| Notes |
- Will of Gabriel Johnston, made May 16, 1751, probated Apr 4, 1753 Original missing. Recorded in Book 1755-1758, page 153.
Gabriel Johnston's Will.
In The Name Of God Amen, This is the last will and Testament of Gabriel Johnston, Esquire , Governor of North Carolina .
Imprimis, I give and bequeath unto my Dearest Wife, Frances Johnston , a Plantation called Possum Quarter, lying and being in Granville County . I also give and bequeath unto her another Plantation Called Conahoe, with the Three Hundred Acres lying near it by Gainers Plantation, both in Tyrrel Countys , together with a small Plantation lying on Salmon Creek in the County of Bertie , which I lately purchased of Lamb Hardy , to her & her Heirs for Ever.
North Carolina Wills and Inventories
Item, it is my Will that the said Frances Johnston shall at a Time she Shall Think proper and Convenient for her own Interest and that of my Daughter, Purchase for her own Use, and in Order to Manage and Stock the aforesaid Plantation, Twenty Working Negroes, Seventy Head of black Cattle, and a Proportional Quantity of Hoggs, which Purchase I allow her to make Either all at Once or Gradually as it shall best Suit her Interest; or if it can't be done Easily to take the said Negroes out of the Estate of my Daughter, Penelope , and take Care to have the Gradually Replais'd.
2ยบ I give & bequeath unto my Dearest Daughter, Penelope Johnston , all my Lands lying the Counties of Bertie , Northampton and Granville which I had by her Mother, to her and her Heirs for Ever, and all the Slaves I had by her Mother when I married her, Together with their Increase. And in Case my Wife shall Choose to Remain in North Carolina and Reside upon the Lands of, and live with my Daughter (which is my Hearty Wish), my will is that she, my said Wife, shall have the Use of all my said Daughters Plantations, and for her Encouragement to Cultivate & Improve these Plantations, Especially in Raising Silk , and she, my said Wife, shall Receive and Enjoy for her own Proper Use, One Half or Moiety of the Yearly Produce of the said Plantations, untill the Time of my said Daughters Marriage, or her Attaining the Age of One and Twenty, I likewise give my Daughter all the live Stock which shall be on my said Plantations at the Time of my Decease. And I Earnestly Request my Dearest Wife to be a kind tender Mother to my Dear little Girl, and to bring her up in the Fear of God and under a deep Sense of her being always in his Presence, and in Sobriety and Moderation Confining her Desires to things Plain, neat and Elegant, and not aspiring after the Gayety, Splendor and Extravagances; and Especially, to take Care to keep within the Bounds of her Incomes, and by no Means to Run in Debt.
And in Case it shall please Almighty God to remove my Daughter without her leaving any Children behinde her, it is my Will that the Above Estate shall go to my Brothers Sons and their Heirs Heirs forever; and that in such Case my Dearest Wife, Frances Johnston , may Enjoy, Possess and live upon any One of my Plantations she shall Choose Within Twelve Months after my Decease, and my Brother, Samuel Johnston , may in like Manner Choose any other of my Plantations to be Enjoyed during their Natural lives.
It., I give and bequeath unto Henry Johnston , now at School in Newhaven , in the Colony of Conecticut , a Tract of One Thousand Acres of Land Lying on Cypress Creek on the South Side of Trent River in Craven County ; and a Tract of Nine Hundred and Eighty Acres lying on the South Side of Trent , to Carolina Johnston , his Sister; and a Tract of Four Hundred and Odd Acres lying on the Head of Trent and New Rivers to my Neice, Penelope Johnston , to them and their Heirs for ever. All which Lands formerly belonged to William Smith, Esqr. , Chief Justice of this Province, and were left to me by his Will.
Item, I give and bequeath unto my Brother's Two Sons, Samuel Johnston and John Johnston , a Tract of Land of Seven Thousand Acres lying on Deep River in Bladen County , which I hold under the Name of Edward Griffith, Esqr. , to be Equally Divided between them, to them their Heirs, Executors for Ever.
