Thomas Johnson

Notes

From Industrial Labor in the State of Maryland by Robert C. Chidester

The area around Sugarloaf Mountain saw a flurry of early industrial activity.  The Johnson family moved to Frederick County in the 1770s, where they quickly became iron entrepreneurs.  The Johnson Furnace was very important during the Revolutionary War, supplying the Continental Army with firearms.  The labor used to operate the furnace came from primarily free and enslaved African-Americans.  The Johnson brothers also established the Bloomsbury Forge, the Furnace Branch Furnace, the Bennett Creek Forge, the Bush Creek Forge, and Catoctin Furnace, all in Frederick County.  With the exception of Catoctin Furnace, these enterprises were defunct by 1815.

From Historic Graves of Maryland and the District of Columbia By Helen West Ridgely, National Society of the Colonial Dames of America;

Another name, well known in the annals of our state, is recorded on gravestones in Calvert county. On a farm, owned by Mr. John B. Mackall, St. Leonard's Creek, are to be found three massive brown stones, two of which are to the memory of the parents of Thomas Johnson, our first governor. The graves are on a knoll, a few hundred yardsfrom the residence of Mr. Mackall, and the inscriptions are :
In memory of Thomas Johnson Born February 19th 1702. Died April 12th 1777.
In memory of Dorcas Johnson Bom November 2nd 1705. Died November 11th 1770.
In memory of Rebecca McKenzie Born November 8th 1730 Died March 11th 1767.

The first Thomas Johnson arrived in Maryland in 1690.

He married Mary, daughter of Roger Baker of Liverpool, and died in 1716. His wife died also, leaving an only son, born February 19, 1702.

The latter, also named Thomas, married Dorcas Sedgwick of Connecticut. They had five children, of whom Thomas, the youngest, became Governor of Maryland at the outbreak of the Revolution. He was born in 1732, married, in 1776, Ann, daughter of Thomas Jennings of Annapolis, and died in 1809. He is buried in All Saints cemetery at Frederick.

Sources:

1. History of Western Maryland By J. Thomas Scharf. "The Johnson Family." Page 453

• https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/4566537?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a226...

Links:

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mrmarsha&...
• https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0340...
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Feb 25 2016, 21:01:17 UTC

Findagrave:

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96742486/thomas-johnson?_gl=1*1....

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