Isaac Johnson (abt 1705-1768) and Susannah Thayer (1716-1762)

{Johnson Ancestors}

Click here to go to a condensed version of this biography.

Incomplete. Information not yet verified.

Quoting from The Ancestry and Some Descendants of Friend Johnson, Introduction p. 5 by Hugh A. Johnson

"Litereally dozens of Isaac Johnsons were found in the vital records of Massachusetts and adjacent areas during the preriod around 1750. …

"One Vital Record of Bellingham shows Isaac Johnson as having been from Uxbridge, a nearby town to the westward, when intentions of marriage were published (7 March 1741). Isaac Johnson does not appear in Uxbridge records nor has it been possible to prove a relationship with the William Johnson line of Uxbridge or Mendon for that period. Repeated efforts to relate with other early Johnsons in Massachusetts have been fruitless.

"One assumption found in the literature is that this Isaac Johnson was from Rehoboth, a town to the east and south of Bellingham. This unsupported possibility apparently was promulgated by Frank Calif and is to be seen in handwritten form at the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Again, it has not been possible to prove descent from from the Johnson families resident in the Rehoboth of that period. …

"On several occasions, hopes have turned toward the early Johnsons of Canterbury and Woodstock Connecticut. Laborious search, however, has produced no apparent relationship. …

"A chance exists that the Isaac Johnson of our lineage actually was the immigrant ancestor. No evidence that this was the case has been discovered.

"For practical purposes, therefore, this record begins with him as the first generation."

Quoting from pp. 9-10 of "Part One, My Johnson Ancestral Line by Hugh A. Johnson:

"My Great Great Great Great Grandparents. Isaac Johnson's parentage, birthplace, and date of birth are unknown. He died intestate early in 1768 at Bellingham, Suffolk Co. Mass. (Norfolk Co. after1793). Intentions to marry with Susanna(h) Thayer were published 7 Mar 1741 at Bellingham (Bellingham Vital Records). They were married on 22 Mar 1741 - (according to Grace E. Pattison, Pattison, Frink and Allied Families, Genealogical and Biographical New York 1929).

"Susanna Thayer was born 24 Nov 1716 at Mendon, Massachusetts, daughter of Isaac and Meriam (Thayer) Thayer. She died by early 1762 because Isaac Johnson married (2) 9 Sep 1762 (int. 22 Aug 1762) at Wrentham, Massachusetts Mrs. Abigail Ray of Wrentham. She [Abigail] was granted administration of her husband's estate on 3 June 1768. She probably was the Abigail Johnson, widow, who died 17 Jan 1789 (P.R.I) at Bellingham. A common custom in the New England of that time was to grant honorary title of "Mistress" or "Mrs." to all mature women regardless of marital status. If Abigail Ray actually were a spinster when she married, she could have been the Abigail Ray born 16 April 1721, daughter of Samuel and Miriam (Smith) Ray of Wrentham.

"Isaac Johnson apparently held no church or civil office unless he may have been a town tax collector for one term. He evidently lived quietly on his small land holding. The inventory of his estate and other documents demonstrate that he was considered a "yeoman" - a freeholder of a class below gentry who worked his own land. He owned a small holding of 30 acres with a dwelling. Two cows, a horse, a heifer, two hogs and five sheep probably were adequate for self-sufficiency in those days. The value of his estate at about 100 pounds was modest, but substantial for those times. His home evidently was well-equipped for necessities although very modest. The array of tools, especially the two weaver's looms and shoemaker's tools, indicate substantial family industry, although probably primarily for family use. The "Bible and several other old Books" indicate the possibility that Isaac Johnson or one of his wives might have been educated better than average for those times. "Isaac Johnson apparently spent his adult life in Bellingham except for a short period about 1745 when he may have lived temporarily in Mendon. One daughter appears on the birth records of Mendon. All of the other children were recorded only in Bellingham Vital Records. No record has been discovered [as yet] of what became of most of his children when they reached adulthood. The Bellingham records do not reflect their marriages or deaths."