his mansion house & barn with adjoining orchard (one and a half acres), and pasture or "bushie hill side" (six acres), to the town of Derby to be used for a parsonage (see TOWN RECORDS OF DERBY, CONNECTICUT online at http://books.google.com/books?id=JHxRz_kMmpcC&pg=PA399). This was probably not the same Ebenezer JOHNSON who settled in Newtown, however, because it's unlikely that he could have accumulated such riches and honors at such a young age.

On 25 July 1705, Ebenezer Johnson was the sole white witness of the deed which conveyed the land which became Newtown from the Indians Mauquash, Massumpas, Nunnawauk, and others belonging to the Pootatuck band (see http://books.google.com/books?id=CAoWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA13). For four guns, four broadcloth coats, four blankets, four "ruffelly coats", four collars, ten shirts, ten pairs of stockings, forty pounds of lead, ten of ???, ten pounds of powder and forty knives, they purchased a tract eight miles long and five miles wide, bordering on the south upon a pine swamp and lands of Mr. Sherman and Mr. Rositer; on the southwest upon Fairfield bounds; northwest upon the bounds of Danbury; northeast upon land purchased by Milford men at or near Ovanhonock; and southeast upon land of Numaway an Indian, the line running two miles from the river right against Pootatuck.
Ebenezer Johnson later bought in 1709 the tract of land in what was then called "Nyumphs" from an Indian named Chetrenasut; in exchange Johnson gave Chetrenasut a squaw named Sarah and ?3,10s. "On account of a squaw Sarah, sold unto said Chetrenasut, and three pounds, ten shillings in hand received of Major Ebenezer Johnson of Derby." This tract of land was "lying in a place called 'Nayumps,' bounded northerly with Beacon Hill river, easterly with Milford, westerly with Naugatuck river, south with Lebanon river."

In 1711 Ebenezer and his brother Moses were the only two Johnsons listed among the town's inhabitants in the distribution of land. By 1732 their nephew Jeremiah (son of their older brother Jeremiah) had settled at Newtown also, because he voted in a meeting in June 1732.

Most family trees show that Ebenezer had only two sons, Abraham and Ichabod. Some list another son, Peter, but I'm not sure if Peter really belongs in this family. There may also have been a son Jeremiah.

Newtown historian Ezra Levan Johnson (1832-1914) wrote the following about the Johnson family:
[Generation] 1. Robert Johnson came from Yorkshire, England, no date given.

[Generation] 2. Thomas [Johnson], drowned in New Haven Harbor in 1640.

[Generation] 3. Thomas and Jeremiah [were] sons of 2Thomas; Jeremiah married Sarah HOTCHKISS

[Generation] 4. Ebenezer son of 3Jeremiah, born 1679 at Derby [Connecticut], died at Newtown [Connecticut] 1768. He was one of the witnesses of the deed given by the Indians in 1705.
Ezra Levan Johnson wrote, "Of all the Johnson names that figure in the Conn. Colonial Records, no name is so prominent as that of Ebenezer Johnson, who settled in the town of Derby; admitted as an Elector there in 1678*; was first appointed to the General Court as the deputy from Derby, in May, 1685*; the same year was confirmed as Lieut. of the Derby Trained Band. He had already done service in the field, for the same year the General Court granted him four pounds English money for services done in the Pequot war. In 1689* was chosen captain of volunteers to go forth against the Indian enemy, with liberty to drum for volunteers under him in every plantation in Fairfield and New Haven counties. In 1697* he was made captain of a second expedition. In May, 1698* the Court granted him six pound cash for money he expended at Albany out of his own estate to satisfy for damage done by soldiers under his command. In 1702* was appointed one of a committee to settle the line between the colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut. In 1704* appointed as Sergt. Major and commissioned as such for New Haven county. In 1709* "upon consideration of the age and long service of Major Ebenezer Johnson, the General Court does excuse and release him from further labor in that post;" although in 1710 he was appointed Lieut. Colonel of forces upon the expedition to Port Royal and Nova Scotia."

Obviously the above-mentioned 1678, 1685, 1689, 1697, 1698, 1702, 1704, and 1709 items pertain to an earlier Ebenezer Johnson, not the one born in 1679 (who was not even an adult until 1700, and was too young to retire in 1709). One Ebenezer JOHNSON (brother of 3Jeremiah) was probably born about 1633 and married Hannah HOLBROOK on 23 Nov 1666 in Derby and had Eunice (1667), Elizabeth (1672), Hannah (1680), Peter (1684), Ebenezer (1687), Israel (1689), Alexander (1692), Timothy (1693), and Charles (1696), all born in Derby or Milford except Charles, who was born in Wallingford. Another Ebenezer JOHNSON (son of Peter JOHNSON) was born 1645 in Fairfield and died 1726 in Derby. He married Elizabeth WOOSTER 16 Nov 1671 in Stratford and had a daughter Elizabeth born 20 Dec 1672 in Stratford.

Sources

• Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Ancient New Haven ([CD]Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1981[originally]Rome, N.Y. and New Haven, Conn., 1922-1932), Vol 5, p 1030.
• Johnson, Ezra Levan. Newtown's History and Historian, Ezra Levan Johnson (Newtown, Conn., 1917) "Descendants of Some of Newtown's Earliest Settlers", Page 86: He married Hannah Tomlinson.
• Boyle, John Neville. Historical Notes and Maps, Newtown, 1708-1758 (Bee Pub. Co., Newtown, Conn., 1945) Page 17: The Proprietors of 1717.