Mary Johnson
In 1622 Mary Johnson co-founded, along with her husband Anthony Johnson, the first free black community in Accomack, VA.
Anthony Johnson was a successful black planter in a seemingly inhospitable environment. He was able to work through his original indenture, marry a freed black woman, Mary, of which there were few in the area during the 1620s, and eventually move to the Eastern Shore peninsula of Virginia and establish himself independently. Through the pages of the surviving colonial records, researchers are able to trace Anthony Johnson and his family's legal and financial actions. The Johnsons are known to have lived during the seventeenth century because they were involved in various court proceedings and land transactions. They are arguably the most studied free black family during the 17th century only because there is much written about them through court proceedings and land transactions, yet they are certainly not the only free black family in the region.
What is of interest about this family is that not only was Anthony Johnson involved in legal proceedings, but also his sons, daughters, and grandsons as well. This trend of legal equality can only be traced accurately until the early 1700s. By that time slavery in the region had already been established, and fewer chances for, freedom were available to blacks. It is amazing to see the success the Johnsons had while simultaneously surviving in an environment of slavery and hardship for a number of generations.
To read more of this story please go to the Del Marva Settlers website at http://www.delmarvasettlers.org/profiles/johnson1.html
JOHNSON FAMILY (as taken from the www.wikipedia.com website)
The Johnson family originated in Northampton County, Virginia, before 1650. Members of the family were in Somerset County, Maryland, by 1665, in Delaware by 1677, and in North Carolina by 1720. Included below are the members of the family who moved to Maryland and Delaware during the colonial period. For the complete family history, see the Johnson History in the Virginia section.
1. Anthony1 Johnson "Negro," probably born about 1600, was free before 10 January 1647 (before slavery) when he purchased a calf from James Berry by deed proved in Northampton County, Virginia [ODW 1651-54, 123]. He patented 250 acres (1.0 km²) in Northampton County at "great Naswattock Creek" for the transportation of five persons including his son, Richard Johnson, on 24 July 1651 [Patents 1643-51, 326]. His wife, Mary, and their two daughters were excused from paying taxes by the Northampton County, Virginia Court on 28 February 1652 [ODW 1651-54, fol.161].
In 1665 he and his wife Mary, his son John, and his wife Susanna, and their slave John Casor moved to Somerset County, Maryland with Randall Revell and Ann Toft, who claimed them and many whites as head rights for 2,350 acres (9.5 km²) of land [Patents 8:495-6].
Anthony and his wife sold 250 acres (1.0 km²) of their own land, left 50 acres to their son, Richard, and took fourteen head of cattle, a mare, and eighteen sheep with them [Accomack DW 1664-71, fol.10; p.12-fol.12]. On 10 September 1666 he leased 300 acres (1.2 km²) in Somerset County on the south side of Wicomico Creek in Wicomico Hundred, called "Tonies Vinyard," for two hundred years [Land Records O-1:32-33].
He apparently died before August 1670 when "a jury of white men" in Accomack County decided that his land should be escheated since "he was a Negroe and by consequence an alien" [Virginia Genealogist 2:20, 109-113]. His lease in Somerset County, Maryland, was renegotiated by his widow, Mary, for ninety-nine years with the provision that her sons, John and Richard, would assume the lease after her death [Land Records O-2, 20-21]. Her slave, John Casor, recorded his livestock brand in court with her consent on 3 September 1672, and she recorded her mark a few weeks later on Mary recorded her livestock mark on 26 September 1672 [Archives of Maryland 54:760-1]. He was called "John Cazara Negro" when he was a witness (signing) to a power of attorney by which she assigned her son, John, authority over her property and authority to sue for some debts in Virginia, and he was also witness on 3 September 1672 to her deed of gift to her grandchildren. She called herself "Mary Johnson ... Negro (the relict of Anthony Johnson ... Negro deceased)" in the deed by which she gave cattle to her three grandchildren, Anthony, Richard, and Francis [Somerset County Judicial Record 1671-75, 159-62]. She was called "Mary Johnson of Wiccocomoco ... widow" in July 1676 when she purchased a mare and assigned it to John Corsala (her slave) [Somerset County Judicial Record 1675-7, 95]. She was called executor of Anthony Johnson deceased on 17 January 1690 when Edward Revell acted as her attorney in a suit she brought in Accomack County court [WDO 1678-82, 154]. She was living in Sussex County, Delaware, in March 1693/4 when Mary Okey appeared in court to support her complaint that her son, John, was not maintaining her as he had promised [Court Records 1680-99, 646, 655].
The children of Anthony and Mary Johnson were 2 i. John1, say 1631. 3 ii. Richard1, born about 1632. iii. a daughter, excused from paying tax by the Northampton County court in February 1652,(before slavery), perhaps the Joan1 Johnson who in 1657 received 100 acres (0.40 km²) in Northampton County from "Deabendanba, Kinge of nusangs," being land next to her brother, John [Whitelaw, Virginia's Eastern Shore, 671].
