Individual Details

Richard was born, Bilsby, Lincolnshire, England, according to his Virginia tombstone.

The 1667 estate of Mathew Huberd of York Co VA includes a debt owed to him by Mr. Richard Johnson of London. It is quite possible this is the same man.

Richard Johnson was found in New Kent Co, Virginia, records by 1675. He was a resident of the Parish of Stratton Major in New Kent Co and was appointed power of attorney by George Lee of London to make over the deed for 350 acres in Bruton Parish, York, to Robert Spring. He was active in purchasing large tracts of land over the next several years.

Richard Johnson was married to Susan Duncombe who died at age 22 and was possibly not his first wife and probably not the mother of all his children. Susan was the daughter of William Duncombe. There is no evidence that Richard remarried after the death of Susana, although he may have had a common-law relationship with one Jane Jeffries. [Then again the mention of her property in a deed may have indicated only that she was a neighbor.]

There were at least three sons, Richard, Thomas & William whose birth dates are unknown.

There was a daughter Judith Johnson who married in England and remained there - if so she was born about 1681 when Richard Johnson was visiting in England and perhaps before he married Susana Duncombe. A will of Thomas Johnson of Billsby in England names his niece Judith Johnson, daughter to Mr. Richard Johnson, Virginia Merchant. Thomas and his wife, Judith, appear to have had no children of their own and it's my suspicion that they raised their niece.

And, in 1675, Col. Richard was a merchant in New Kent County. On 24 Jan 1675, he was given a power of attorney by Mr. George Lee, a citizen and grocer of London, England, to handle the sale of a plantation of 350 acres in York County.

The year 1679 was a busy year for Col. Richard. His name first appeared in the records on 25 Apr of that year. Capt. Richard Johnson was appointed by the Assembly to supervise the construction of a storehouse or garrison with a small house for ammunition at the head of the Mattapony River, “at or above the Indian towns”

The name of Richard Johnson next appeared in the records exactly one month later on 13 May 1679. Actually there were two entries on that date. In the first entry, he was granted a land patent for 270 acres in New Kent County on “NE side of Mattapony Riv., on branch of Aquantanacock(Axoll's) Sw.”. His land started at the “Chees Cake path”, and his adjoining neighbors were Wm. Watts, Mr. Carleton, Mr. Homes (Holmes) and Maj. Wyatt.
On 13 May 1679, Richard Johnson received a second land patent (764, p. 199). This was for a parcel of land of 523 acres, almost twice the size of the first patent. It was described as being “on NE side of Mattapony River”, the same as the first patent.
That would have given him 793 acres in the area.

On 16 Apr 1680, Richard Johnson received a grant of 150 acres by court action (764, p. 268). This land was located on the main swamp of the Piscataway River in Old Rappahannock County - this land was acquired on spec and was sold in a few years.

There is a report that in 1680 he was a Justice of the Peace for New Kent and Captain of horse in the militia.

Col. Richard is absent from the Virginia land records from 1680 until April of 1683 - it is believed he went back to England during that time.

The oldest tombstone dates found by 1979 in a church cemetery in King and Queen County were from Old Church Cemetery. These were for “Susanna W. Duncombe Johnson, died 1686, and Richard Johnson, died 1699”. The church is called “Old Church” by its present occupants, a Methodist congregation. But, it was originally the “Upper Church” of Stratton Major Parish.
The epitaph on the tombstone of “Susanna W. Duncombe Johnson” reads as follows: “Here
Lyeth Interred ye Body of Susana
Daughter of Wm. Duncombe of
Holbeach In Ye County of Lincoln. Esq.
and Wife of Collo. Richard Johnson
Esq. Who Departed This Life Much
Lamented The 8th of August Anno
Domini 1686, Aged Twenty-Two
Years And Three Months”
The marriage to Susanna likely took place in England since her family appears to have not been in Virginia, and if she was say 18 at her marriage, they had married 1682. It is reported also that Richard had a daughter Judith while still in England and Judith remained there.

He was promoted from Captain in the militia in 1679 to Colonel in 1683. Susanna and Richard had time for perhaps two children before her death.

On 25 Oct 1695, Col. Richd. Johnson received a patent for 3285 acres in King and Queen County in “Pomunkey Neck” on both sides of Goodwin Swamp, or Monkewin Swamp

By 1689, Richard Johnson lived in the Pamunkey Neck region of St. Peter's Parish, New Kent Co. He was processioned that year. He was a Colonel in the local Militia as evidenced by a submission for expenses in the year 1692. Col. Johnson was a member of the Governor's Council from 1696-1699. On 16 May 1699, he was abset from a Council meeting - he had died at age 70.

Col. Richard and three other men, who were granted land in the same area, were forced to surrender the land to His Majesty the King about one year later to provide a land grant to the Kings College of William and Mary. The men and their lands were as follows:

Col. Edward Hill 5,060 acres
Ralph Wormley, Esq. 13,500
Edmond Jennings, Esq. 570
Col. Rchd. Johnson 3,285
22,415

As it turned out, only 10,000 acres were taken for the College, and nearly all the remainder was returned to the original owners. Col. Hill and Edmond Jennings received their land in full on 6 Jun 1699 (765, pp. 28, 29). All of the required 10,000 acres were taken from Ralph Wormley. That is surprising to me, since he was Secretary of Virginia. He received a grant of 5920 acres on 26 Oct 1699 for which he presented only 69 head rights.