It, I give unto my Daughter, Penelope , all the small Islands lying in Roanoke River, and in the neighbourhood of Mount Gallard .
It., I do will, and hereby Impower my Executors hereafter Named, to Sell all the Remainder of my Real Estate to the best Purchaser within Two Years after my Decease, and the Monies arising from the Sale thereof, I do hereby Order to be applied to the Payment of my Just Debts.
I leave all my Houshold Furniture, Plantation Tools and Necessaries to my Wife and Daughter in Case they Remain in this Province; My Books, I leave to William Cathcart, Esqr. , after my Wife and Brother have Choose out them any Number not Exceeding Forty Each.
t, To my Sister, Elizabeth Smear , of the County of Fife , North Britain , my large Repeating Gold Watch after it has been put in Order at the Expence of my Estate. To Carolina Johnston , so be she settles at her Plantation, Ten Cows and Calves, with Hoggs in Proportion , and Five Negroes, And to Each of my Brother's Daughters, at the Day of their Marriage, Two Negroes. And all that Distressed poore Family I Recommend to the Kindness and Protection of my Dear Wife, not Dareing to leave more to my Brother least it should be Seized to his Creditors, and his Family have no Benefit by it. As for all the Remainder of my Estate, after Payment of my Just Debts as above Directed, I Order all may be sold and my Credits and Arrears of Sallary to be Divided in Five Parts; One Fifth to my Wife, Two Fifths to William Cathcart in Trust for my Brother for the Education of his Family, One Fifth for my Sister, Elizabeth Smear and her Heirs, and One Fifth to Henry Johnston .
It., I give unto my Dearest Wife, One Negro Female Child Called Titty , and leave her Sole Executrix of this my last Will; And in Case of her Death or Absence, Samuel Johnston and William Cathcart, Esqr. , Executors, Done at Edenhouse this Sixteenth Day of May, 1751 .
North Carolina Wills and Inventories
Gabriel Johnston's Will.
Gab: Johnston . (Seal)
This last Will and Testament all written with my Own Hand and Contained in this & the Two Preceeding Pages was signed, Sealed and Declared to be my last Will and Testament in Presence of: Andw. Leake . Saml. Ormes . Thos. Whitmell .
Source: Ancestry.com. North Carolina Wills and Inventories [database online]. Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2002. Original data: compiled by J. Bryan Grimes. North Carolina Wills and Inventories: Copied From Original and Recorded Wills and Inventories in the Office of the Secretary of State. Raleigh, NC: 1912.
I, Matthew Rowan, Esqr. , President & Commander in Chief in and over the said Province, Do hereby Certify that this Day Samuel Ormes Personally appeared before me and made Oath that he saw his late Excellency Gabriel Johnston, Esqr. , late Governor of the said Province, sign, Seal and Declare the above Instrument of Writing as & for his last Will and Testament, and that at his Signing thereof he was of sound & Disposing Mind and Memory; and also, that he saw Andrew Lcake and Thos. Whitmell sign their Names at the same Time as Evidences thereunto.
Given at Newbern under my Hand, this Fourth Day of April, Anno Dom., 1753 .
Math: Rowan
Source: Ancestry.com. North Carolina Wills and Inventories [database online]. Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2002. Original data: compiled by J. Bryan Grimes. North Carolina Wills and Inventories: Copied From Original and Recorded Wills and Inventories in the Office of the Secretary of State. Raleigh, NC: 1912.
Bertie County . May Court, 1753
The within written last Will and Testament of his late Excellency, Gabriel Johnston, Esqr. , late Governor of North Carolina was further proved by the Oath of Thomas Whitmell , One of the Subscribing Witnesses thereto, Ordered to be Certified.
P Order of Court.
Copy, Saml. Ormes, Cl. Cur.
