William T. Johnson and family papers. Legal and financial papers. Folder 01-27, approximately 1850-1929. - William T. Johnson and family papers. Legal and financial papers. Folder 01-27, approximately 1850-1929.

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.</br></br>Ann Battles Johnson (1815?-1866) was a free person of color and the daughter of Harriet Battles, a free woman of color and former enslaved woman. She may have been the daughter of Gabriel Tichenor, a white businessman, banker, planter, and slaveholder who lived in Adams County, Mississippi, Concordia County, Louisiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Ann was emancipated, along with her mother Harriet, through a deed of manumission in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1826. At the age of 20, she married William Johnson, a free person of color and barber of Natchez, Mississippi. Together, the couple 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 approximately 1846), Josephine (born 1849), and Clarence (born 1851).</br></br>Following the murder of her husband William in 1851, Ann took over management of the Johnson family household. She died of illness about the age of 51 years in Natchez, Mississippi.</br></br>Anna L. Johnson (1841-1922) was born a free person of color in Natchez, Mississippi to William Johnson (1809?-1851) and Ann Battles Johnson (1815?-1866), both free people of color and former enslaved persons. Anna had nine brothers and sisters: William (born 1836), Richard (born 1837), Byron (1839-1872), Katharine (1842-1901), Phillip (born 1844), Eugenia (born 1845), Alice (born about 1846), Josephine (born 1849), and Clarence (born 1851).</br></br>Anna's father, William Johnson, was a slaveholder and the owner of three barber shops, a bath house, and a plantation. In the late 1840s, William 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. Following William's death, and the death of Anna Battles Johnson in 1866, Anna's brother Byron Johnson (1839-1872) became the head of the household.</br></br>After Byron's death in 1872, Anna became the head of the Johnson household, managing the family's financial and business matters. Anna taught in the Natchez primary schools, as did her sisters: Alice, Josephine, and Katharine. During the period of 1912 through 1920, Anna lived at the family plantation, Peachland Plantation. Anna died in 1922 at about age 81.</br></br>Byron Johnson (1839-1872) was a barber and was born a free person of color in Natchez, Mississippi to William Johnson (1809?-1851) and Ann Battles Johnson (1815?-1866), both free people of color and former enslaved people. He was one of ten children: William (born 1836), Richard (born 1837), Anna (1841-1922), Katharine (1842-1901), Phillip (born 1844), Eugenia (born 1845), Alice (born about 1846), Josephine (born 1849), and Clarence (born 1851). Following the death of his father and mother, Byron Johnson became the head of the household. Byron Johnson was shot by another colored man in 1872 and died. After Byron’s death in 1872, Anna became the head of the Johnson household, managing the family’s financial and business matters.</br></br>William R. Johnson (died 1938) was a descendent of free people of color from Natchez, Mississippi and the grandson of William T. Johnson (1809?-1851) and Ann Battles Johnson (1815?-1866), both free people of color and former enslaved persons of Natchez, Mississippi. William R. Johnson received his undergraduate degree from Wilberforce University (Ohio) in 1897 and later earned a medical degree from Howard University. While studying at Howard, he boarded with Dr. and Mrs. Henry Lewis Bailey. William R. and his wife Sally Johnson lived in the home built by William’s grandfather. Sally was responsible for compiling William T. Johnson’s diaries for publication. Johnson was the leading African American physician in Natchez at the time of his death in 1938.