EdwJohn [Based on the number of recent e-mails, I suspect several of you are ready to work with this couple again. Since I have a few things I haven't yet circulated to the group, I decided it was time for an up-date. This isn't intended as an 'everything we have' on this couple, but more a 'hodge-podge' of connections between them and their neighbors in Virginia. I believe the more we learn about Edward and the neighborhood he and Elizabeth lived in, the more likely we are to find real clues to their heritage. I encourage as always, a rational, thoughtful exchange of ideas, hopefully supported with 'good' sources. And I will try my best to keep up with circulating responses to the entire group. Please remember to 'reply to me only'; otherwise you only reach a limited number of the group -- now over 140. I also encourage documented reports of the various lines of descent from this couple, and others. This is a golden opportunity for those trying to make the connection to Edward and Elizabeth. Present what you have -- another member may have the answer to your puzzle! I've included several extracts from previous reports -- all are available from the JOHNSON directory at my webpage: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~lksstarr/ Linda Sparks Starr, MAY 2001.] The New Kent County Virginia Neighborhood of Edward and Elizabeth JOHNSON I start where I left off in EDWJOHNS -- with the question of one or two Edward Johnsons in New Kent Co.? -- based on the nearness of 'one' Edward to William Atkinson who operated a ferry on the Pamunkey River in 1684, while the one we are researching is found on Powhite Swamp. Bonnie Flythe came up with another logical explanation in e-mail dated 9/2/99: Linda asks: "The first person charged with running the ferry is William Atkinson. Is he the same Wm. Atkinson, near neighbor of Edward Johnson in procession list 1689? If so, he lived on the Pamunkey River which was a few miles from Powhite Swamp. What was Edward doing on the Pamunkey River IF he owned land near Powhite Swamp? Bonnie's answer: "The ferry man in 1689 was Benj. Buckley. Wm Atkinson seems to have quit and possibly moved near Edward Johnson." Susan Stewart discussed this same point in a letter to Dick Baldauf dated April 1996: "The distance is not great between Powhite Swamp and the Pamunkey River and there is no way of knowing at this time exactly how the land of William Atkinson was positioned as a neighbor of Edward's. Atkinson could have been located easterly toward the Pamunkey River from Edward's property. We also could be talking about the ownership of significant acreage which would make it possible for Atkinson to have land up to the Pamunkey River boundaries but not Edward. The really interesting thing about this is Col. Richard Johnson who owned property at Pamunkey River. Col. Richard in King and Queen County was a neighbor of James Minge and it was this James Minge who transported in 1695 Thomas Mims and who also was a neighbor of Edward Johnson." [Dick added a note here: This sounds as if Minge lived in the middle with Richard on one side and Edward on the other side.] Susan then offers this warning: "I see that we might be getting misled with the reference to King and Queen County in regard to the Colonel [Richard]. These county boundaries were set later in time so he also could have lived in what once was known as New Kent County ... before it began to shrink in size." [Dick adds: Hanover Co. citations are misleading for the same reason.] Continuing in this manner but with a focus on SNEAD, Susan writes: "In 1664 Samuel Snead was living on the Pamunkey River in New Kent County and now is King William County. One of his adjoining neighbors was Capt. William Bassett. ... Susan Sneed who wed Thomas Renalls (Reynolds) also becomes an integral figure. Note that the daughter of Capt. Christopher Clark and Penelope Johnson - - Rachel "M", born in 1714 married as her first husband Thomas Moorman in 1729/30. Thomas Moorman was the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Reynolds) Moorman. Bet this Elizabeth Reynolds is a descendant of Susan (Snead) Renalls and her son is named after Susan's husband, Thomas Renalls." [He was for "Eliz. daugh' to Tho. Renalls Bapt 15 of March 1690-1" in the St. Peter's Parish Register is the future wife of Charles Moorman -- see CHAS/ELIZ in the Moorman directory of my webpage.] " ... then here is a tie with the Sneeds to the Johnson family in this particular Johnson/Clark line. ... Next consider that in 1664, Samuel Sneed Jr. is a neighbor of Capt. William Bassett. Is this the same Capt. William Bassett or is it his son, also named William, who is seen as a neighbor of Edward Johnson and Thomas Mims in 1690? It would appear to be the son but note that in this next generation these families have moved further west from the Pamunkey River along the Powhite Swamp and Beaverdam Branch of the Chickahominy River. Note that in 1690 Edward Johnson is shown in the processioners' list along with these significant names: Mr. Wm Bassett, Thomas Moorman, Thomas Snead and Tho. Renalls. ... Also on this list are Henry, Thomas, Martin and William Martin, along with John