Thias Johnson, Revolutionary War soldier

It's amazing the stuff you uncover when you start digging. I was snooping around looking for more information on the family of my great-great-great grandfather, William Melancthon Johnson. He had a doctorate in divinity from Princeton and served as pastor of the Silliman Memorial Church in Cohoes, NY. I knew he came from Cambridge, NY, but I couldn't find out anything about his parents. Then, in a copy of the Princeton Seminary Journal, in his obituary, I found the names of his parents, Thias Johnson and Sarah McDougall. Gold! I figured the genealogy would unfurl from there. Nope. I happened upon findagrave.com, where up popped his gravestone in Cambridge, NY. It said he died in 1843, at the age of 71. After that, I got stumped. I spent days working backwards and forwards, trying to find Thias Johnsons in all kinds of archives, census data, birth, marriage, and death records, military service records. I was staying up til all hours of the night wondering why I couldn't find out any information.

I searched for 'Thias Johnson" in ancestry records and found a promising line that started in Charlestown, MA in the early 1600s. From there, the family was among the founders of Marlborough, MA, near Framingham. I found a Thias Johnson born in 1733 and another, his nephew, born in 1762. So on the one hand, I had a Thias Johnson in Cambridge, NY born in 1783 and on the other a Thias Johnson born in 1762 in Marlborough, MA. Do they connect? There's only a difference of one generation! The Thias in Cambridge could be the son of the Thias in Marlborough! Dang if I could find out. I went to bed late one night and told Tim I had found a mention in a genealogy journal requesting information on Thias Johnson of Marlborough, MA. The notice was dated 1900! Would I ever be able to figure this out? I started thinking that given his birth date, he probably had served in the Revolutionary War. Maybe after that, he floated around, had a child out of wedlock, died and left him an orphan. I dredged through poor house records, orphanage records, prison records. 

I found some curious notes on US military pensions paid in 1818-1832 to 'Thias Johnson.' I figured these must be for the Cambridge, NY Thias Johnson, father of Wm Melancthon Johnson, who died in 1843. I found a couple other similar records and filed them under 'Thias 1783.' Then, as I was nosing around somewhere, I saw some mention of a decision by the US Congress to pay Revolutionary War pensions; the legislation was dated 1818! So, 40 years after the Revolutionary War, they decided to pay pensions to soldiers still living. The light bulb was when I realized that the pension payments were to Thias 1762, of Marlborough. One record even said that he was a resident of Cambridge, NY and had served in the Massachusetts Line (a regiment of the Continental Army). I went to bed with a big smile on my face and sat there hoping Tim would wake up so I could tell him, "I found him!" I found the grandfather of Wm Melancthon Johnson, my great-great-great-great grandfather. And he fought in the Revolutionary War.

Thias Johnson 1762 first enlisted at Bernardston, MA. His name appears on a list of men raised in Hampshire County for the term of 9 months from the time of their arrival at Fishkill. During the Revolution, Fishkill (near Newburgh) was the site of a large supply depot. The depot supplied the northern department of the Continental Army, which was responsible for securing the Hudson highlands and keeping the British from moving north of New York City. Thias arrived at Fishkill NY, ready for service, on July 7, 1778. He served in Capt. Shelden's company, in Col. Wells' regiment. Revolutionary War rolls show him as 5 ft. 4 in. tall, light complected, and 16 years old.

Thias enlisted as a private in a regiment of what was called the "Massachusetts Line." Many soldiers who fought on the American side during the Revolution were members of militia units who gathered as needed and then returned home, fighting for the most part in their home state. The Massachusetts Line was part of the full-time Continental army and fought in battles all over the American colonies. Each town in Massachusetts had a quota of soldiers that it had to supply. Most towns offered bounties to get enough men to fill the quota.

In a list of Officers of the Continental Army, I found Samuel Sheldon (NY), Lieutenant and Captain in the New York Militia (1775–1778). I also found David Wells (MA), Lieutenant-Colonel Massachusetts Militia (1776–1777). These were Thias Johnson's commanding officers during his first stint in the Continental Army. During his 9-month period of service, he likely fought with the Massachusetts Line 8th Regiment at Fort Anne, Martha's Vineyard, Boonesboro, KY, Unadilla, NY, Carr's Fort, GA, Fairfield, CT, and Green Farms, CT.

Thias Johnson enlisted a second time at Guilford, VT. He served as a Private in Col. Michael Jackson's regiment of the Continental Army. Pay accounts show he served from Jan. 1, 1780, to Dec. 31, 1780. He may have served a 3-yr term. He is reported as discharged (which told me, before I connected all the dots, that at least he hadn't died in battle). Michael Jackson was field officer of the Massachusetts Line 8th Regiment, which became the 16th Continental Army Regiment. Jackson served from January 1, 1777 to June 12, 1783.

In 1780, while serving in the Continental 16th, Thias Johnson would have seen battle at a number of locations in the south, mostly in South Carolina.

How much was Thias Johnson's pension? He was paid $8 a month, or $96 a year (in 1835 dollars). In today's dollars, he received the equivalent of $1,972 annually, for a total over the years 1818-1833 of $30,350. 

Sources: Revolutionary War rolls, US Military pension records, Wikipedia, and any number of other sources.