Ezekiel Johnson (1750–1808)

{Biological Father of Ezekiel Johnson (1774-1848)}

Ezekiel Johnson was born 25 June 1750 in Bellingham, Massachusetts,¹ the sixth of nine children of Isaac Johnson and Susannah Thayer. His mother died when he was 14 years old, leaving several small children. His father married Abigail Ray, and they had twins, William and Abigail. His father died by 5 May 1768 when his widow submitted an inventory of his estate. Ezekiel’s next older brother, Timothy, who was a blacksmith, was appointed guardian for 17-year-old Ezekiel and their three younger sisters.² Widow Abigail Johnson was made guardian of her twins.²

Ezekiel and Bethiah Garnzey:

Five years later, on 12 January 1773, a son was born to 18-year-old Bethiah Garnzey in Uxbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts. Of this birth, Paddy Spilsbury, a Johnson descendant, writes:

"The story of our great Johnson family began inauspiciously with the unheralded arrival of a child born out of wedlock. The records do not tell us when he was born, just that he was born, and that it was a problem: a problem for his mother, of course, but also a problem for the town fathers. Buried within the pages of the Worcester County, Massachusetts Court Records under the date of September 1773, is found the following entry:

Bethia Garsee of Uxbridge in the county of Worcester Spinster comes into Court to confess to a presentment found agnst her by the grand jurors for the Body of this county for that she did on the last Day of May Anno Dom 1772 at Uxbridge aforesaid did commit the crime of Fornication with a male person to the said jurors unknown whereof she afterwards had a Bastard Child born of her body agnst the peace. to which She plead guilty---

The court having considered of her offense order that she pay a fine of five shillings to the (______) that she pay costs and stand committed until this sentence is performed.³

"As the record states, the young Bethia "Garsee," then 19 years old, came to confess she was guilty of fornication, which "crime," the court stated, "occurred on the last day of May 1772," resulting in the subsequent birth of her son. A guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion. It's rather difficult to argue innocence when you are not married but have given birth to a child. Each woman found guilty of a similar offense that year was fined 5 shillings, the equivalent of about 80 cents in 1770. It must be remembered that the average yearly income in 1775 was approximately 20 to 25 British pounds, or less than $80. That fine, which to us seems so insignificant, was equivalent to about 1% of a family's yearly income.

"Bethia chose not to name the father of her child in court. The town fathers wished to discover the identity of the father in order to punish him, but more importantly, they wished to hold him responsible for the financial maintenance of the child. Such an obligation usually lasted six or seven years, or until the child was felt to be old enough to help contribute to the family he resided with. Without that identification, the responsibility for his maintenance might fall on the town, especially if the mother had few resources for support. Bethia refused to provide that information. However, by November 1775, she was calling her child Ezekiel Johnson, the name his family later associated with the name of his father.

"As I searched through the records, I found that when the name of a father was given in court, it was usually the practice of the court to call him in and charge him with the maintenance of his child. I wondered if Ezekiel was so charged. Apparently not. I have searched the Middlesex and Worcester court records, and find no charges brought against him. Why not? Did he agree to contribute to the maintenance of the child voluntarily, so no court action was necessary? Was he able to avoid the 'punishment' Bethia received? We do not know."⁴

For almost two hundred years, the descendants of Ezekiel Johnson (1773-1848) have worked to try to identify Ezekiel’s biological father. Recent DNA testing has established the link to Ezekiel Johnson (1750-1808), the son of Isaac and Suzannah Thayer Johnson, of Bellingham.

Ezekiel and Rachel Merrifield (1754-1829)

We don’t know if Ezekiel Johnson knew of the birth of his son to Bethiah Garnsey in Uxbridge, but on 11 December 1773, marriage intentions between Ezekiel Johnson and Rachel Merrifield were posted in Holliston, Massachusetts. Rachel Merrifield was the sister of Abigail Merrifield who was the wife of Ezekiel's oldest brother, Nehemiah. It is easy to imagine the family pressure brought to bear on Ezekiel to assume his responsibility to Rachel, who was six months pregnant when the intentions were posted. Yet despite the "intentions," the marriage of Ezekiel and Rachel apparently did not take place, because the Holliston Birth Records show the birth of Levi Johnson, the "Reputed" son of Ezekiel Johnson and Rachel Merrifield on 10 March 1774. Levi's death record also says, "Johnson, Levi, "reputed" s. Ezekiel Johnson and Rachel Merrifield, 16 July 1820, a. 46."⁵ Rachel never married, and died in Holliston 15 August 1825, age 69.⁵

Sometime in his early twenties, possibly to escape the marriage to Rachel, Ezekiel Johnson moved to Dutchess County, New York, where several of his Thayer relatives including his uncle, Josiah Thayer, were living. Johnson Family historian Hugh Johnson says, "The first solid evidence that Ezekiel Johnson was in Dutchess County appears in Philip H. Smith’s History of Dutchess County, where his name appears among those men who signed the ‘Articles of Associators’ pledge to support the American Revolution, in June and July 1775. Smith reported that the number who signed was 1,820; and the number refusing was 964. He enlisted as a private in the 3^rd Regiment, Dutchess County Militia, but there is no record that he ever saw combat."² He certainly did not die in the Revolutionary War as later family tradition reported.

