Misc. Notes
Per: “
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jstevens1&id=I11555Jacob Johnson of Harpswell, Maine, and His Descendants", by Rev. Charles Nelson Sinnett, 1907.
. "Jacob Johnson was born in England and came to America as a young man. Birth date was listed about 1715. He and his wife and several realtives are buried in the cemetery at Bailey's Island, Harpswell Maine. His gravestone clearly states that he died in cumberland Oct 15,1803 at 88 years of age."
. Sinnett quotes from another author: "Ourancestor, Jacob Johnson was English, and his real name was Hatheway. He took the Johnson name so as not to be discovered when he escaped form an English man-of -war".
. Some others give the original name as Hatheway. This seems to be partially accounted for by the following statement from the oldest family Bible preserved by the Johnson descendants: Jonathan Hatheway Johnson was born in Sweden, and died of the plague, in London, England." He married Anna Frazier, the daughter of Jonathan Frazier, of London, England." This Jonathan Hatheway would clearly appear to be the father of our ancestor Jacob Johnson. He named his first son Jonathan, according to the custom in such families, thus remembering his father - also his grandfather Frazier. It will be noticed how the names Frazier and Hatheway were preserved among the children of James Johnson, the son of Ancestor Jacob.
. Others state that the ancestor, Jacob, changed his name from Hatheway to Johnson because of a love affair. There seems to have been a rival lover, to whom Jacob suurrendered all claims, leaving his native land and going to his relatives in Virginia. Then, fearing some clue of his whereabouts might reach the homeland and shadow in some slight way the lives of his rival and wife, he changed his name and removed to thhe Maine coast, with the strict charge that no clue of his dwelling place should be given to English friends. Many sacrifices made by this sturdy Jacob incline one to cherish this story with care.
. . . Jacob Johnson lived on the lower part of Harpswell Neck. His children were probably born there. Some think that he lived on Hope Island, in Casco Bay for a time, but the evidence of this is not clear. His death in Cumberland, Me., as given on his gravestone, would appear to have occured while he was visiting some of his descendants at Great Chebeague, or some other point. His sons, Jonathan, David and James, all enlisted at Harpswell in the Revolutionary War. He was then living in Harpswell, and his sturdy spirit of patriotism was of great help in all town efforts for truth and liberty. This home would be near that of the Bibbers, the people of the wife to whom he was so tenderly attached.”