James Johnson - Cobequid Planter

Relationship to me:

1. James Johnson & Elizabeth Patterson
     2. Rachel Johnson & James Rogers
          3. Jane Rogers & John Bragg
               4. Charles Bragg & Matilda Swallow
                     5. John Thomas Bragg and Julia West Gamble
                           6. Russell Mackie Bragg & Dorothy Madeleine Harrigan
                                 7. Me  

 SPECIAL NOTE: 2011 marked the 250th Anniversary of the arrival of the Ulster Scots - also known as the Cobequid Planters to Truro, Nova Scotia.  Celebrations took place all through the summer.  A 250th anniversary flag was placed on the grave of each one of the original settlers.

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As a result of the Settlement Act of 1652 in Northern Ireland where Catholic landowners were stripped of their property, many Scots from the lowlands and English border region were encouraged to settle and work these lands for British landlords.  However, by 1703 the Presbyterian Scots were persecuted for not adhering to the "True" Church and many emigrated to the North American Colonies.  These people were known as the Ulster Scots or the Scotch-Irish.  Fiercely proud of their heritage, many of these staunch Presbyterians would have bristled to be called Irish.

James Johnson was born in June 1719 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.  In 1744, he married Elizabeth Patterson.  She was also from Londonderry, having been born in 1725.  The couple had 11 children: Adam, Robert, Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, Matthew, James, John, William, Hannah and Rachel.  All the children but Mary (who was born in Truro, Nova Scotia) were born in New England and emigrated to Nova Scotia with their parents.

Johnson Family Crest

 James and his brother, John and their families were part of the New England Planter migration with Alexander McNutt.  Having arrived in the early 1740s and having lived in both Pelham, Massachusetts and Londonderry, New Hampshire, the brothers were enticed by the offer of plentiful free land made by McNutt.

Both brothers were active in their American communities, having served as selectmen, constables and church elders. But documentation, especially from Pelham, shows a community rife with tension and ravaged by petty squabbles - particularly with regard to the local Presbyterian Minister, the Rev. Abercrombie.  My sense from reading this documentation is that a fresh start was more than welcome.

Alexander McNutt had travelled throughout Northern Ireland and New England recruiting settlers for the land he had been assigned by the British Government in the area known as the Cobequid along the Bay of Fundy. 6 years earlier, the French Acadiens had been expelled from the area and the British Government were anxious to have the area settled by English speaking folk.

In July of 1760, James Johnson was one of a group of men who came to Nova Scotia with McNutt to survey the land and decide on its suitability.  The route was agreed upon and by April of the following year, Council at Halifax agreed to supply them with provisions while they were actually employed in making the road.  In the early summer 1761,about 60 families came to settle Truro Township on the south side of the bay, including the Johnsons.  They became known as the Cobequid Planters.

Each grant was to include a town lot, a farm lot, a marsh lot and a wood lot.  James and John applied and were approved for a grant of land in the newly formed township at the head of Cobequid Bay that was to be called Truro.  James received two rights of land, each containing 500 acres.  Several of the brother's adult sons also obtained grants and the family became major landowners in the area around the Lower Village of Truro.

James Johnson was one of the original Grantees of the Township of Truro and one of the seven elders of the Presbyterian  Church of Truro who were elected in the summer of 1770.

Truro is located on the Salmon River east of the head of Cobequid Bay in central Nova Scotia.

Commemorative Plaque celebrating
the arrival of the Ulster Scots

There was one Right to the Township of  Truro grantee for the first Presbyterian Minister who would settle in Truro, one Right for a glebe, and another Right for the benefit of schools.  It is significant that all the first settlers, and grantees of Truro were Presbyterians from Scotland, and the north of Ireland.  They soon began to feel the loss to themselves and their children, from the want of a Preached Gospel.   In the year 1765 the Rev. Mr. Kenlock arrived in Truro, and continued to labour in and about Truro for about three years.  Then he returned to Scotland, and did not accept the call from the people of Truro to be their settled pastor.

At the earnest request of the people of Truro, the Rev. Daniel Cock came out from Scotland in the fall of the year 1769.  He was sent out as a Missionary for the whole Province, and continued to labour in Truro and other parts of the Province for a time.  The Reverend Cock would soon marry into the Johnson family.

September 13th, 1770, is the date of the call that was made out and presented to the Rev. Daniel Cock, from the Truro congregation, which he accepted. This call was signed by seven elders who had been chosen but a few weeks before, and 42 adherents. The names of the elders were, David Archibald, John Johnson, William Fisher, James Johnson, Robert Hunter, John Savage, and Samuel Archibald. The names of the adherents are, James Yuill, Senr., Thomas Gourley, Samuel Archibald, James Archibald, Matthew Taylor, Thomas Archibald, Matthew Archibald, John Archibald, John Archibald, Junr., James Faulkner, John Fisher, James Dunlap, Robert Archibald, Alexander Nelson, William McKeen, John McKeen, John Oughterson, William White, Samuel Wetherby, Adam Dickey, James Wright, John Fulton, George Scott, David Nelson, Adam Boyd, Adam Johnson, James Archibald, Junr., James Fisher, David Archibald, Junr., James Johnson, Junr., David McKeen, James Yuill, Junr., Alexander Miller, John Gourley, John Logan, William Logan, Thomas Skeed, John Taylor, Joseph Moore, Henry Gluen, James Whidden, David Whidden, and Alexander McNutt. Note: all names in bold type are part of our family tree.

James built his house on land located in the Lower Village of Truro.  Years later, his grandson Robert Johnson built his home near the same spot.  James was an active and leading man in the early settlement and was one of the seven elders of the first Presbyterian Church in Truro Township.  His name can be found mentioned in the township record book where he is recorded as being in the year 1774 the "Surveyor of Lumber" and in 1777 was acting as "Surveyor of Roads".

Grave of Elizabeth Patterson
Robie Street Cemetery
Truro, Nova Scotia

Elizabeth Patterson Johnson died on December 2, 1776 and was one of the first to be buried in the Robie Street Cemetery in Truro.  Following her death, James married Margaret McRoberts on February 27th, 1777and they had 3 additional children, Jane, Sarah and Alison.  Margaret died in 1782 leaving James a widower again.

James Johnson died at his home in Lower Village, Truro in1798 and was buried beside Elizabeth at Robie Street.

Inscription on James' tombstone:

Husband of Elizabeth PATTERSON 

{born - 1727 in Ireland died - 2 December 1776

at Truro, Colchester, Nova Scotia}.