Hugh Johnson further reports, "His name appears on the records for Dunkil’s Store, 1789-94, at Dover Furnace, although this tells us nothing about where he was living. His name was on the tax roll for Amenia, 1777-1778."²

Ezekiel and Lois Thayer ( -1788)

About 1780, Ezekiel married his first cousin, Lois Thayer, born about 1761, daughter of his uncle, Josiah, at Pawling, New York. They had four children all born in Dutchess County; Susannah, born 1782, who married Jeremiah Sheldon; Daniel, Elkanah, and Friend, born 28 December 1787.²

Lois died 5 January 1788 "in her 28^th year," presumably as a result of complications from the birth of her son, Friend. She is buried in the Wingdale Cemetery at South Dover.²

Ezekiel and Martha "Patty" Webster ( -aft Aug 1808):

Ezekiel’s household was included in the 1790 census as being in the Pawling Precinct of Dutchess County. His household was counted as including 2 males of 16 years and older, 4 males under 16, and 2 females. One assumes he was a tenant farmer under one of the colonial grant holders although the sparse existing records bear no mention of his activities. Records of the Pawling Precinct and later Town were destroyed by fire on the night of 4 May 1859.²

After Lois (Thayer) Johnson, his first wife, died in 1788, Ezekiel married (2) Martha "Patty" Webster before 1790. Thus, she was one of the females counted in the 1790 census. Daughter Susanna, who would have been about 10 years of age, was the other female. Sons Daniel, Elkanah, and Friend account for three of the four males under 16. Who were the other males? Possibly one was a son of Patty, who later died young. The Census of 1800 for Pawling, Delaware County, New York, contains the number of males under 26 years indicated by available records minus the one male unaccounted for in the 1790 Census. However, here again. a young female unaccounted for in other data appears in the 1800 count."²

Shortly after 1790, Ezekiel Johnson moved his growing family to the still sparsely settled Town of Kortright in Delaware County, New York.

Patty's first known child, Lois, was born about 1793. Lois Johnson married Thomas Harkness. Other known children were all probably born in Kortright: Ezekiel, born about 1797; Elihu Webster, born 8 January 1798; and Timothy Harvey, born 15 or 16 June 1801 in Kortright.²

In his History of Delaware County W. W. Munsell notes:

Prominent among the new settlers was Ezekiel Johnson, from Connecticut [?]...He built a sawmill and did a large business in farming and lumbering. He built a large and substantial frame house, which was painted white and is still known as the "white house" although the paint has long since disappeared. In the early days of the town it was used as a hotel... Mr. Johnson presented to the town a piece of ground for a burying place, and it is still used for that purpose. He was twice married and had a large family of children, most of whom removed from the town.²

Hugh Johnson says the assertion that Ezekiel was from Connecticut is an error. However, it is of note that Patty Webster was probably the daughter of Elihu Webster of New London, Connecticut.

Ezekiel died 25 August 1808 in Kortright, Delaware County, New York. He is buried in the land he donated for a cemetery, within sight of the house he built.

The will of Ezekiel Johnson in Delaware County, New York Wills, Book B, page 22-47, mentions the following:

Ezekiel Johnson of Kortright, County of Delaware, N.Y….wife Patty, daughter Susannah Sheldon; son, Daniel; son Elkanah; son Friend; children of my present wife, Lois, Ezekiel, Elihu Webster and Timothy; son-in-law Jeremy Sheldon.²

Patty outlived him and probably married John Burnside.²

Sources:

Vital Records of Bellingham, Massachusetts to the Year 1850.
The Ancestry and some Descendants of Friend Johnson (1787-1838) by Hugh A. Johnson
Records of the Court of General Session of the Peace from the county of Worcester, Massachusetts, 1731-1862, Volumes 3-4, 1775-1780, September 1773 (FHL 859,240).
Bethiah Garnsey by Paddy Spillsbury
Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850, Holliston Births Vol. 1 p. 85; Holliston Marriages Vol. 1 p. 226; Holliston Deaths Vol. 1 p. 324, 335.
Find A Grave – Ezekiel Johnson