Background
Elijah Johnson was of mixed raced ancestry, and was born about 1790 probably in New New York
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Elijah Johnson
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Education
He was probably born in New Jersey, received some limited schooling in New Jersey and New York, served as a soldier in the War of 1812 and studied for the Methodist ministry.
Career
He had two children out of wedlock, Lewis Johnson (1810 – 1838) and Charles Johnson (born 1812). There was no mention of their mother"s identity, but the father was listed as Elijah Johnson. He came into Pennsylvania from New York, prior to the War of 1812, in which he served.
After the War, he studied at a Methodist school and was ordained as a minister of the Methodist church in northern New New York on the ship Elizabeth and, on March 9, 1820, landed on Sherbro Island in what is today Sierra Leone.
In 1821, the surviving settlers moved to Providence Island near what is today Monrovia. There, Johnson married Rachel Wright (born ca 1798) with whom he had several additional children including Hilary R. West. Johnson, who would become the eleventh President of Liberia in 1884.
Johnson became the colonial agent of the American Colonization Society after the death of the white first colonial agent Eli Ayers and his black successor Frederick James. He served in this role from June 4, 1822 until August 8, 1822 and again from April 2, 1823 until August 14, 1823 and was replaced by Jehudi Ashmun.
He was then appointed Commissary of Stores but was also active in politics.
In 1847, he was one of the signers of the Liberian Declaration of Independence. Johnson died in 1849 in White Plains, a missionary station in the interior of Liberia.
Membership
Elijah Senior was a member of the American Colonization Society as was his friend Jehudi Ashmun.
