Person Colonial OfficialBritish North American ColoniesBritishNew YorkFormer CZ Article
William Johnson was born in Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland in 1715. When he was 22 (1737), he immigrated to the colony of New York, and settled in the Mohawk River valley on land of his uncle's. Beginning in 1739, he started speculating in land, buying up tracts throughout New York and probably other colonies. By the 1770s, he was the largest single land owner in North America and one of the wealthiest, too. On his main estate, he built a grand hall in the Georgian style.
Upon his arrival, he quickly befriended the Mowhawk. He learned to speak the Iroquois language. His second and third wives were also Mohawk. His influence and respect within the Iroquois rose and in 1746, during King George's War the British appointed him colonel of the Confederacy.
During the French and Indian War, he led attacks against Lake George in 1755 and against Fort Niagara in 1759. During the war, King George appointed Johnson as superintendent of the Six Iroquois Nations. In 1755, the Crown created two Indian Departments for North America. Johnson was appointed Superintendent for the Northern Department, an office he held until his death in 1774.
He was critical of Jeffrey Amherst's policies following the French and Indian War which led to Pontiac's War? and helped general Gage bring peace to the region. He presided at the Grand Council that settled the peace treaty with Pontiac in 1766 and negotiated the first Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768.
Johnson died July 11, 1774, on his estate.
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