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In 1757 John was sent off to school in Philadelphia for a more formal education. On his return home in 1760 he received a captain’s commission in the Second Albany
A grand tour of the British Isles in 1765-1767 was the answer for John to “wear off the rusticity of a county education.” The tour included a presentation to King George III to receive a promised knighthood, many social engagements and a visit to relatives in Ireland but John missed the Mohawk Valley. He wrote to his sister Nancy “This place does not answer the ideas of grandeur I had of it…I ought to think myself happy with all the good fortune that attends me but never shall until I am safely landed in America Which I prefer to this Country.”
The British trip did however strengthen John’s support of the King. In London at the time of the Stamp Act controversy John wrote “I believe my countrymen are cutting out more work for themselves than they will be able to go through with. I hope they will be brought to a right sense of their duty to their King and Country but fear ere that they’ll occasion much confusion and trouble in the Country.”
John returned from London more mature but still not focused. Sir William could not get him interested in Indian affairs, politics or the military although John did continue to attend Indian conferences with him.
In the fall of 1772 John became engaged to Mary (Polly) Watts, the daughter of a wealthy New York City wine merchant. He returned to Fort Johnson in the spring of 1773 and set to work on changes that he felt were necessary to renovate the house and make it acceptable for his sophisticated bride-to-be especially after the hard use it had seen during the French and Indian War. It was at this time that the back door was added to the Fort, the staircase altered to make the pitch less steep, wood paneling removed and replaced with more fashionable wall paper, and rooms painted more “modern” colors. The Fort you see today reflects these changes. On the grounds a carriage barn, the remains of which form the ground floor of our Visitor’s Center, and our decorative privy were also probably built at this time.
John and Polly were married in New York City on June 29, 1773 and returned to Fort Johnson. They went back to New York City for the winter season but returned in April, 1774 and found Sir William unwell and worried about Indian affairs. A conference was planned for early summer and it was at this conference on July 11, 1774 that Sir William, after speaking for nearly two hours in the hot sun, collapsed and died.
With the death of his father, John Johnson’s life changed dramatically. He became the second baronet of New York and inherited most of his father’s money and land. John moved his family to Johnson Hall and took up the job of managing an estate of more than 170,000 acres and almost 1,000 tenants. However, the growing momentum of the revolutionary cause forced John Johnson and his family from the Mohawk Valley to Canada where he organized and commanded two battalions of the King's Royal Regiment of New York and played an important part in the border forays which marked the later stages of the Revolutionary War.
He remained in Canada after the War and actively defended Indian and Loyalist rights. In 1783 he was appointed superintendent-general of Indian affairs in British North America and worked determinedly to settle Loyalist families in what is now the province of Ontario. In 1787 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec, and in 1796 of that of Lower Canada. He sat in this Council until his death at Mount Johnson, near Montreal, on January 4, 1830. |
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County Militia but spent most of his time at Fort Johnson living the life of a country gentleman. However, if John was to be the successor to his father’s title and estate he would need more exposure to the world.