1797 Charles Johnson and Letty Pickett were married on October 25 in Fauquier County, Virginia. [1] [2] [3]
1833 Charles Johnston died on January 21 and was buried at East Hill Cemetery, Salem, Salem City, Virginia. Charles Johnston was born on April 28, 1769. [4]
Charles Johnston, the third son of Peter (1710 - 1786) and Martha (Butler) Rodgers Johnston (1732 - 1799) of "Chiny Grove", was a true son of the Commonwealth of Virginia. His story expands the Commonwealth and beyond. He was born at Osbourne Landing and spent most of his adult life in Lynchburg, Virginia where in 1808 he built his now historic manor house in which he christened "Sandusky". As a young man in 1790, he spent five (5) weeks as a captive of a Shawnee group and later wrote a narrative of his experience of captivity. He was captured near Sandusky while traveling down the Ohio River by kneel boat with his employer John May, a Kentucky land speculator, Jacob Skyles, a dry goods dealer, William Flinn, a frontiersman, and sisters, Dolly and Peggy Fleming. Near the juncture of the Ohio and Scioto Rivers, the party was lured to the bank by a stratagem. John May and Dolly Fleming were killed outright and the four others were taken prisoner. Johnston was released April 28, 1790, his 21st birthday, after a ransom of 600 silver brooches was paid by Canadian fur trader, Francis Duchouquet. Upon returning to Hanover County, Virginia, Johnston repaid his redeemer and later named a son after him. Johnston also advocated for Congress to reimburse Francis Duchouquet for the ransoms he paid to have other captives rescued. In 1827, he wrote his memoirs, "A Narrative of the Incidents Attending Capture, Detention, and Ransom of Charles Johnston of Botetourt County". It is an interesting account of the fate of his five (5) companions, one of which was burned at the stake, and includes sketches of Indian character and manners with illustrative anecdotes. and was reprinted in 2008 by the Historic Sandusky Foundation, the Salem Historical Society, and the Historical Society of Western Virginia.
Charles Johnston married Letitia Pickett (1780 - abt. 1802), daughter of Colonel Martin and Ann (Blackwell) Pickett of "Paradise", Fauquier County, Virginia. This union issued three (3) children: Charles Johnston, Jr. (1796 - 1850); Edward P. Johnston (1798 - 1893) and Lucy Hopkins Johnston Ambler (1800 - 1888). After the death of Letitia, he married January 1st, 1807 at the Richmond residence of Charles Copeland, Elizabeth Prentiss Steptoe, daughter of the Honorable James and Frances (Calloway) Steptoe of "Federal Hall", New London, Bedford County, Virginia and their known issue follows: Frederick B. Johnston (1807 - 1893) m. Anne Carter Burwell d/o Nathaniel and Lucy Carter Burwell; James Steptoe Johnston (1808 - 18__)d. in Mississippi; Julius Danridge Johnston (1810 - 18__) relocated to Missouri; Francis Duchouquet Johnston (1814 - 18__); Frances Steptoe Johnston Royalle (1816 - 18 __); Mary Morris Johnston Dillon Cunningham (1818 - 18__); Martha Butler Johnston (1820 - 18__) and Joseph Dunbar Johnston (unk -unk).
While passing through New York City, the nation's capital, Charles Johnston, on his way back home to Virginia from Detroit, was interviewed by President George Washington and made a deposition about his capture and captivity before Secretary of War Henry Knox. He considered his meeting with Washington a high point of his life.
Johnston became a merchant with the Richmond firm, Pickett, Pollard & Johnston and was a prominent member of the Episcopal Church. He filled many positions of honor and trust. Per a Johnston family history and genealogy study compiled about 1909 and published in the Colonial Families of the Southern States: A History and Genealogy ... by Stella Pickett Hardy, Charles Johnston was "sent to Paris, France on governmental business and sailed on the vessel on which LaFayett (sic) was returning from a visit with George Washington. LaFayett having heard the capture and imprisonment, asked Johnson for a true account of the same, which he had published in the Paris papers. Years after this, General LaFayett again visited America, and this time (1824) he visited Charles Johnston at "Botetourt Springs" (now Hollins Institute) Roanoke County, Virginia and there he met Dr. Shuget, the French Canadian, Johnston's rescuer". Obviously, Mrs. Hardy was referring to Francis Duchouquet.
