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Rh improvement of the navigation of the Potomac so as to open communication with the western lands. After the Revolution the plan was prosecuted by the formation of the Potomac company by the leg- islature of Maryland through Johnson's influence, and by the general assembly of Virginia on the personal application of Washington. He was one of the committee appointed by congress in Octo- ber, 1774, to draft an address to the king, and was influential in July, 1776, in inducing the provincial convention of Maryland to declare independence of Great Britain and to authorize their deputies in congress to join in the Declaration of Independ- ence of the thirteen united colonies. When Wash- ington was in retreat through the Jerseys in 1776-'7, he sent an urgent appeal to Johnson to re-enforce him, saying that he had not men enough to fight the enemy, and too few to run away with, and Johnson embodied and organized 1,800 militia in the western counties and led them in person to the relief of Washington. — His brother, Benjamin, b. 26 July, 1727, was a major in the Maryland forces. — Another brother, James, b. 30 Sept., 1736, was a colonel. — John, b. 29 Aug., 1745, was a sur- geon. — Roger, b. 15 March, 1749, was a major of the military force of the province. — Joshua, b. 25 June, 1744, removed to England and became a merchant. At the beginning of hostilities he went to Nantes, France, where he acted as the agent of Maryland during the war, and was the first consul of the United States at London, 1785-99. His daughter, Louisa Catherine, married John Quincy Adams in London in 1796. — Baker, another broth- er, b. 30 Sept., 1749, was a deputy from Frederick county, Md., in the revolutionary conventions of 1774, 1775, and 1776, was colonel of the 4th Mary- land regiment, and commanded it at the battle of the Brandvwine and at Germantown.

JOHNSON, Virginia Wales, author, b. in Brooklyn, N. Y., 28 Dec, 1849. She has travelled in Europe since 1870, and now (1887) resides in Florence. Her publications include " Kettle Club Series " (Boston, 1870) ; " Travels of an American Owl" (Philadelphia, 1870); "Joseph, the Jew" (New York, 1873) ; "A Sack of Gold " (1874) ; " The Catskill Fairies " (1875) : " The Calderwood Secret " (1875); "Miss Nancy's Pilgrimage" (1877); "A Foreign Marriage " (1880) ; " The Neptune Vase " (1881) ; " The English Daisy Miller " (1882) ; " The Fainalls of Tipton " (1885) ; " Tulip Place " (1886) ; and " The House of the Musician * (1887).

JOHNSON, Walter Rogers, chemist, b. in Leominster, Mass., 21 June, 1794; d. in Washing- ton, D. C., 26 April, 1852. He was graduated at Harvard in 1819, taught in Framingham and Sa- lem. Mass., and in 1821 became principal of the academy in Germantown, Pa. In 1826, when the high-school was established in Philadelphia, under the auspices of the Franklin institute, he was given the chair of mechanics and philosophy, and at the same time delivered a public course of lectures on those subjects, which were largely attended. In 1836 he began a series of geological investigations, with special reference to the coal-formations and iron-ores of Pennsylvania, and a year later was given charge of the department of magnetism, electricity, and astronomy on the U. S. exploring expedition, but soon resigned this office, owing to changes in the original plan. From 1839 till 1843 he held the professorship of physics and chemistry in the medi- cal department of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1843 he was appointed by congress to investi- gate the character of the different varieties of coal, with reference to their absolute and relative values for generating steam and heat and producing il- luminating gas, and he published a report on that subject during the following year. Subsequently he made scientific researches for the navy depart- ment, and in 1845 was appointed by the city authorities of Boston to examine the sources from which pure water might be brought to the city. In 1848 he became connected with the Smithsonian institution in Washington, and in 1851 he was sent to the World's fair in London. Prof. John- son was active in the organization of the Associa- tion of American geologists and naturalists, and when it gave place to the American association for the advancement of science he was its first secre- tary. His publications include "Natural Philoso- phy," originally entitled "Scientific Class-Book, No. 1 " (Philadelphia, 1835) ; " Chemistrv," origi- nally entitled " Scientific Class-Book, No. 2 " (1835) ; " Notes on the Use of Anthracite in the Manufac- ture of Coal " (Boston, 1841) ; Knapp's " Chemical Technology," translated (Philadelphia, 1848) ; Weis- bach's " Mechanics," translated (1849); and "Coal Trade of British America " (Washington, 1850).

JOHNSON, Sir William, bart., British soldier, b. in Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland, in 1715 ; d. in Johnstown, N. Y.,"ll July, 1774. He was a younger son of Christopher Johnson, an Irish gen- tleman of good family. William was educated for a mercantile life, but his career was entirely changed by the refusal of his parents to permit him to marry a lady with whom he had fallen in love. His uncle, Admiral Sir Peter Warren, had married a daughter of Stephen De Lancey, of New York, and received with her a large land- ed estate in that colo- ny, which he increased by purchase, chiefly in the valley of the Mohawk, and at this juncture he offered his nephew the management of his entire property in New York if he would undertake its improvement and settlement. Johnson accepted, and in 1738 established himself on a tract of land on the south side of Mohawk river, about twenty-four miles west of Schenectady, which Sir Peter had called " Warrensburgh." He began to colonize this tract, and also embarked in trade with the Indians, whom he always treated with perfect honesty and justice. This course, added to an easy but dignified and affable manner, and an intimacy with them which he cultivated by accommodating himself to their manners and sometimes even to their dress, soon won for him their entire confidence and gave him an influence over them greater than that ever possessed by any other white man. He became a master of their language, and was thoroughly acquainted with their peculiar habits, beliefs, and customs. The Mohawks adopted him, chose him a sachem, and named him " Wariaghejaghe," or " Warraghiaghy," meaning " he who has charge of affairs." In 1744, on the resignation of the Albany Indian commissioners, Gov. George Clinton appointed Johnson colonel of the Six Nations. In 1746 he was made commissary of New York for Indian affairs, and was active against the French. In February, 1748, he was placed in command of all the New York colonial forces for the defence of the frontier, and