William Tiler Johnson

William Tiler Johnson was born on December 20, 1809 in Natchez, MS and died on June 17, 1851, his sister, Adelia D. Johnson-Miller, were the children of Amy Ward-Johnson, a slave freed in 1814 by a white planter of Adams County, Mississippi William Johnson.

William Tiler and Adelia Johnson were freed in 1820 and 1818, respectively. In 1820, Adelia D. Johnson married James Miller, a free black from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, James Miller was a barber and a respected businessman in Natchez, Mississippi, and he was trained by his brother-in-law, William Tiler Johnson to be a barber. In 1830, William Tiler Johnson moved from Port Gibson, Mississippi, to Natchez, Mississippi, to pursue the trade, having purchased Miller's unexpired lease.

Five years later William Tiler Johnson married a former slave, Ann Battles (1815-1866). In 1822, she and her mother, Harriet Battles, had been freed by Gabriel Tichenor of Natchez, Mississippi, William Tiler and Ann Johnson had ten children: William Tiler Johnson, Jr.(b. 1836), Richard Johnson (b. 1837), Byron Johnson (1839-1872), Anna Johnson (1841-1922), Katharine Johnson (1842-1901), Phillip Johnson (1844), Eugenia Johnson(b. 1845), Alice Johnson (b. 1846), Josephine Johnson(b. 1849), Clarence Johnson (b. 1851). Between 1835 and 1850, Johnson acquired three barber shops, a bath house in Natchez, Mississippi; and a plantation; he also maintained business connections in New Orleans, Louisiana

In the late 1840's, Johnson became involved in a dispute with Baylor Winn and Benjamin Wade, regarding a property line on his plantation. In May, 1851, after the circuit court ordered a survey, the dispute was settled out of court. However, on June 16, 1851, Johnson was fatally wounded in an ambush, and before his death on the morning of June 17, he named Winn as his assassin. At the time of his death he owned more than 2,000 acres of land in Adams County, Mississippi.

On Johnson's death, his son Byron Johnson became head of the family. William Tiler Johnson, Jr., have suffered from mental illness, and by 1866 he was confined in a New Orleans asylum. In 1865, Byron Johnson enlisted in the Mississippi Federal Colored Militia. Other male members of the family were exempted from service due to health problems. Following the war, Byron Johnson leased St. Genevieve Plantation (Concordia Parish, Louisiana) from Ayers P. Merrill, Jr.; subscribed in the survey of the proposed Natchez-Jackson Railroad in 1869; rented Carthage Plantation (Adams County, Missississippi) from John and Katherine Minor in the same year; and leased Black Lake Plantation (Concordia Parish, Louisiana) from Lucien Malus for three years in 1870. Anna Lee Johnson, Juanito Garrus, Carlito Garrus, and Byron Johnson contracted with freedmen to work Carthage Plantation. Black Lake Plantation was worked by freedmen in accordance with an agreement signed by the Garruses, Anna Lee and Katharine G. Johnson. In 1871, Byron received a judgment for $2,000 in a suit against Stephen Duncan involving a mortgage of Magnolia Plantation, a case begun in 1862.

After the death of Byron Tiler Johnson in 1872, Anna Lee Johnson was the most prominent figure in the family. Anna, Alice, Josephine, and Katharine Johnson taught in the Natchez primary schools. Richard Johnson worked his family's Peachland Plantation (Adams County, Mississippi) in the 1890's. Anna lived at Peachland during the period 1912 through 1920. Their nephew William R. Johnston (d. 1938) received his undergraduate degree from Wilberforce University (Ohio) in 1897 and earned a medical degree from Howard University . While studying at Howard, he boarded with Dr. & Mrs. Henry Lewis Bailey.

William R. Johnson practiced medicine in Natchez until his death in 1938.

William T. Johnson, free African American barber, Diarist and Slaveowner.

He was born into slavery in 1809, but was emancipated at the age of eleven. His mother Amy was freed in 1814 and is buried next to him in Natchez City Cemetery. James Miller, a free black barber trained William as a barber. He purchased his first barber shop in 1830 and eventually owned three barber shops and a bath house.

He began writing a diary in 1835 and continued for sixteen years until his death in 1851 over a land dispute. These diaries remained in the family home until they were rediscovered in 1938. The Louisiana State University published the diaries in 1951 giving a glimpse into the life of a free person of color through his own words.

The William Johnson house became a part of the Natchez National Historical Park in 1990 when it was aquired by the National Park Service.

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William Johnson, born a slave and freed as a young boy, was known as the "Barber of Natchez". He became very prosperous, owned three shops and acquired substantial holdings - renting property, timberland, farm acreage and slaves.

He was highly respected for his fair dealings and good business judgment. His very detailed and comprehensive dairy contributed considerably to the account of every day life and times of those years in Natchez and earned him the title of "American Diarist".

He was murdered and his accused murderer was never convicted.

https://www.natchez.ms.us/272/The-Barber-of-Natchez