Sources indicate that Charles Johnston was interviewed by the Duke Le Rouchefoucauld de Liancourt aboard ship to Europe in 1793. Johnston stated in his narrative introduction that his reason for writing the said narrative was that the French version published in France in 1794 was "replete with errors" and thus he was compelled to re-write a version in English. Vertigo prevented Johnston from writing for an extended length of time and thus he sought the help of his brother, Judge Peter Johnson, and his nephew, Edward William Johnston, son of Peter, in writing the English version.
Former U.S. President James Madison supported Johnston's endeavor to publish his book. Johnston's book was so well received and widely read that it was reprinted in 1905 by Edwin Erle Sparks and again in 1969 by J. Ambler Johnston.
Johnston and Thomas Jefferson had several business dealings and shared the experience of estate building. In 1810, he purchased Thomas Jefferson's entire Popular Forest tobacco crop. Two years later, Jefferson purchased from Charles Johnston five (5) bushels of plaster of Paris which was needed to complete the interior construction of Popular Forest. In 1818 Johnston sold his home "Sandusky" in Campbell County, VA and relocated to the beautiful and heavily traveled site of an impressive mineral (sulfur)springs in Botetourt County, VA.
Charles Johnston died at the age of 64 years at "Botetourt Springs" where he was buried. Botetourt Springs Hotel and Resort which he operated became the site of Hollins Institute, later named Hollins College and now known as Hollins University, Roanoke County. Virginia. He also owned a number of businesses, namely a hotel in Salem and he operated a gristmill, a sawmill and a distillery on the Roanoke River. His grave was removed and reinterred in East Hill Cemetery, Salem, Virginia.
During the 1864 Battle of Lynchburg, "Sandusky" served as the headquarters for Union General David Hunter and his staff. Among those quartered were future Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. Johnston's former Federal style home was listed in 1982 on the National Register of Historic Places. It is currently owned and operated as a Civil War museum by the Historic Sandusky Foundation.
Charles Johnston's older brother, Peter, Jr.(1763 - 1831), joined the Army during the American Revolution and was a courier for the notable commander "Light Horse"Harry Lee, father of Robert E. Lee. Charles Johnston was the uncle of C.S.A. General Joseph Eggleston Johnston (1807 - 1891) whose Find A Grave memorial # is 4846 and a great uncle of Mary Johnston, author of the 1900 best selling American novel, To Have and To Hold. See her Find a Grave memorial # 29334060.
Bio by Al Linton, History Museum of Western Associate
A biosketch reports [5]:
Charles Johnston, son of Hon. Peter Johnston, of "Chiny Grove." Prince Edward county, Virginia, and Martha, his wife, widow of Capt. Thomas Rogers, and daughter of John Butler. He was a merchant in Richmond, of the firm of Pickett. Pollard & Johnston. Soon after the revolution he was sent to Ohio by the government on a commission, and was captured by the Indians, After a year he was rescued by Dr. Shuget, a French Canadian, who came to his rescue just as the Indians had bound him to a stake and fired the fagots. He was afterwards sent to France on government business, and sailed on the same vessel which was returning Lafayette to France. At the request of Lafayette he prepared an account of his experience while in the hands of the Indians, and which was published in French newspapers. When Lafayette again came to this country, he visited Mr. Johnston at "Botetourt Springs" (now Hollins Institute), in Roanoke county, where he also met Dr. Shuget, who had rescued Johnston from the Indians. Mr. Johnston held many offices of honor and trust. He married (first) Letitia Pickett, daughter of Col. Martin and Ann (Blackwell) Pickett; and (second) Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. James and Frances (Calloway) Steptoe. of Bedford county.
[1] Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940, [AncestryRecord].
[2] Louis Alexander Burgess, Virginia Soldiers of 1776: Compiled from Documents on File in the Virginia Land Office (1973), 622, [GoogleBooks], [AncestryImage].
[3] Historical Collections of the Joseph Habersham Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Vol. 2 (Atlanta, Georgia: Blosser Printing, 1902), 81, [GoogleBooks].
[4] Find A Grave Memorial 141395158, [FindAGrave].
[5] Lyon Gardiner Tyler, ed., Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. 2, (Lewis Publishing, New York, 1915), 351, [HathiTrust].