Elijah Johnson

Background

Johnson was born c. 1791, in Virginia, United States, and relocated to New Jersey as a child, with his parents. Nothing is known of his parentage.

Education

Johnson was in New Jersey in 1789 and there and in New York received some schooling. For a while, he studied for the Methodist ministry.

Career

Johnson took part in the War of 1812, serving in New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. In February, 1820 he joined the pioneer company of emigrants who left New York on the ship Elizabeth to establish an American Negro settlement in Africa, a group consisting of eighty-eight colored persons and three white representatives of the United States government and the American Colonization Society. Two commissioners of the Colonization Society had previously recommended the British colony of Sierra Leone as a place of settlement. The British Governor, however, would not permit the Americans to make permanent settlement there. They, therefore, went temporarily to the Island of Shebro, where many of them, including the three white men, died of fever. Elijah Johnson and another Negro, Daniel Coker, took charge of the colony until the next year, when a second vessel arrived. The coast was explored and the present site of the capital of Liberia was finally chosen for settlement.

The colonists landed first on Perseverance Island in the harbor below Cape Mesurado, but the place was low and unhealthy, the natives hostile, and there was difficulty with the white slave-traders. Eli Ayres, the white American in charge, was discouraged and wished to return to Sierra Leone. To this proposition Johnson was strongly opposed. His stubborn determination decided the permanent settlement of Liberia. Ayres returned to America, leaving Johnson in charge. Knowing that another rainy season passed on Perseverance Island would be fatal, in spite of native opposition he climbed the high Cape and cleared the site of Monrovia, future capital. A British gunboat appeared off the Cape and the commanders offered to punish the natives if Johnson would cede a piece of land to the British government and hoist the British flag, but Johnson refused point-blank.

Jehudi Ashmun, another white representative of the Colonization Society and by far the most efficient, arrived in August 1822. He found Johnson in charge, but the negotiations with the natives still unsettled. He put the colony under military law and made Johnson commissary of stores. In the years following, the colony, under the black men, Elijah Johnson and Lott Carey, and the white man, Jehudi Ashmun (who died in 1827), fought for existence against the natives and against the fever. The colonial troops in all cases were led by Elijah Johnson, and his energetic action gradually brought the neighborhood chiefs into submission and alliance. The colony grew and began to take definite shape. Johnson was a member of the conference which made solemn declaration of independence in July 1847. He died March 23, 1849, having lived to see Liberia an independent state and a colored man elected as first president. His descendants to this day form one of the leading families in Liberia.

Achievements

• Johnson attained a great legacy as a leader. He was one of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention that started in January, 1847 and ended with the establishment of the Republic of Liberia on July 26 that year. He led the colony's militia in a number of battles including at Bromley (1828 & 1832), Bassa Cove (1835) and Kingstown (1839).

Politics

Johnson was appointed as Commissary of Stores and became active in politics. In 1847, he was one of the signers of the Liberian Declaration of Independence.

Connections

Johnson had two children out of wedlock, Lewis Johnson (1810-1838) and Charles Johnson (born 1812). He later married and had one daughter, Elizabeth (born 1818), with his wife Mary Johnson. After immigrating to the colony of Liberia in 1820, his wife died of fever or malaria. He married again and had several children with his second wife, Rachel Wright. Two of his children, Sarah (b. about 1811), and Elijah Johnson, Junior (born about 1812), were left in an orphanage in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1816. Their mother was not identified, but their father was recorded as Elijah Johnson.

His son, Hilary R. W. Johnson, served as president of Liberia from 1884 to 1892.

Spouse:

Mary Johnson

Spouse:

Rachel Wright

Daughter:

Elizabeth Johnson

Daughter:

Sarah Johnson

Son:

Charles Johnson

Son:

Hilary R. W. Johnson

Son:

Lewis Johnson

Son:

Elijah Johnson, Jr.

Friend:

Jehudi Ashmun

He was an American religious leader and social reformer who became involved in the American Colonization Society.

References

• A History of Colonization on the Western Coast of Africa.
• History of Liberia (Classic Reprint)
• Liberia
• Life of Jehudi Ashmun, Late Colonial Agent in Liberia.