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COL. EBENEZER JOHNSON |
COL. EBENEZER JOHNSON is supposed to have been the son of Peter Johnson of Fairfield, and was born about the time his father settled in Fairfield. He came to Derby, a single man, about 1668, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Wooster, in 1671, and made his home not long-after on the south-east part of Sentinel Hill as it was then called; the place being now on the turnpike east of Derby Narrows, and still known as the old Johnson place.
The first appointment to keep an ordinary or tavern was given to Ebenezer Johnson at his residence near Two-mile brook, which was, doubtless, continued some years.
He very soon became a leading man in all the interests and enterprises of the plantation and town, developing marvelous activity and energy, and a generosity of character that won the confidence and esteem of the whole community, and a large circle of associated officers both military and civil throughout the state.
He
seemed to believe in everybody, and feared nothing. He was
once censured by the General Court for administering the oath
to certain persons without requiring a record of those persons
of the necessary legal qualifications in order to receive the oath.
This was like the man. He knew those persons to possess the
necessary qualifications as his neighbors, and thereupon administered the oath, not doubting but that all others knew the
same, and would accept the fact without further question.
The location of his farm indicates the native good judgment
and discrimination of the man; the land being of the best
quality, and its position being warm for early seed in the spring.
He was such a worker that he accepted several pieces of land
from the town, which were scarcely regarded as worth fencing,
and soon made them most productive and valuable.
He was early introduced to military position, which secured
some little money, and thereby he had large advantage over
most of his neighbors; for a little silver in the hand in those
days was equal to a large capital stock in the best manufactur-ing enterprises of the present day.
In 1685 he was chosen lieutenant, and Abel Gunn, his neighbor, ensign of the first company organized in Derby, and in 1689 he was commissioned by the General Court to the office of captain in a volunteer company, raised to aid England to oppose the French in the twenty-four years' war that followed.
In this war he went on two expeditions to Albany and one to New York, besides others against the Indians of his own state, and to protect the seacoast. He was also appointed as one of the commissioners, or governor's council, several years during the war, and as such seems to have been depended upon as much as any one in the state.
He was appointed sergeant-major of New Haven county
militia in 1704, and in 1709 the General Assembly made the
following record: " Upon consideration of the age and long
service of Major Ebenezer Johnson, sergeant-major of the regiment of militia in the county of New Haven, this assembly have
thought meet to excuse, and do now hereby excuse and release
him from any further labor in that post." But his retirement
did not last long, for the French war continuing, an expedition
was organized in 1710 to go to St. Johns, or Port Royal, in that region, and Major Johnson was commissioned colonel of the
regiment on that expedition. After this Colonel Johnson was
more respected and honored than before, which was scarcely
necessary, for in 1701 the town clerk wrote, "The worshipful
Major Johnson," and in after years repeated this appellation
several times, denoting the highest honor.
He was justice of the peace much of the time, if not all, from
1698 to 1716, and was representative much of the time from
1685 to 1723, a term of thirty-eight years, the equal of which is
seldom known in any state. This is evidence that sometimes
men do receive some proportionate honor in their lifetime.
For his public services, the town gave him while captain, one
hundred and seventy-five acres of land at "Quaker's Farm,
including the Eight-mile brook from north to south." He received also of the state, by vote of the General Assembly, in
1700, three hundred acres of land as a recognition of his public
services, particularly during the French war.
"Liberty and full power is by this assembly granted to the Honored
Deputy Governor, Col. Robert Treat, and to Capt. Ebenezer Johnson,
and to the Reverend Mr. James to take up their respective grants of
land . . in the country lands adjoining Stratford north bounds."
Dr. Benjamin Trumbull, the historian, in his manuscript
notes says of Major Johnson, "About this time (1706) Major
Johnson transacted almost all the public business in the town.
He was a man of great resolution, courageous even to temerity,
which gave him a great superiority over the common people
and especially over the Indians."
It is very seldom that such a character is found who is so
considerate of his fellow men as Major Johnson, as manifested
in his proposition to Ensign Samuel Riggs in town meeting in
1700.
Colonel Ebenezer Johnson.
A gray stone marked with the familiar skull and bones and somewhat
higher than the surrounding memorials indicates the grave of Derby's
first great man. He came to Derby in 1668 and married Elizabeth Wooster,
eldest daughter of the Edward Wooster. When the town was organized, he
became one of the original townsmen or selectmen and also Derby’s first
representative to the legislature, to which body he was forty-six times
elected. He was also the first justice of the peace, and when Derby’s
first militia company was organized in 1685, he was elected its captain.
He had seen service in the King Philip’s Indian rebellion of 1674-1676,
and when the French and Indian wars broke out in 1689, the legislature
sent to the front sixty white men and forty Indians recruited from New
Haven and Fairfield counties by Johnson, who was made their commander.
The general assembly voted him two hundred acres for his services,
subsequently increasing the award to three hundred and giving Johnson,
who was an excellent businessman, the start to a fortune. He was
selected for numerous embassies to the Indians of Connecticut, over whom
he exercised great influence.
In 1701, the town clerk speaks of the "worshipful Captain Johnson." He was made major in 1714 and given command of the state troops sent to Port Royal and St. John in the campaign of 1719, and thereafter became the most worshipful Colonel Johnson. He had a leading part in the building of both the first and second meeting houses, and a special seat was built for him by the side of the pulpit, where he sat alone in solitary distinction.
All earthly glory must come to an end, and in 1726, at the age of 81, the "most worshipful Colonel Johnson" came to rest in the cemetery with the other pioneers of old Derby.
Here lyes ye body of Colo. Ebenezer JOHNSON died Sep 18, 1726 in ye 81st year of his age.