Snead. So here is another link between the Sneads and the Johnsons, predating the marriage of Edward's daughter Penelope to Capt. Christopher Clark. It also predates the marriage of Penelope's daughter Rachel to Thomas Moorman, son of Charles and Elizabeth (Reynolds) Moorman. By 1695 Edward Johnson is joined by a new neighbor, Thomas Mims. This Thomas Mims must be the father of Thomas Mims Jr. who wed Mollyane Martin. All this inter-related activity is quite astonishing. ... in December 1734, Capt. Christopher Clark was named executor of the estate of Alexander Snead in lieu of Matthew Snead. This indicates a closer connection to the Sneads than the fact that Christopher's daughter married a descendent in Susan Snead Rennals way back in 1652." Susan also picks up on connections to / with Alexander McKenney -- see my report MCKENEY in the Hodge-Podge directory that focuses on McKenney and Christopher Clark connections. In his letter to me April 1996, Dick Baldauf asked "Were you aware that there was an earlier Daniel Johnson who was a neighbor of Alexander MacKenney? Susan wonders if Edward and Daniel are not brothers? ... Your records ... show he [McKenney] lived next to John Watson, suggesting that Michael [believed to be Edward's son] was in the right proximity to marry John's daughter Sarah Watson. ... MacKenney was a Quaker but was later disowned." Although trying to stay on the subject of Edward and Elizabeth, I want to add one more of Susan's observations: "Both of you mentioned a Col. Richard Johnson at Pamunkey Neck in 1695. He is the one who had a daughter who wed a James Johnson, ancestry untraced. Linda writes that Col. Johnson is on the first processioning list in St. Peter's Parish. Could he and his mystery son-in-law be another piece in this puzzle? WALKER Connections As far as I can determine, Dr. Lorand is the source behind WALKER as Elizabeth's surname. The St. Peter's birth register for four of their children identifies the mother as "Elizabeth" only. Recently I saw a specific, purported citation to the marriage register of Blisland Parish for Elizabeth's surname. However, Chamberlayne, who transcribed several vestry books, begins the one covering Blisland Parish in 1721. He doesn't include any individual registry entries in this work, but does include them in some of his other works. Bishop Meade in v.1 of his massive history of VA Churches and prominent families (published 1857) could find nothing from Blisland Parish; however he came across the above vestry book before finishing his second volume. A check of indexes and genealogical book dealers failed to locate any published work from Blisland registers. Therefore, I think we can surmise the birth / death / marriage registers no longer survive and weren't extant at the time Dr. Lorand's usual 'sources' were doing their research. Therefore, we can't document WALKER as Elizabeth's surname. And without documentation, we have to look at other things for evidence of her surname. The lack of WALKERs interacting with Edward in his New Kent Co. neighborhood suggests we really should look at other families. Yes, there are Walker families in New Kent Co. and some do marry into the extended Johnson / Clark line; however, my point is, none are inter-relating with Edward as we have come to expect in this closely knit extended family. Taking this discussion one step farther, I extract the following quotes from Susan Stewart's PTIIISSN who finds errors in Dr. Lorand's ancestry of Elizabeth: "... Johnson then goes on to say that George Walker was the son of Mr. Samuel Walker who signed the will of Sir John Johnston. George Walker, as we know, married Ann Keith, daughter of Quaker George Keith in Virginia. But says Dr. Joohnson, it was THEIR daughter Elizabeth (NOT George's sister) who married Edward Johnson of New Kent ... First problem: this overrides Doug Tucker's discovery of an Elizabeth baptized 13 JAN 1658 in Aberdeen as the daughter of Alexander Walker, the exxcommunicated minister of Old Machar Parish, who supported the Quaker movement. It is this last Elizabeth that Doug presents as the wife of Edward Johnson of New Kent. If Doug is right in this idea, it still is necessary to find proof that this Alexander Walker family came to Virginia. Second problem: the daughter Elizabeth said to be born to George Walker and Ann Keith can't be the wife to Edward of New Kent. She would have been but a toddler when her first recorded child Thomas was baptized in 1680. So Dr. Johnson clearly is wrong about this, ... But since the theme is persistent that Elizabeth Walker married Edward Johnson, perhaps the answer is that Elizabeth Walker, daughter of George and Ann (Keith) Walker, was the wife of Edward Johnson (JR.) of New Kent County. This is the son Linda has proposed as being unrecorded." Katherine Cochrane, who stumbled onto my webpage June 1998, e-mailed that Elizabeth, daughter of George Walker and Ann (Keith) married Stephen Dewey. However, she cites a CD as her source. She also followed up on my observation the Anglican minister, George Keith of Kiskeake Parish, York Co., was remarkably similar to the above Quaker George Keith. The Anglican minister