Meet the Ancestors: John Johnson Jr. (1798-1856)

John Johnson Jr. (1798-1856)

John Johnson Jr. was born on August 8, 1798, to John Johnson Sr. and Deborah Ghieselen. His father was an attorney and the fourth Chancellor of Maryland. He attended St. John’s College but moved to New Orleans to become a merchant before he graduated from St. John’s. Unfortunately, the climate did not agree with him and his business failed, so he returned to Maryland and studied law. He practiced in Upper Marlborough before being appointed as Clerk of the Court of Appeals in Annapolis in 1821. He was elected to represent Anne Arundel County in the House of Delegates and served as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee during the state’s financial crises under the governorship of Thomas Pratt.  In his position, he helped Governor Pratt pass tax and revenue bills that saved the finances of Maryland.

At the death of Chancellor Bland in 1846, Johnson was appointed as the sixth and last Chancellor of Maryland*. When the position was terminated as the state adopted the New Constitution in 1851, Johnson went back to practicing law until his death on October 4, 1856, at the age of 58.

*The Chancellor of Maryland was the highest judicial office in the state. It was set up around the time of the Revolutionary War to replace the High Court of Chancery of England.