Johnson family papers, 1776-1937.
Collection Number: 4928

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Johnson family papers, 1776-1937.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
4928
Abstract:
The Johnson Family Papers consist of correspondence, wills, diplomas, marriage certificates, obituaries, photographs, genealogical notes and family histories, land grant certificates, military documents, a book of autographs, and other papers and documents of the Johnson and related families, direct descendants of the Presidential Adams family. The family was located chiefly in Utica, New York.
Creator:
Johnson family.
Quanitities:
1.9 cubic feet.
Language:
Collection material in English

The Johnson Family Papers consist of correspondence, wills, diplomas, marriage certificates, obituaries, photographs, genealogical notes and family histories, land grant certificates, military documents, a book of autographs, and other papers and documents of the Johnson and related families, direct descendants of the Adams family.
The earliest correspondence concerns the relations between Abigail Adams and her daughter-in-law Sarah Adams, and among other members of the family, including John Adams and John Quincy Adams, Susan B. Adams, Charles Thomas Clark, and various members of the Adams, Johnson, and Savage families. Other documents refer to George Washington, Aaron Burr, Martin Van Buren, and James Monroe. The collection contains much material concerning the genealogy and history of several related families, with reference to their participation in numerous political and social events. The papers include discussion of family relations and matrimony, genealogy, domestic arrangements and social life, family properties and holdings, family political and military history, and other matters. The family was located chiefly in Utica, New York.
Documents are signed by George Washington and James Monroe; genealogies pertain to members of the Johnson, Adams, Smith, Bosch, Het, Quincy, Fowle, Boylston, Shepard, Norton, and Bass families.
Includes letters of daughter-in-law Sarah Adams, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Adams, Susan B. Adams, Charles Thomas Clark, Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson, Belinda Clarkson, Alexander B. Johnson, Arthur B. Johnson, Aaron Burr, John Savage, Daniel B. Tompkins, Martin Van Buren, Edward Savage, Mary Ann Smith, Louisa C. Smith, Eliza Thompson, Samuel Nelson, Eliza A. Hunt, Mary Ann Savage Hunt, Ward Hunt, and other members of the Johnson, Adams, and Savage families.
Genealogy/Family History Boes 4, 5, 7
Photographs Box 4
Miscellaneous Adams, Savage, and Johnson Family Items Boxes 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12
Documents Not Related to the Adams, Savage, and Johnson Families Box 3
Presidential Signatures Boxes 5, 4, 6, 11

Separated Materials

Publications Removed From Collection 4928 - To Be Cataloged Separately:
  1. Bible. Philadelphia: John Thompson and Abraham Small, 1798.
  2. Cornell, Mary Emily. The Autobiography of M.E. Cornell. Ithaca, New York: The Cayuga Press, 1929.
  3. Horace. The Works of Horace. 2 volumes. Edinburgh: J. Dickson and C. Elliot, 1783.
  4. Icones Biblicae. Strassburg: 1625-30.
  5. Johnson, A. B. Deep Sea Soundings and Explorations of the Bottom. Boston: John Wilson and Son, 1861.
  6. Miller, Samuel F. The Supreme Court of the United States: A Series of Biographies. Washington, D.C.: W. H. Barnes and Co., 1877.
  7. Ovid. Metamorphosis. Amsterdam (?): 1675.
  8. The Salem Book. Salem, New York: Salem Review Press, 1896.
  9. Wyman, T. B. Genealogy of the Name and Family of Hunt. Boston: John Wilson and Son, 1862-63.
  10. Zorn, Walter Lewis. The Descendants of the Presidents of the United States of America. Monroe, Michigan: Walter Lewis Zorn, 1954.
Restrictions on use:

Researchers may view one folder at a time.

