John Johnson is a rarity amongst our distant ancestors in that, not only could he write his name, but also we have a specimen of his signature which is so beautiful I reproduce it here:
The full story of that document is told here.
John was clearly a man of some education and standing in the community. He was a cordwainer – a shoemaker of a higher skill level (and higher prices!) than a common cobbler. We know of at least one apprentice whom he trained at Calow in 1784.
We know that John was still living in Calow when his wife died in 1799 but I have not found a record of his death. We do know, though, that the Johnson family stayed in the shadow of the Crooked Spire.
Just two Johnsons in our line have left Chesterfield in the last 250 years. First Joseph, the pot-hawker in Victorian times, travelled all around the country and then my dad Stephen fell in love in Bradford during the Second World War.
Father of William Johnson, son of Henry and Rachael Johnson
Baptised John Johnson on 11 December 1737 in Whitwell, Derbyshire
Married Elizabeth Parker by licence on 3 August 1772
No record of death found