Source: Ancestry.com. North Carolina Wills and Inventories [database online]. Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2002. Original data: compiled by J. Bryan Grimes. North Carolina Wills and Inventories: Copied From Original and Recorded Wills and Inventories in the Office of the Secretary of State. Raleigh, NC: 1912.
JOHNSTONE, Gabriel, governor of the province of North Carolina, was born in Scotland in 1699; grandson of James Johnstone, second earl of Annandale. He was a graduate of, and professor of oriental languages in the University of St. Audrews, and subsequently political editor of the Craftsman of London, England. He immigrated to the province of North Carolina about 1730, and settled and made large purchases of land near Wilmington. He was made governor of the province in 1784, as successor to George Barrington, the first governor under the Crown, 1729-84, and he served as such until his death. In 1746 Governor Johnstone displeased the people of the northern sections of the state known as Albemarle county, by proroguing the general assembly convened at New Berne, to meet at Wilmington on Nov. 18, 1746. For eighty years the general assembly had met either at New Berne or Edenton and the thirty-one representatives from Albemarle refused to appear at Wilmington. The twenty-two members for Bath, the southern county of the province, assembled, and the general assembly, so constituted, was recognized by Governor Johnstone and at once proceeded to reduce the representation for the precincts of Albemarle county from five burgesses from each precinct to two, so as to give a majority to the less populous county of Bath. The people of Albemarle county rebelled and refused to appear at musters, attend courts or pay taxes, and this condition continued for eight years. Not a single representative from the Albemarle section during all these years would change his vote in favor of two burgesses from a precinct, and led by Benjamin Hill and others in 1748 or 1749 they preferred three different interests against Governor Johnstone to the home authorities. The Hill charges were: that no quorum was present when the obnoxious law was passed; and that it was passed by surprises, fraud aud trickery. The validity of the act was referred to the attorney and solicitor-general of England. On Dec. 1, 1750, he reported: "The act was passed by management, precipitation and surprise when few members were present and seemed to be of such nature and tendedncy, and to have such effect and operation, that the governor ought not to have assented to them," and the obnoxious law was repealed, April 8, 1754, a solitary instance in the history of the government of provinces by the Crown where the government sustained rebels struggling for constitutional liberty. The want of success in the administration of Governor Johnstone seemed to be his extreme aristocracy and failure to mingle with or recognize the social equality of the people he was sent to govern. His brother, Gilbert, having espoused the cause of the Pretender, was wounded at the battle of Culloden and was forced to flee to America, settling in North Carolina. Governor Johnstone died in Chowan county, N.C., in August, 1752.
Source: Johnson, Rossiter (editor). Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Vols. 1-10. Boston, MA: The Biographical Society, 1904.
"Several years ago in this column I wrote an article on Governor Gabriel Johnston (1699-1752) who was the Colonial governor of North Carolina from 1734 to 1752. Since that time I have run across much data on other members of his family who lived in North Carolina, and too, I have since visited the Johnston family cemetery in Annandale, Scotland. Johnston County was created in 1746, was named for Governor Gabriel Johnston and at first embraced much of Lenoir, Greene, Wayne and Wake counties.
The genealogists in Scotland think that the first Johnstons in Scotland came over with William The Conqueror in 1066. The name was originally Johnstone. "The seat of the Johnston Clan is Lockerby, near the center of the district of Annandale, Castle of Lockwood, situated at that place." Huga de Johnstone was Laird in East Lothian, Scotland, in 1214. The generations run thus: John de Johnstone Sr., John de Johnstone Jr.; and seven generations later, there was Sir Adam de Johnstone (1413-1455), and the 17th generation, James Johnstone (1625-1672) became the first Earl of Annandale, Scotland. His son, Captain John Johnstone married Elizabeth Belchier, a French protestant, and had the following children: John, died in Scotland; Gabriel, Governor of North Carolina; Gilbert who married and lived at Brompton in Bladen County; Samuel Johnston, who lived in Onslow County; Elizabeth who married Thomas Kenan. Governor Gabriel Johnston married Penelope Galland, the stepdaughter of Governor Charles Eden and they had one daughter, Penelope, who married John Dawson. Governor Johnston later married Frances Butler."