received a patent in 1634 for transporting himself, his family and others in 1617. Adding to the coincidence, Kiskeake Parish was renamed Hampton Parish, the same parish whose minister was Rev. Edward Johnson in the 1650s. Edward, son of the Rev. Edward Johnson My report EDWARDJ discusses the minister, Edward Johnson Sr., and Suzanne Johnston's JNSNABDN gives a chronology of Edward Johnson (Jr.) in York Co. Bonnie Flythe recently provided the abstract of the record proving Edward Jr's birth year as 1648. From Benjamin Weisiger's York County, Virginia Records 1665- 1672, page 152: "At a court Held for York Co. 13 Nov. 1669 -- Edward Johnson, having attained age of 21, is to be posest of his estate by his guardian Maj. Robert Baldrey. Edward Johnson acknowledges to have received of Mr. John Page 25/10/9 in part of his estate from Maj. Baldrey, also 1 steare" [From v.1 Cavaliers & Pioneers, p. 252, 279 John Page is a merchant who received land in Yorke Co. He, or another John Page, Gent., purchased land from Nicholas Merrewether in then Lancaster Co. prior to 1656, p. 340. The surname Baldrey or any likely derivative isn't in the index to this book.] Bonnie located two additional references to this Edward Johnson of York Co. in the above book: 11 NOV 1670 John Cooper is ordered to pay Edward Johnson 323 lbs tob. Myhill, one of the witnesses for Johnson, is to be sworn. [p. 177] 1 DEC 1671 Mr. Robert Neale is ordered to pay Edward Johnson, assignee of John Cooper, 200 lbs tob. [p. 221] "Myhill" seems a likely corruption for "Michael", but it appears as a surname in other York Co. records so we shouldn't waste time pursuing that angle. However, the surname 'Cooper' is POSSIBLY significant here. One of Penelope's granddaughters, Sarah Anthony, married Thomas Cooper. Add the persistent rumor that Penelope is somehow related to Lord Shaftsbury, a.k.a. Anthony Ashley Cooper -- who used the surname JOHNSON when escaping from England after 1679 --and we have another interesting set of connections. But at this point in time, that's ALL there is to this -- Cooper researchers are working on 'how and if' these lines are related? Granted one Edward Johnson was buried March 2, 1684 [p.225 History and Registers of Charles Parish, York County, Virginia 1648-1789 by Landon C. Bell, VA St Lib, 2nd reprint ed. 1984] and some members of our group believe this is the minister's son born 1648. However, according to Parish Lines Diocese of Southern Virginia, Charles Parish as such wasn't created until 1692. At one time five parishes covered the area that was York County, for the northern boundary extended to the Potomac River in Virginia's earliest years. Until further research is done, we do not know where the Edward Johnson d.1684 was living. One Edward Johnson owned land in York Co. as early as 1627 and other Edward Johnson's were transported by men who received land in York or neighboring counties. We don't even know how long the minister's son remained in York after receiving his inheritance? He may well have moved to a neighboring county, "state", or even returned to England or Scotland. Bonnie is currently working with microfilmed York Co. records and will share any new insights with us. Were they Quakers? Edward's name is noticeably absent in a list of known Quakers -- p. 146 Hinshaw's vol. of VA Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy within the history of the Henrico Monthly Meeting, contributed by Mrs. Douglas Summers Brown: "... we would be making a mistake to assume that Curles and its immediate neighborhood was the only locality in this section where Quakers were active and holding meetings before 1699. A scrutiny of the Register of Saint Peter's parish ... is revealing in that it names many men ... whose names also appear frequently in the Quaker records. Among these are: Charles Fleming, John Realy (Raley), Thomas Moorman, James Woody, Rice Hughes, Richmond Terrell, Sisilly Ellison, Alexander Mackeney, Thomas Stanley, Thomas Harris, William and John Johnson, Robert Ellison, Garret Robert Elleson, Robert Hughes and others. How many of these were Quakers in 1686 it is impossible to say, though some were ... 'convinced' at a later date." Surely someone who came over with William Edmundson as Dr. Lorand says Edward did, would have 'made' this list of prominent Quakers. I BELIEVE, but obviously can't prove, Edward's absence indicates one of two things: (1) he wasn't a Quaker -- indeed, he, his wife Elizabeth and their daughter Penelope DO NOT APPEAR anywhere / any time in Hinshaw's massive transcription of Quaker records. Or (2) he died circa 1686. This date is the last year that Elizabeth 'as the mother' appears in the birth register for a child of Edward Johnson. I've already proposed the 11year gap between Rachel b. DEC 1686 and Rebeckah b. NOV1698 suggests Edward had two wives or there are two Edward Johnsons represented in the birth register. As many of you know, I lean toward an Edward Jr. born before 1680 as both son of Edward and Elizabeth and father of Rebeckah and Benjamin b. 1701. References to some of their other children appear in separate reports or within other reports on Edward and Elizabeth.