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:

Johnson family papers, 1776-1937. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

SUBJECTS

Names:
Adams, John, 1735-1826.
Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848.
Adams, Abigail, 1744-1818.
Washington, George, 1732-1799.
Monroe, James, 1758-1831.
Adams, Sarah, 19th century.
Adams, Charles.
Adams, Susan B., 19th century.
Clark, Charles Thomas.
Johnson, Abigail Louisa Smith.
Clarkson, Belinda.
Johnson, A. B. (Alexander Bryan), 1786-1867.
Johnson, Arthur B.
Burr, Aaron, 1756-1836.
Savage, John.
Savage, Edward.
Tompkins, Daniel D., 1774-1825.
Van Buren, Martin, 1782-1862.
Smith, Mary Ann.
Smith, Louisa C.
Thompson, Eliza.
Nelson, Samuel.
Hunt, Eliza A.
Hunt, Mary Ann Savage.
Hunt, Ward.
Johnson, Alexander Smith, 1817-1878.
Adams family.
Savage family.
Smith family.
Bosch family.
Het family.
Quincy family.
Fowle family.
Boylston family.
Shepard family.
Norton Brothers.
Bass family.
Places:
Quincy (Mass.) -- Social life and customs.
Utica (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs.
Subjects:
Families -- Massachusetts -- Quincy.
Families -- New York (State) -- Utica.
Hair -- Specimens
Form and Genre Terms:
Photographs.

CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Series I. Correspondence
Adams
Abigail Adams
Box 1 Folder 1
Abigail Adams to her daughter-in-law Sarah Adams
4 letters: February 23, 1806; January 20, 1808; July 3, 1814; December 20, 1814
Box 1 Folder 2
Abigail Adams to Sarah Adams
3 letters: April 24, 1816; May 20, 1816; July 28, 1816
Box 1 Folder 3
Abigail Adams to Sarah Adams
5 letters: March 20, 1817; April 12, 1817; May 5, 1817; May 28, 1817; August 3, 1817
Box 1 Folder 4
A letter from Sarah Adams to Abigail Adams
Box 1 Folder 5
Abigail Adams to her granddaughter Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson
5 letters: July 23, 1811; March 5, 1812; September 9, 1813; October 26, 1814; December 9, 1816
John Adams
Box 1 Folder 6
John Adams to his daughter-in-law Sarah Adams
2 letters: October 26, 1814; October 2, 1820
Box 1 Folder 7
A letter from John Adams to his granddaughter's husband Alexander B. Johnson
December 17, 1820
John Quincy Adams
Box 1 Folder 8
Miscellaneous letters to and from John Quincy Adams
3 letters - to Samuel Shaw: September 27, 1824; to and from his niece Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson: February 22, 1825
Charles Adams
Box 1 Folder 9
Charles Adams to his brother Thomas B. Adams
5 letters: May 23, 1790; May 29, 1790; November 21, 1790; August 30, 1791; September 18, 1791
Sarah Adams
Box 1 Folder 10
Susan B. Adams to her mother Sarah Adams
Box 1 Folder 11
Susan B. Adams to Sarah Adams
5 letters: July 31, 1816; September 14, 1816; October 3, 1816; March 11, 1817; April 8, 1817
Box 1 Folder 12
Charles Thomas Clark to his mother-in-law Sarah Adams
2 letters: May 20, 1816; March 23, 1818
Box 1 Folder 13
Susan B. Clark to her mother Sarah Adams
7 letters: July 12, 1826; August 14, 1826; March 10, 1827; March 23, 1827; April 5, 1827; April 30, 1827; May 21, 1827
Box 1 Folder 14
A letter from Susan M. Clark to her grandmother Sarah Adams
August 13, 1827
Box 2 Folder 1
Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson to her mother Sarah Adams
3 letters: October 10, 1823; October 22, 1826; October 23, 1826
Box 2 Folder 2
Belinda Clarkson to her sister Sarah Adams
7 letters: May 14, 1815; April 1, 1818; May 12, 1818; April 28, 1819; February 24, 1820; September 28, n.y.; November 14, n.y.)
Box 2 Folder 3
Margaret de St. Hilaire to her sister Sarah Adams
4 letters: August 5, 1815; October 3, 1815; November 16, 1815; February 15, 1822
Box 2 Folder 4
Miscellaneous letters to Sarah Adams
4 letters - from G. Le Ray de Chaumont: August 15, 1808; Peter Whitney: June 5, 1813; her niece Mary Ann Smith: September 4, 1826; her brother William Smith: n.d.)
Box 2 Folder 5
Miscellaneous letters from Sarah Adams
4 letters - to her daughter Susan B. Adams: May 10, 1812; her sister Margaret de St. Hilaire: August 19, 1815; her sister Nancy: June 27, 1816; her brother William Smith: February 8, 1817
Box 5 Folder 1
Ann Masters to her sister Sarah Adams
2 letters: October 13, 1817; December 22, 1819
Box 5 Folder 2
Margaret Smith to her sister Sarah Adams
2 letters: n.d.
Box 5 Folder 3
A letter from James Smith to his aunt Sarah Adams
January 16, 1827
Johnson
Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson
Box 2 Folder 6
Belinda Clarkson to her niece Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson
4 letters: December 14, 1818; 1820; August 21, 1828; December 13, 1828
Box 2 Folder 7
Miscellaneous letters to Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson
4 letters - from her mother Sarah Adams: July 14, 1811; Elizabeth Peabody: January 20, 1815; her aunt Ann Herrod Adams: September 6, 1815; her cousin Louisa C. Smith: December 16, 1818
Box 2 Folder 8
Miscellaneous letters to Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson
4 letters - from Louisa: March 2, 1819; her cousin James Smith: January, 1821; Eliza Thompson: October 12, 1821; her aunt Ann Masters: February 18, n.y.)
Box 5 Folder 4
A letter from Alexander Smith Johnson to his mother Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson
July 26, 1831
Alexander B. Johnson
Box 2 Folder 9
Miscellaneous letters to and from Alexander B. Johnson
6 letters - from Sarah Adams: September 27, 1825; to Ann Masters: December 4, 1830; to and from Mrs. Ann Breese: December 11, 1830; to Ed. Crufts: August 17, 1842; to Ward Hunt: May 27, 1858
William Clarkson Johnson
Box 2 Folder 10
Miscellaneous letters to William Clarkson Johnson
4 letters - from his great aunt Louisa C. Adams: February 22, 1844; Chief Justice Samuel Nelson: March 4, 1844; Attorney General Caleb Cushing: March 24, 1861; W. Phillips: July 27, 1876
