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Sir Thomas Johnson[1]

Male 1664 - 1729  (~ 64 years)


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  • Name Thomas Johnson  [2
    Prefix Sir 
    Birth Y  [3
    Christening 7 Nov 1664 
    Gender Male 
    Death 1729  VA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I2231  Main
    Last Modified 26 Nov 2004 

    Family Elizabeth "Betty" Whittington,   b. Abt 1680, VA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage 1700  [4
    Children 
    +1. Whittington Johnson,   b. 1709, Eastville, Northampton Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1769, Worcester Co., MD Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 60 years)
    Family ID F920  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 5 Feb 2004 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 1729 - VA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • His wife, Elizabeth Whittington, is not mentioned in Clayton Torrence "OLD SOMERSET" p. 381 where she should have appeared.

      Note: The points and comments below kindly emailed to me by Jacque-Lynne Schulman, dispute there was a marriage between Sir Thomas and Elizabeth Whittington or that this Elizabeth even existed (I will keep this in the database for the benefit of other researchers)

      1. I have visited the Public Record Office in Liverpool. Sir Thomas had a wife in England during the time he would have been married to Eliz. Whittington. I found a record of the marriage and the death of said English wife in the St Nicholas Parish rolls. That church was burned totally during the Blitz as it was very near the shipyards and docks. The rolls had been copied in the 1930s and deposited the the PRO.

      2. During the time Sir Thomas would have been in Virginia, he regularly appears in London for Parliament and also is regularly quoted in Norris's rentals in various business affairs taking place in Liverpool.

      3. The "proof" that Sir Thomas was in the colonies flows from two deeds that name him that are in the Maryland Archives. These mention him and are filed by his export agents/attorneys. He does not appear himself.

      4. There are too many Elizabeth Whittingtons. The child of the 5th wife is nowhere mentioned in Wm Whittington's will or in land records.

      While the absence of a child named in will or deed is not probative, items 1 and 2 are proof that Sir Thomas was not in the colonies at the time Whittington Johnson senior was fathered. The only opening would be proof that Elizabeth Whittington was in England in the early 1700s but that begs the fact that Sir Thomas has a English wife during thet time period before and after conception.

      The title Collector of Taxes on the Rappahannock is described in English sources as an honorary title, those holding such titles did not themselves in person manage the collections so he would not have actually lived in Virginia for that purpose. 

      I have spent quite some time on Sir Thomas. My grandmother (1884-1966) was convinced of the connection and it meant a lot to her and to others in the family. As Grammie lived with us, I heard a lot about Sir Thomas. We even had a Manx cat named Sir Thomas - you  may know the Isle of Mann is in the Irish Sea near Liverpool. I have reams of information on Sir Thomas and visited the Town Hall in Liverpool, the street that bears his names, etc. etc. etc.

      Alas, the weight of facts strongly suggest there is no tie between Sir Thomas Johnson, Knight and the colonial Johnson Family of Northampton-Dorchester.

      I would like to find why a child was named WHittington Johnson. There likely was some connection - perhaps the Johnsons were friends or neighbors - I hope someday to find why Whittington became a family name but for now, I have to conclude, my Johnsons are not blood kin the the Whittington Family. [5, 6]

  • Sources 
    1. [SAuth] John Spencer Howell, Jr., John Spencer Howell, Jr., (http://www.jhowell.com/ jhowell@jhowell.com).

    2. [S850] History of Dorchester County (MD), p 369. photocopy on file.

    3. [S715] Barbara Cox, Barbara Cox - GHOTES web site, (December 2001).

    4. [S850] History of Dorchester County (MD), p. 369 photocopy on file.

    5. [S896] Jacque-Lynne Schulman, Jacque-Lynne Schulman, (schulmaj@mail.nlm.nih.gov), email to JSH 5 Feb 2004.

    6. [S712] Torrence, Clayton, Clayton Torrence - Old Somerset, (Richmond, VA Whittet and Shepperson 1935), p. 381.