Source Information: Moore, Claude. "The Johnston Family Connection, Our Heritage", Wayne County, North Carolina Heritage Series. USGenweb Archives. March 31, 2005. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/nc/wayne/heritage/johnston2.txt
"JOHNSTON, Gabriel, governor of North Carolina, born in Scotland in 1699; died in Chowan county, North Carolina, in August, 1752. He was educated at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and studied medicine, but is supposed not to have practised. For several years he was professor of oriental languages at St. Andrews. Removing to London, he became distinguished as a man of letters and liberal views, and was engaged with Lord Henry Bolingbroke in writing for the "Craftsman," a political and literary magazine. Emigrating to the United States about 1730 and settling in North Carolina, through the influence of the Earl of Wilmington he was appointed governor of that colony. His administration was successful, the province greatly increasing in wealth, population, and general prosperity under his rule, which continued from his appointment till his death.--His nephew, Samuel, senator, born in Dundee, Scotland, 15 December, 1733; died near Edenton, North Carolina, 18 August, 1816, came to this country in 1736 with his father, John, who settled in North Carolina, and acquired large estates there. Samuel was educated for the bar, and in 1767-'72 was clerk of the superior court of Chowan county, North Carolina, and at the same time a naval officer under the crown. He soon became known as a politician and lawyer, was an ardent patriot, a member of the assembly in 1769, where he was placed on its standing committee of inquiry and correspondence, an active member of the first two Provincial congresses, and presided over the third and fourth. In August, 1775, he was elected chairman of the provincial council, and virtually became governor of the state. He was chosen treasurer of the northern district of North Carolina in September of that year, was a member of the Continental congress of 1781-'2, and in 1788 elected governor of the state, presiding over the convention that failed to ratify the Federal constitution, which he supported with all his influence. In the following year he also presided over the convention that adopted the constitution. In 1789-'93 he was a member of the United States senate, as a Federalist, and in February, 1800, was appointed judge of the superior court, resigning in 1803."
Source information: Klos, Sam. "Gabriel Johnston". Virtual American Biographies. Edited Appleton's Encyclopedia. Virtualogy, 2001. March 31, 2005. http://famousamericans.net/gabrieljohnston/ [Note from the website: "Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889 & edited Stanley L. Klos, 1999 is a historic document. We realize the biographies contain 19th Century errors and rely on volunteers to edit historic biographies on a continual basis. If you would like to edit this biography please submit a rewritten biography in text form . If acceptable, the new biography will be published above the 19th Century Appleton's Cyclopedia Biography citing the volunteer editor."]
"He was a Scotchman by birth, a man of liberal views, and a physician by profession. He married Penelope, the only child of Governor Eden, and his grandson, William Johnstone Dawson, distinguished for his acquirements and talents, in 1793 represented the Edenton district in congress, and with Willie Jones, Joseph McDowell, Thomas Blount and James Martin, was on the committee in 1791 to fix a permanent place for the seat of government. He died in 1798; an event universally regretted."
Source Information: Wheeler, John H. Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians. Columbus, OH: Columbus Printing Works, 1884. 118. March 31, 2005. http://www.researchonline.net/nccw/bios/wheeler.htm
"Gabriel, eldest son of John, inaugurated "The Craftsman," a Jacobite political journal, in collaboration with his relative William Johnston, Earl of Bath, and Bolingbroke. By influence thus gained he was in 1724, at the instance of Lord Wilmington, sent to North Carolina as royal governor to succeed the unpopular Burrington. This fact was to be of great importance in the subsequent history of the Annandales."