Col. Richard Johnson had died in May of that year, and neither he nor his estate had appointed a lawyer to present his case. However, there did not seem to be any doubt among his neighbors and the Land Office as to who the rightful owner was. Reference is made in five land patents from Apr 1701 to Oct 1703 to this being the land of Col. Johnson, or just Johnson's land or plantation

The official recovery of the land took place on 2 May 1705, when William Johnson, son of Col. Richard, received a land patent for 4900 acres in King William County. The patent mentions land given William by his father in his in his will, “on branches and both sides of the Goodwin, alias Montcuen Swamp; according to bounds of patent granted said Johnson, 25 Oct 1695”. It was close by the west side of Governors Swamp. The difference between 4900 acres and the 3285 acres in the original patent was covered by 33 head rights.

Included in the headrights in the original patent in 1695 was listed first Richard Johnson [presumably Col Richard himself] later listed was another Richard Johnson, followed by a Susanna Johnson. This is likely his son of that name, and possibly a daughter named for her mother. His wife Susanna was already deceased. There is no further evidence of a daughter named for her mother. Claims for headrights were often made many years following the actual event.

In a land patent to John Carleton on 6 Jun 1699 the boundaries were “beg. at the Honble. Col. Richard Johnson; over Blake's Spring Br., along Richard Bradford, alias Homes' to said Johnson, alias Jane Jefferys'; etc.” Mr. Carleton and Mr. Homes (Holmes) were close neighbors of Col. Richard when he received his land patent in 1679. I have read: "It is quite possible that Jane Jefferys was living with Richard Johnson after his wife Susanna died. She may have been the mother of the sons Thomas and William as they both named their first daughter, Jane." I think it also likely Jane Jeffreys had simply been an owner of that property at some point in time.

Here is the inscription from Col. Richard's tombstone at Old Church Cemetery which also marked the graves of his son Richard and Richard's wife:
“(He)RE LYETH T(he body of)
(Co)L RICHARD (Johnson)
(Late) OF HIS MAJE(stys Most)
(Hono)URABLE CO(uncil)
(?)Y WHO DEPARTE(d this life)
(-) MAY 1699 AGED 70
(Here) ALSO LIETH IN (peace)
(the body of) MAJOR RICHA(rd Johnson)
WHO DEPART(ed this life)
(Janu)ARY
YEAR O(f 1733)”
(Beneat)H THIS STONE LIE(th)
(the body) OF MRS ORIANA THOR(pe)
(w)HO W(as the) RELICT OF MAJOR RICH(ard)
JOHNSON DAUGHTER OF MR WILLM
ATTWOOD OF THE CITY OF
BRISTOL MERCHT. GRANDAUGHTER
OF Sr. JOHN DUDDLESTONE BARONET
SHE DEPART(e)D THIS LIFE ON YE
30 0(f A)PRIL 1742”
As of February 2008, researcher Karen Woods visited and photographed this badly broken and damaged stone. It is no long readable and there is simply too much missing - words could be interpreted in several ways. The above transcription is one of at least three - all differ.


A 1740 petition to the General Assembly referred to the Colonel's will dated 8 Apr 1698 and mentions there were three sons: Thomas, Richard, & William. The will has not been located. In 1704, the Quit Rent roll for King William County showed Col. Johnson's Quarters with 600 acres.

Col. Richard's grave is marked in King William Co VA.

The William & Mary Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2, Oct 1912, pp. 90-106, "Letters from the Letter Book of Richard Chapman" includes further enlightenment regarding the sons of Col. Richard. Richard Chapman married Jane Johnson, daughter of Thomas Johnson & Anne Meriwether. Writing in 1740, Chapman stated that Richard Johnson, Esqr, Member of the King's Council, had died some 42 years previously possessed of a considerable estate which was devised to Richard, Thomas & William Johnson forever. He stated that Thomas & William both died after reaching their majority, leaving issue, and that the elder brother Richard survived them. Richard died without issue leaving his estate to nephews. Chapman also states that Richard Johnson had left a daughter "by another venter" in England; she was named Judith and educated at a boarding school in Lincoln under the care of an uncle. Judith married Sir Hardoff Westneys and both were dead. Chapman had recently purchased land from a son of Thomas Johnson and his brother-in-law and was trying to dock the entail on that land from the will of Col. Richard.

Birth	1629	England
Marriage	Abt 1684	Susanna Duncombe
Death	May 1699

Spouse	Susanna Duncombe (1664 - 1686)
Child	Thomas Johnson (1685 - 1733)
Child	Maj. Richard Johnson ( - 1733)
Child	William Johnson ( - 1733)

Child

Judith Johnson (1685 - 1727)

Father	Johnson ( - )
Sibling	Thomas Johnson ( - 1698)