By Cora Whitley Lambert & Hazel Britt Mitchell On the occasion of the Confederate Cemetery Dedication of Thomas Johnson EARLY JOHNSON ANCESTORS IN GEORGIA 1773?2000 HISTORY, BIOGRAPHIES AND OTHER DATA ANDREW JOHNSON (1800?1852) Compiled by Cora Whitley Lambert Loganville, Georgia 30052 July 2000                PREFACE This booklet is possible because of the tireless and diligent work of Hazel Britt Mitchell and her sister, the late Connie Britt Conerton. With few exceptions, the sources and documentations which are not listed in these pages were researched by them. Also their mother, Ida Eugenia Johnson Britt, who was born in 1874 and died in 1974, contributed much information from memory. Ida Eugenia was the longest surviving child of Thomas and Virginia Johnson. A good many years ago Hazel and Connie had the pleasure of visiting in the home of Dr. William Edgar (Billy) and Jewell Johnson of Carrollton. Billy, one of our cousins, is a descendant of William Johnson 11 (son of Andrew). He showed them an album dating back to the Andrew Johnson family which was handed down from one generation to another. In the album was a picture of Andrew with his name on it, and there were other pictures supposedly of the family. When Billy allowed them to borrow the picture of Andrew to have a copy made, they were delighted to have come upon this good fortune. Some years later Hazel asked for permission to borrow the album to have copies made of Andrews family but was told that it had been misplaced. Nevertheless, we are very indebted to Billy for the photo of Andrew, and it is hoped that the album will eventually be located. We are happy to enclose a copy of Andrew’s picture. It should be added here that Hazel is the last surviving granddaughter of Thomas and Virginia Eugenia and deserves our praise for not only her many years of research on our early Johnson ancestors, but for her very hard physical work and very generous financial donations to both the Johnson?Maddox?Goldsmith cemetery and also to Thomas Johnson's grave at Macedonia.   WILLIAM JOHNSON 1(1773-1858) AND JANE JOHNSON (1773-1860) William I was born in South Carolina. His wife Jane (last name unknown) was also born in South Carolina and died in Stone Mountain, Georgia, in 1860 or 1870. The location of her grave is unknown. William I is buried in the Johnson?Maddox?Goldsmith Cemetery in Stone Mountain.   We don't have documentation, but we believe William’s parents (birth and death dates are unknown) came to this country from the Isle of Skye in the Hebrides Islands off the west coast of Scotland before the American Revolution. His father planned to help colonize North Carolina. There is no record of Jane's parents. William I was granted 250 acres of land in Gwinnett County, Georgia, on March 9, 1822. Also, he was granted 102 acres in Carroll County, Georgia, February 22, 1830. He purchased 202Y2acres of land in DeKalb County, Georgia, in 1840 and sold 192 acres of this purchase to his grandson Thomas on December 17, 1857. This was just a few months after the birth of his great?grandchild Alice Virginia Johnson. William I died the following year at the age of 85. ANDREW JOHNSON (1800?1852) AND EUZABETH JOHNSON (1811?1850) Andrew Johnson was born in south Carolina June 4, 1800, the fourth child of Jane and William Johnson 1. Elizabeth's parents are unknown, but she, too, was born in south Carolina. She was only 16 years old when their first child William 11 was born in South Carolina October 6, 1827. Soon afterward they moved to the Gwinnett/DeKalb, Georgia area. Andrew's mother Jane, father William 1, three sisters, Mary "Polly," Lucretia and Sara may have come to this area at the same time. If so, there were three generations?possibly four (See "William I")?who made their journey westward together from South Carolina to what had recently been Indian territory. Some time after Andrew and Elizabeth arrived in Georgia, their second child Thomas was born August 1, 1830 in Gwinnett County. While living in Gwinnett, Andrew operated a general store on Killian Hill Road. By 1836, the family was living in DeKalb County. Their third child, Mary A. Johnson, was bom there April 1, 1836. The fourth child, George Johnson, was bom in 1839. Andrew became a First Lt. in Capt. Latimer's Vol. Enlistment in the 54 1h Regiment of the Georgia Militia June 17, 1836. He then built a hotel at the base of Stone Mountain about where the Stone Mount Park Administration building is now located. After gold was discovered in Dahlonega, stagecoaches from Milledgeville, then the State Capital of Georgia, would stop at the hotel. The passengers would spend the night there and travel on to Dahlonega the next morning, Because the mountain was Georgia's most popular tourist attraction, bringing in droves of tourists, business must have been very ?good for Andrew. Later when the railroad came through Stone Mountain Village in 1845, he erected another hotel on Main Street across from the train depot. Andrew