Johnston, Samuel, 1733-1816

Samuel Johnston (December 15, 1733 – August 17, 1816) was an American planter, lawyer, and statesman from Chowan County, North Carolina. He represented North Carolina in both the Continental Congress and as one of the state's first two United States Senators, and he was the sixth Governor of North Carolina.

Born in Dundee, Scotland, he came to America with his family in 1736 after his father settled in Onslow County in the Province of North Carolina. Educated in New England, Johnston read law in North Carolina, was admitted to the bar and practiced in Chowan County where he started his own plantation, known as Hayes, near Edenton. In 1759, he was elected to the Province of North Carolina House of Burgesses and would serve in that body until it was displaced in 1775 during the American Revolution. As a strong supporter of independence, he was also elected as a delegate to the first four provincial congresses and presided over the Third and Fourth congresses in 1775 and 1776. After the Royal Governor Josiah Martin abdicated in 1775, he was the highest-ranking official in the state until Richard Caswell was elected president of the Fifth Provincial Congress.

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