Source information: Johnson, James D. "Town of Andrews Situated On Land of Annandale Scions." The News and Courier. Charleston, SC, 1941. April 1, 2005. http://members.tripod.com/~andrews_sc/history1790.html
"The lineage connected to Elizabeth Johnstone, wife of Thomas Kenan, is incorrect. She was not the sister of Gabriel Johnston, nor was Gabriel Johnston the son of John Johnstone, son of James Johnstone and Henrietta Douglas. Their son John is well documented in Burke's Peerage; he had only one child, a daughter whose name is unknown who died before her first birthday. Gabriel never lived in Ireland; he was appointed Governor of North Carolina after establising his reputation in London.
Gabriel Johnston was born in Dundee, son of the parish minister. Educated at St. Andrews and Leyden. Medical and language scholar. Professor of Hebrew, St. Andrews 1724. Governor of N.C. 1733. Landed in N.C. 1734. Died 17 January 1752). His sister did not leave Great Britian and did not marry Thomas Kenan. He names her in his will...my sister Elizabeth Smear of Fife, N. Britian, and he left her his gold watch.
Elizabeth Johnston is reported to be Gabriel's niece in one book, which may be possible. Obviously, she was related, as Gilbert, Jr, believed she was his aunt. However, his mother was Caroline Johnstone, so maybe Elizabeth was her sister. I'm interested in any thoughts on this...this is my second 'phony' Johnston link...Thomas Johnston, Sr. of Onslow has been reported as Gabriel's brother, but that is also incorrect."
Source Information: Kodad, Gwen. "Re: NC Johnstone Siblings 1700-1775." Message post #7356, July 08, 2004. Johnston Family Genealogy Forum. Genforum.com, April 2, 2005. http://genforum.genealogy.com/johnston/messages/1846.html
"I have worked on this puzzle for years. I can say that: Gilbert said his father married Caroline. a. he didn't say she was his mother. b. Do we know, for certain, that Gabriel and Gilbert were brothers? Elizabeth, sister of Gabriel married William Ferriar and did come to live in this country. Her name was not smear. I have examined the originals. We do know that much of the "Carolina Claim" was erroneous, as stated by Hugh Peskett, the genealogist who, being paid to trace the Carolina Claim family of Gilbert back to "Hon. John of Stapleton", just went to the attic of Sit Patrick Hope-J.' family and looked through their trunk, proving that they would have been eligible as next in line, had the line not come through a female. The Lord Lyon, etc., decided they should have it anyway. So, today, Sir Patrick is the heir to the whatever of Annandale. Beverly Shuler, former gen. Clan J. in America."
Source Information: Shuler, Beverly. "Re: NC Johnstone Siblings 1700-1775." Message post #7360, July 09, 2004. Johnston Family Genealogy Forum. Genforum.com, April 2, 2005. http://genforum.genealogy.com/johnston/messages/1846.html
"Thanks for confirming that my problems with the accepted history are legitimate. "Ferrier" makes more sense that Smear...I've searched high and low for a Fife family with some variation of the "Smear" name. It came from a transcription of his will, obviously not correct. However, she was still in Fife at the time of Gabriel's death in 1752, so she must have emigrated later. I also found a reference that stated Gabriel had two natural children with him when he arrived in this country. Maybe some of the confusion is from that...do you know anything about these children? As to Gilbert, you're right...Gilbert Jr. never said Caroline Johnstone was his mother. I'll revisit what I have concerning Gabriel and Gilbert's relationship to see if anything confirms them as siblings. One of my ancestors is Thomas Johnston of Onslow County...I keep having people tell me he was Gabriel's brother, based on various books. I have found nothing to suggest that's true, and lots to suggest it isn't. I would appreciate any help you can give me. Another ancester appears to be Randall Johnstone of Cumberland county. Thanks, Gwen"
Source Information: Kodad, Gwen. "Re: NC Johnstone Siblings 1700-1775." Message post #7362, July 10, 2004. Johnston Family Genealogy Forum. Genforum.com, April 2, 2005. http://genforum.genealogy.com/johnston/messages/1846.html
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1699 - 1752 (53 years)
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