was appointed to the DeKalb County Commission December 21, 1837. In 1839, he helped to incorporate New Gibralter, which had been called Rock Mountain. He was appointed Postmaster of New Gibralter October 28, 1839, an d served.'seven years in that office. He was one of the leaders who persuaded the railroad officials to bring the Georgia Railroad through Stone Mountain in 1845. The rails ran from Augusta through New Gibralter to Atlanta. In 1847, the town's name was changed again to Stone Mountain. Andrew became one of DeKalb County's wealthiest early landowners. He acquired approximately 2,000 acres of land plus all of Stone Mountain. Because the first DeKalb County courthouse and all its records were destroyed by fire in 1842, we don't know for sure who owned Stone Mountain before Andrew. However, he is listed as the first owner after the fire. He bought the mountain in its entirely and owned it until his death in 1852. This fact is on record. After this time, other people owned it. There is a book, Georgia's Stone Mountain, by Willard Neal, which can be purchased in the Stone Mountain Park Administration Building. It mentions Andrew in several places, describing some of his enterprises, etc., but does not state that he owned all of the mountain ... only "considerable land at the base and also the main slice of the mountain..."' During the time Andrew owned the mountain, a new industry, the quarrying of granite from the mountain, was started here. Because the granite was too heavy for long hauls by wagon, this was another good reason to bring the railroad through the town. (After the Civil War, quarrying and shipping granite became Stone Mountain's main industry.) Another book, Village Fare: Food, Facts and Folktales, which can be purchased in the Village of Stone Mountain includes some early history. From one of their articles we quote: "The Southern Central Agricultural Association was formed for the purpose of staging an annual fair for farmers to exhibit and sell their fruits and produce and for manufacturers to exhibit and sell their wares. The year was 1846, and the fair was held in a beautiful grove owned by Thomas Johnson. The fair was deemed very successful with more than 3,000 attending. It was held for three more years and in 1849, P. T. Barnum brought his circus. By 1850, the fair had grown too large for the grove and was moved to Atlanta where it became the Southeastern Fair. "2 We know that the Southeastern Fair lasted until 1975, more than 125 years. Also the Agricultural association evolved into the State of Georgia Department of Agriculture. Elizabeth was the first to die at the age of 39 on August 2, 1850. At this time her youngest child, George, was only 11 and Mary was only 14 years old. Unfortunately, less than two years later Andrew died on April 16, 1852. They are both buried in the Johnson?Maddox Family Cemetery in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I Neal, Willard. Georgia's Stone Mountain GA: The Stone Mt. Memorial Association. 1970 2Village Fare: Food, Facts and Folktales, Stone Mountain, GA: Stone Mountain Woman's Club, 1996. CHILDREN OF ELIZABETH AND ANDREW JOHNSON NAME BIRTH SPOUSE DIED BURIED William II 6 Oct 1827South Carolina Penelope Ann Wise 24 Dec 1884 Carrollton City Cemetery, Carrollton, GA Thomas 1 Aug 1830Gwinnett Co., GA Virginia Eugenia Emerson 23 Jun 1887 Macedonia Baptist Church, Dekalb Co., GA Mary 1 Apr 1836 Dr. John L. Hamilton 17 Feb 1874 St. Mt. CemeteryDekalb Co. George 1839 Dekalb Co. GA Unknown Unknown Johnson Cemetery, Alabama     WILLIAM JOHNSON 11 (1827?1884) William 11 was the first child of Andrew and Elizabeth Johnson. He was bom in South Carolina October 6, 1827. Since Thomas was born three years later in Gwinnett County, Georgia, we know that  the Johnsons came to Gwinnett County from South Carolina sometime between 1827?1830. William 11 married Penelope Ann Wise. We have no information about her life, death or ancestry, but she did move with William 11 to Carroll County, Georgia, sometime between 1857 and 1861. We know this because the grave marker of their 13?month?old son Thomas in the Johnson Maddox Goldsmith Cemetery shows that he died in 1857. When the War Between the States came, Carroll County did not suffer as much destruction as did the area of Stone Mountain, Atlanta, Gwinnett County, etc. William 11 was able to hold on to a family album containing, among other things, a good photograph of his father, Andrew Johnson, which is at least 150 years old. Had William stayed in this part of the state, this album would probably have been destroyed by the invading army. We have no information about how many more children William and Penelope may have had. We do know that William was a physician and owned a drugstore in Carrollton. This drugstore remained in the family for five generations. The location of Penelope's grave is unknown. William 11 died December 24, 1884. He is buried in the Carrollton City Cemetery, Carroll County, Georgia.