PETER JOHONNOT.
The Johonnots in America are of French Huguenot origin. Daniel Johonnot, who was born in France about 1668, was one of the first parties of thirty families that arrived in Boston in 1686. He was in company with his uncle Andrae Sigournie, Distiller, from Rochelle, and went with him to Oxford in New England, remaining there until the settlement was broken up by the incursion of Indians August 25, 1696. Jean Jeanson (John Johnson) and his three children were killed during the massacre. Mrs. Johnson was Andrew Sigourney's daughter, and tradition in the Johonnot family relates that she was rescued at that time from the Indians by her cousin, Daniel Johonnot, to whom she was subsequently married.[242]
The first record we have of Daniel Johonnot in Boston was at the time of his marriage "on the 18th of April, by the Rev. Samuel Willard of the Old South Church, to Susan Johnson." This was in the year 1700. In 1714 it appears by the Suffolk Records he purchased for £300 "current money," of John Borland and Sarah his wife, an estate near the Mill Creek and bounded by Mill Pond, and the street leading to said pond (Union Street) etc. His last purchase of real estate was near the Old South Church and this land was afterwards occupied by one of the descendants of his daughter Mary, Mary Anne (Boyer), number 156 Washington street, opposite the Province House. At the time of Daniel Johonnot's death it was occupied by his grandson, and must have been Mr. Johonnot's last residence, as in an inventory it is described as being in the possession of Mr. Daniel Boyer. In Mr. Johonnot's French Bible, Amsterdam Edition of 1700, are recorded the births of his six children in French, all children of Daniel and Serzane Johonnot. This Bible later came into the possession of one of his descendants. Daniel Johonnot died in Boston in June, 1748 at the age of eighty years. His wife died some time after 1731, and before the death of her husband. He was remembered as being a friend to the poor, always industrious and frugal.
Zacherie (Zachariah) Johonnot, the eldest son of the preceding was born in Boston January 20, 1700-1. His first wife was Elizabeth Quincy, who died during the revolution, and he married again, April 24, 1777, Margaret Le Mercier, daughter of Andrew Le Mercier, Minister of the French Protestant church in Boston.
Like his father he was a Distiller and engaged in mercantile pursuits. His dwelling house and store was on Orange street at the South part of the town, and his distillery was on Harvard street directly opposite his dwelling. At the end of the same street was his wharf, and wooden distil-house, storehouses, etc. His house and store were burnt at the time of the great fire, April 20, 1787. The spacious gardens filled with rare fruit trees, beautiful flowers and shrubs from his father's land were mostly destroyed.
Mr. Johonnot died in Boston in 1784 at the age of eighty-three. To his son Peter (then in England) he bequeathed "his mansion house, store adjoining, yard and garden, as the same is now fenced in, etc." He had ten children, all by his first wife.
Peter Johonnot, the fourth child of the preceding, was born in Boston September 23, 1729. He was married January 10, 1750 to Katherine Dudley by the Rev. Mather Byles. She was the daughter of the Honorable William Dudley (son of Governor Joseph Dudley). Peter Johonnot was a Distiller, and lived in Boston. In 1775 he was an Addresser of Gage. The next year he was one of the committee with Thomas and Jonathan Amory, chosen by the citizens of Boston March 8, 1776, to communicate with General Howe and take measures to avert the impending destruction, threatened by him, in case his army should be molested while evacuating the town.
In 1776 Peter Johonnot went to Halifax and thence to England. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and in 1779 he was a loyal Addresser to the King. Mrs. Johonnot's death occurred in Boston in 1769. Mr. Johonnot died in London August 8, 1809, at the age of eighty, and left no issue.[243] The following occurs in the Diary of Dr. P. Oliver:—"1809, Aug.—Peter Johonnot died this month in London, aged 79."
Francis Johonnot, son of Daniel, was born November 30, 1709. He married Mary Johnson of Boston, widow, 1752. He was a distiller and engaged in mercantile pursuits. His distillery was near Essex street on the margin of the South Cove. His "Mansion house" was on Newbury, now Washington street, the same was owned and occupied for many years by his son-in-law Eben Oliver, Esq. He was a loyalist, and at the beginning of the revolution went to England. He died March 8, 1775. Mary, his widow, who died in Boston March 17, 1797, in her seventy-third year, administered upon his estate in Massachusetts. They had seven children.
Mary Johonnot, daughter of Andrew Johonnot, and cousin to Peter the Loyalist, was born in 1730. She married Thomas Edwards of Boston, June 13, 1758, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Henry Caner of King's Chapel. Mr. Edwards for a while was engaged in mercantile business in Middletown, Connecticut, but later returned to Boston, and was employed by the government. He was a loyalist and went to Halifax in 1776 and thence to England. He died in London at an advanced age. Mary Johonnot, his wife, died in Boston, February 14, 1792. They had five children.
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO PETER JOHONNOT IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.
To Ebenezer Seaver, Sept. 4, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 190; Land and buildings in Boston, Orange St. E.; Samuel Pope and Hopestill Foster S.; Joseph Lovell and heirs of William Ettridge W.; Zachariah Johonnot N.