Arthur B. Johnson
Box 2 Folder 11
Miscellaneous letters to Arthur B. Johnson including an enclosed letter from the Duke of Wellington to Mrs. Robinson
2 letters - from Alexander B. Johnson: December 1, 1852; Charles Francis Adams: January 27, 1879
Savage
John Savage
Box 3 Folder 1
Correspondence between John Savage and A. Burr
7 letters: May 12, 1820; June 13, 1820; September 9, 1825; October 16, 1825; January 2, 1827; April 6, 1828; September 28, 1832
Box 3 Folder 2
Dewitt Clinton to John Savage
3 letters: July 10, 1816; February 26, 1818; December 31, 1821
Box 3 Folder 3
Miscellaneous letters to John Savage
4 letters - from Governor Daniel D. Tompkins: February 21, 1814; Nat. Cutting: March 24, 1817; J. Montefiore: March 13, 1820; A. Haring: May 23, 1820
Box 3 Folder 4
Miscellaneous letters to John Savage
5 letters - from Harry White: December 14, 1820; John A. Graham: November 26, 1827; Governor Nath. C. Picher: April 17, 1828; H. Clay: April 19, 1828: Jacob Van Ness: April 28, 1828
Box 3 Folder 5
Miscellaneous letters to John Savage
5 letters - from his father Edward Savage: April 6, 1829; Governor E. T. Throop: July 4, 1829; Governor W.C. Marcy: December 31, 1832; John A. Dix: November 18, 1835; Martin Van Buren: July 27, 1837
Misc.
Box 12
Photocopies of miscellaneous letters
Series II. Documents
Edward Savage
Box 5 Folder 5
Edward Savage Records: Pay Rolls of Captain Joshua Conckey's Company of Rangers (1776-1777)
4 documents
Box 5 Folder 6
Edward Savage Records (1776-1786)
7 documents
Box 11 Folder 3
. . . the Secretary's Office, Feb. 16 1784
Box 5 Folder 7
Edward Savage Records (1787-1832)
7 documents
Box 6 Folder 1
Edward Savage Records: Pay Roll of Captain Joshua Conckey's Company of Rangers (1776)
1 document
Box 6 Folder 2
Edward Savage Records: Appointments (1783-1813)
2 documents
Box 11 Folder 10
Edward Savage appointment as surrogate, 1783
John Savage
Box 3 Folder 7
Records of John Savage: Union College (1799)
2 documents
Box 3 Folder 8
Records of John Savage: Oration (1803)
Box 3 Folder 9
Records of John Savage (1802-1888)
7 documents
Box 11 Folder 1
Admission as Counselor at Law, Supreme Court (1806)
Box 11 Folder 2
Admission as Solicitor and Councilor at Law, Court of Chancery (1820)
Box 11 Folder 9
"I do here authorize and license him . . ." fourth line down (n.d.)
Box 5 Folder 8
Records of John Savage (1804-1863)
6 documents
Box 11 Folder 8
Commission for the honorable J. Savage as Chief Justice Jan. 29, 1823
Box 6 Folder 3
Records of John Savage (1802-1823)
9 documents
Box 11 Folder 7
Diploma from Union College: J. Savage 1802
Savage family
Box 3 Folder 10
Savage Records: Insurance Deeds (1863-1865)
4 documents
Box 3 Folder 11
Savage Records: Financial (1815-1865)
5 documents
Box 3 Folder 12
Last Will and Testament of John Savage (1863)
Box 3 Folder 13
Obituaries of John and Ruth Wheeler Savage (1863-1884)
2 documents
Adams family
Box 4 Folder 2
Poem by Robert Burns to Sally (Sarah) Adams (n.d.)
Box 4 Folder 3
Examination taken by Abigail Louisa Smith Adams (1814)
Box 4 Folder 4
Obituary Notices of Abigail Adams (1818)
2 documents
Johnson family
Box 4 Folder 1
Field Book by George Webster of John Johnson's property (1796)
Box 4 Folder 5
Proxy signed by Bryan Johnson, father of Alexander B. Johnson (1818)
Box 4 Folder 6
Extract from the Autobiography of Alexander B. Johnson: Lafayette (n.d.)
Box 4 Folder 7
Obituary Notices of Abigail Louisa Smith Johnson (1836)
2 documents
Box 4 Folder 8
Marriage Certificate of Arthur B. Johnson and Eliza S. Hunt (1859)
Box 4 Folder 9
Last Will and Testament of Alexander B. Johnson (1867)
Box 4 Folder 10
Obituary Notices of Alexander B. Johnson (1868)
Box 4 Folder 11
Handwritten obituary notice for Mary Ann Savage Hunt who died in 1846. Believed to be written by Montgomery Hunt Johnson Sr. (n.d.)
Box 4 Folder 12
Obituary Notice of Lieutenant John S. Hunt who died in 1864 (n.d.)
Box 4 Folder 13
Notices from the Colonial Dames to Eliza S. Johnson (1905-1906)
2 documents
Box 4 Folder 14
Three stock certificates belonging to Montgomery Hunt Johnson for shares in Utica Plantations, Inc. and Sconondoa Inn, Inc. (1915-1920)
Box 5 Folder 9
Johnson Records (1805-1830)
4 documents
Box 5 Folder 10
Will and settlements of the estate of Maria T. Hunt, second wife of Ward Hunt (1883-1913)
Box 5 Folder 11
Wills and settlements of the estate of Eliza S. Johnson (1897-1906)
3 documents
Box 5 Folder 12
