Background
Johnson was born on April 7, 1644, near Kibbelsworth, Durham, England, the son of William and Margaret (Sherwood) Johnson.
military Soldier Colonial governor
Johnson was born on April 7, 1644, near Kibbelsworth, Durham, England, the son of William and Margaret (Sherwood) Johnson.
Before he migrated to the colonies, Johnson had served as a soldier, as a farmer of chimney taxes in the four northern counties, as member of Parliament for Newcastle-on-Tyne, and on December 28, 1680, had been knighted. In 1686 he was appointed governor of the Leeward Islands, but when James II was driven from England, Johnson asked permission to retire, as he was unwilling to take the oaths of allegiance to William and Mary. Accordingly he made his plans to leave the islands. His family, including his wife and at least one child, returned to England. They were taken prisoners by the French en route, and his wife died soon afterwards.
Johnson himself sailed in July 1689 for South Carolina, where he already had the right to two baronies of 12, 000 acres each through his appointment as a cacique by the Lords Proprietors, and now received an additional grant of 1, 940 acres on the eastern branch of Cooper River. Here he experimented with the culture of silk, calling his plantation "Silk Hope. " His efforts met with success, and he presented the proprietors with a sample of silk. He is recorded as deriving an income of three to four hundred pounds annually from this source. Ambitious and enterprising, he also attempted to manufacture salt and to grow grapes for the production of wine.
In June 1702 he was appointed governor of the province, but did not begin active service until 1703. He personally administered South Carolina, appointing a deputy for North Carolina. This was the period of Queen Anne's war, and South Carolina, a British outpost, was in danger of attack from both France and Spain. Johnson was active in the defense of the colony, building fortifications and undertaking an offensive against the enemy's Indian allies at the suggestion of James Moore, noted Indian trader and former governor. The Assembly consented to the move, but required the expedition to pay its own expenses. The attack was successful, and much booty and many Indian slaves were secured.
Continuing his policy of weakening the French and Spaniards by crushing and alienating their Indian allies, Johnson made a treaty of friendship with the Creeks, a powerful tribe living on the border of Carolina and formerly hostile to the English. For his success in defending the colony, a fort was named in his honor and he was granted 1, 200 acres of land. The Indian trade was a leading economic interest in the colony and was largely controlled by the Assembly. Johnson approved a law regulating the trade by placing it under the management of a board of Indian commissioners and an Indian agent appointed and removed by the lower house. The Governor also gave up his right to have all presents from the Indians and received in return a hefty amount of money yearly.
Johnson was superseded as governor in 1708, but lived in the colony until his death in 1713.
A strict High-Churchman, Johnson aided in the building of Pompion Hill Chapel, the first Anglican church in the province of Carolina outside of Charleston, and consistently supported the measure, passed in 1704, establishing the Church of England in Carolina. This law met with much opposition in the colony, but when the Assembly sought to repeal it, Johnson dissolved that body.
Johnson had, at least, two children: Robert, also a future Governor of South Carolina, and Ann, who married Gov. Thomas Broughton.