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Bristol
Johnson
Connecticut native Bristol Johnson was an Afro-Albanian skipper and a veteran of the American Revolution.
He
was born into slavery in Middletown, Connecticut
about 1755. He served as a private in the first regiment
of the Connecticut Line in the American Revolutionary
army. A pension application later described his service.
In
January 1781, he was emancipated (freed) by Joseph
Taylor of Colchester, Connecticut. Shortly thereafter,
he married Elvira (Vera) Skinner in Colchester and
began to raise a family.
About
1795, he left Elvira and four children in Colchester
and moved in with another woman in Middletown. About
1798, he left her behind and moved to Albany.
 In
May 1810, he purchased a parcel on the north side
of Bassett Street in the heart of an emerging neighborhood
of newcomers called the South End! His residence
near the corner of South Pearl Street was noted in
city directories for the next two decades. He was
among a number of Afro-Albanian river people including
Captain Samuel Schuyler who lived near that intersection.
Skipper John Johnson, who lived with Bristol, may
have been his son or brother!
In
1813, he appeared before the Albany court where witnesses
testified that the fifty-eight-year-old Johnson was
a free man and a freeholder within the county of
Albany. First identified as a "waterman," he was subsequently referred to as a "skipper."
Bristol
Johnson died in Albany in April 1830!
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Sources: The life of Bristol/Brister/Brisker/Bristow Johnson
is CAP biography number 1053. This profile is derived
chiefly from family and community-based resources.
In
1852, Vera Johnson was ninety-two-years-old and applied
for a pension as the widow of a Revolutionary war
veteran. The application detailed Bristol Johnson's
service. In 1853, a pension of $36.77 was allowed
retroactive to 1831.
Detail
from the city directory for 1815 listing the Albany
Johnsons.
By Stefan Bielinski, Colonial Albany Social History Project [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany]
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