Johnson, William T., 1809-1851.

William T. Johnson (1809?-1851) and his sister, Adelia, were the children of Amy Johnson, a slave freed in 1814 by a white planter of Adams County, Miss. William T. and Adelia were freed in 1820 and 1818, respectively. In 1820, Adelia married James Miller, a free black from Philadelphia. William married a former slave, Ann Battles (1815?-1866); they had ten children: William (b. 1836), Richard (b. 1837), Byron (1839-1972), Anna (1841-1922), Katharine (1842-1901), Phillip (b. 1844), Eugenia (b. 1837), Alice (b. ca. 1846), Josephine (b. 1849), and Clarence (b. 1851). Between 1835-1850, Johnson acquired three barber shops, a bath house in Natchez, and a plantation; he also maintained business connections in New Orleans.

In the late 1840's Johnson became involved in a dispute with Baylor Winn and Benjamin Wade, regarding a property line on his plantation. On June 16, 1851, Johnson was fatally wounded in an ambush, and before his death on the morning of June 17, he named Winn as his assassin.

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