William T. Johnson and family papers. Legal and financial documents. Folder 01-18, 1843-1849. - William T. Johnson and family papers. Legal and financial documents. Folder 01-18, 1843-1849.

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Title
William T. Johnson and family papers. Legal and financial documents. Folder 01-18, 1843-1849.
Biographical Information
William T. Johnson (1809?-1851) and his sister, Adelia, were the children of Amy Johnson, a enslaved woman freed in 1814 by William Johnson, a planter of Adams County, Mississippi. William T. and Adelia were freed in 1820 and 1818, respectively. In 1820, Adelia married James Miller, a free African American from Philadelphia. Miller was a barber and a respected businessman in Natchez, Mississippi, and he trained his brother-in-law, William T. Johnson to become a barber. In 1830, William T. Johnson moved from Port Gibson to Natchez to pursue the trade, having purchased Miller's unexpired lease. Five years later, William married a former enslaved woman, Ann Battles (1815?-1866). In 1822, she and her mother, Harriet Battles, had been freed by Gabriel Tichenor of Natchez. William T. and Ann Johnson had ten children: William (born 1836), Richard (born 1837), Byron (1839-1872), Anna (1841-1922), Katharine (1842-1901), Phillip (born 1844), Eugenia (born 1845), Alice (born about 1846), Josephine (born 1849), and Clarence (born 1851). Between 1835 and 1850, Johnson acquired three barber shops, a bath house in Natchez, and a plantation; he also maintained business connections in New Orleans.</br></br>In the late 1840s, 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.</br></br>Harriet Battles (born approximately 1792) was a free person of color of Adams County, Mississippi and the mother of Ann Battles Johnson. She was at one time enslaved by Gabriel Tichenor, who emancipated her and her young daughter through a deed of manumission in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1826. Harriet was about 30 years of age when she was freed. Harriet and Ann returned to Adams County in 1829; there, Harriet purchased from Tichenor and his wife a lot of land on State Street in Natchez for the sum of two dollars.
Date Created
1843 - 1849
Location
Description
Legal and financial papers of the Johnson family for the years 1843-1849 contain receipts for goods and services, tax receipts, promissory notes, deeds of conveyance, and a certification of land surveying belonging to William Johnson, a free person of color. Included are two deeds conveying land to William Johnson by William Moseby. The first of William Moseby's deeds, dated May 16, 1843, confers property, animals, and two enslaved women named Elaine and Peggy to William Johnson. The second deed, dated November 8, 1845, confers land in Adams County, Mississippi to William Johnson. Promissory notes written by William Johnson to R. M. Samuel Constable (dated July 10, 1846) and James (dated October 1, 1847) and an 1848 tax receipt belonging to Harriet Battles, Johnson's mother-in-law, are also present.
Type of Resource
text
Size
14 items.
Language
English
Source
Louisiana State University Libraries, Special Collections, Hill Memorial Library, Baton Rouge, La., http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special
Digital Collection
Revealing an Unknown Past: Free People of Color in Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi Valley
Repository Collection
William T. Johnson and family memorial papers, Mss. 529, 561, 597, 770, 926, 1093, LSU Libraries.
Shelf Location
Mss. 529, Box 1
Contact Information
To inquire about ordering copies of these images, email lsudiglib@lsu.edu See instructions for ordering reprints of this image here: http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/services/duplication.html . Include the "Item URL" in your request.
Rights
Physical rights are retained by the LSU Special Collections. Copyright has expired and the item is therefore in the public domain. Permission to reproduce this image must be requested through the repository that holds the original.
Preferred Citation
William T. Johnson and Family Memorial Papers,Mss. 529, 561, 597, 770,926, 1093,Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSULibraries, Baton Rouge.
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