Documents regarding Ward Hunt Johnson and his trustees Mary S. Johnson and Montgomery H. Johnson (1909-1937)
2 documents
Box 6 Folder 4
Johnson Records: Arthur B. Johnson's commission as Commissioner of Railroads signed by President Chester A. Arthur (1882)
Series III. Miscellaneous
Genealogy/Family History
Box 4 Folder 21
"Semitic Notes": Johnson Family History (n.d.)
Box 5 Folder 16
Genealogy of the Johnson, Adams, Smith, Bosch, Het, Quincy, Fowle, Boylston, Shepard, Norton, and Bass Families (n.d.)
Box 5 Folder 17
Handwritten Family Record of the Savage, Wheeler, and Hunt Families (n.d.)
Box 5 Folder 18
Ancestral Tablets (n.d.)(photocopy)
Box 7 Folder 3
Lyman Family and Wheeler Family Record (n.d.)
Photographs
Box 4 Folder 17
Photograph of the Savage House in Salem, N.Y. (n.d.)
Box 4 Folder 19
Photographs of the Garden at the Old Johnson House at 235 Genesee St., Utica, N.Y. (n.d.)
4 pictures
Box 4 Folder 20
Photograph of Ward Hunt (n.d.)
Miscellaneous Adams, Savage, and Johnson Family Items
Box 4 Folder 16
Lock of John Adams' hair (n.d.)
Box 5 Folder 15
Report from the President and Directors of the Ontario Bank. Believed to be written by Alexander B. Johnson (n.d.)
Box 7 Folder 1
Edward Savage's New York Pocket Almanac (1790)
Box 7 Folder 2
John Savage's "Horse Back Journey" (1817)
Box 7 Folder 4
Music Book Belonging to John Savage (n.d.)
Box 7 Folder 5
Autograph Album Belonging to Ward Hunt Johnson
Includes signatures from R. B. Hayes, Hamilton Fish, M. R. Waite (Chief Justice-U.S. Supreme Court), Nathan Clifford (Assoc. Justice-U.S. Supreme Court), N. H. Swayne (Assoc. Justice-U.S. Supreme Court), Sam. J. Miller (Assoc. Justice- U.S. Supreme Court), David Davis (Assoc. Justice-U.S. Supreme Court), [Stephen Field] (Assoc. Justice-U.S. Supreme Court), W. S. Strong (Assoc. 7 5 1877 (cont.) Justice-U.S. Supreme Court), Jos. P. Bradley (Assoc. Justice-U.S. Supreme Court), Ward Hunt (Assoc. Justice-U.S. Supreme Court), W. A. Wheeler (Vice President), T. W. Henry (President of the Senate of the U.S.), Francis Kernan, Wm. M. Evarts, (Secretary of State), John Sherman (Secretary of the Treasury), Geo. W. McCrary (Secretary of War), R. W. Thompson (Secretary of the Navy), Carl Schurz (Secretary of the Interior ), D. M. Key (Post Master General), Chas. Davis (Attorney General), W. T. Sherman (General), P. H. Sheridan, Wm. M. Evarts, Alexander Stephens, Joseph Henry (President of the Smithsonian Institute), illegible, Wm. Ingraham Kip, John G. Whittier, Th. Nast, William Cullen Bryant, Geo. Bancroft, piece of manuscript with annotation "Part of original of one of Cooper's novels," letter from Alfred B. Street, Henry W. Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Donald G. Mitchell, Edwin Booth, Henry Ward Beecher, Celia Thaxter.
Box 8 Folder 1
Scrapbook containing charcoal and color drawings, some of which are signed by Laura Savage (1838-1856)
Box 8 Folder 2
Journal with accounts and essays, possibly belonging to Alexander B. Johnson (1806)
Box 9
Alexander Bryan Johnson Autobiography, transcribed by Eliza Stringham Morton (1930)
Volume I: 1786-1814Volume II: 1814-1828
Box 10
Alexander Bryan Johnson Autobiography, transcribed by Eliza Stringham Morton (1930)
Volume III: 1828-1839Volume IV: 1839-1867
Box 12
Newspaper clippings (1996)
Documents Not Related to the Adams, Savage, and Johnson Families
Box 3 Folder 6
Miscellaneous letters (1796-1852)
7 letters - from Montgomery Hunt to his sister Lydia Wheeler: May 12, 1796; Ann Smith to Julia Rush: May 30, 1809; R. W. [Crawmshield] to Dr. J. Mairs: April 4, 1815; M. Hunt to Ephraim Hart: January 21, 1820; Martin Van Buren to Ward Hunt: September 26, 1846; Mrs. [Rainier] to Mr. Hunt: November 16, 1846; [Nath] Sherman to Geo. Peabody: May 27, 1852
Presidential Signatures
Box 5 Folder 13
Discharge of Abraham McKillip signed by President George Washington (1783)
Box 5 Folder 14
Land Grant Certificates signed by President James Monroe (1817-1818)
Grant to Daniel Harrington
Box 11 Folder 4
Warrant #4120 to Sylvester Rowley Dec. 19, 1817 (Military)
Box 11 Folder 5
Warrant [121] to Eliphalet Peabody Nov. 29, 1817 (Military)
Box 11 Folder 6
Warrant #3079 to Benjamin Bailey April 3, 1818
Box 4 Folder 15
Autographs of John Quincy Adams (n.d.)
5 envelopes
Box 4 Folder 18
Autographed engraving of Ulysses S. Grant (n.d.)
Box 6 Folder 4
Johnson Records: Arthur B. Johnson's commission as Commissioner of Railroads signed by President Chester A. Arthur (1882)
Mapcase Folder Map Case II-9
Linen copy of the Declaration of Independence
Series IV. Digital Images