Dolly Johnson
Dolly Johnson (born late 1820s, died after 1887), in later life known as Aunt Dolly, was a small-business owner and domestic worker.[1][2] She was posthumously described as "one of the finest cooks that ever lived in Greeneville, Tennessee".[2] Andrew Johnson, who became the 17th president of the United States in 1865, enslaved Dolly from 1843 until 1863. The paternity of Dolly Johnson's children, Elizabeth Johnson Forby, Florence Johnson Smith, and William Andrew Johnson, remains an open question in the study of the history of the United States.[3][4][5][6]
Dolly Johnson | |
|---|---|
Dolly Johnson about 1861, holding Andrew Johnson Stover; she was still legally enslaved at the time this photograph was made | |
| Born | 1825–1830 Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | after July 1887, possibly 1890–1892 Likely Tennessee |
| Burial place | Unknown, possibly Freedmen's Mission Historic Cemetery, Knoxville |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Enslaved by Andrew Johnson from 1843 to 1863 |
| Children | |
| Relatives | Sam Johnson (half-brother) |
Early life edit
Dolly Johnson was born in Tennessee, sometime between 1825 and 1830.[7][8] She was said to be 19 years old on her sale paperwork, but in the early 20th century, several newspaper accounts had it from both Andrew Johnson's descendants and Dolly Johnson's descendants that she was only 14 years old when she was purchased by Johnson, in which case her birth year would fall closer to 1830.[9][10] After the American Civil War, Dolly Johnson reported to a U.S. census taker that both her mother and father had been born in Virginia,[7] while Dolly herself may have been a native of the town of Parrottsville, Tennessee.[10][11] Dolly was not taught how to read or write.[7] Tennessee was one of three slave states that never passed anti-literacy laws, so it would have been legal under state law to educate an enslaved child.[12]
Dolly first appears in the historical record as property of the Gragg family. Her time with them is not documented. The Graggs were a slave-owning white family with ties to several counties in Tennessee, including Greene County (where the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site stands today) and Cocke County (site of Parrottsville).[13][14][15][16] A person named John W. Gragg Sr. wrote a will, dated February 8, 1842, that was proved November 1842 in Lincoln County, Tennessee.[17][a] There is no mention of Dolly,[17] but it is possible that Dolly was sold by the Gragg family at an estate sale, which was a common practice of the day.[18]
On November 29, 1842, Andrew Johnson bought his first slave, a boy named Sam, for US$541 (equivalent to about $17,080 in 2023), from Elim Carter.[3][19] Sam was said to be Dolly's younger half-brother or brother.[19] On January 2, 1843, Andrew Johnson bought Dolly, "aged about nineteen years", from John W. Gragg for US$500 (equivalent to about $16,350 in 2023).[8] In 1929, Dolly's son William A. Johnson told the Knoxville News-Sentinel that Andrew Johnson bought Dolly "from a man named McMurtry at Newport".[20] Three years later Knoxville columnist Bert Vincent got a similar quote from Johnson about the sale of his mother: "Massa Johnson bought my mammy and my uncle Samuel off a block at Newport for $1049."[21] Five years after the interview with Vincent and almost 100 years after the fact, Dolly's son again told a reporter (in this case Ernie Pyle) his version of the story of the purchase: "My mother was a good-looking woman. Her owner sold her at a big auction in Greeneville. She looked around the crowd of buyers before the auction started, and she saw Andrew Johnson and liked his looks. So she went up to him and asked him if he wouldn't buy her. He bid her in for five hundred dollars."[22] The bill of sale for Dolly is held in the collection of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York and reads as follows:[8][b]
I, John W. Gragg ... have this day sold and do hereby convey to Andrew Johnson his heirs and assigns for the sum of Five Hundred Dollars to me paid a Negro Girl Slave named Dolly: aged about Nineteen years, I warrant the Title to Said Slave to the Said Andrew Johnson his heirs and assigns against the lawful claims of all persons, and I also warrant her to be sound healthy sensible and Slave for life ...
Historian Brenda Wineapple wrote of the transaction:
Dolly recalled that she'd been for sale at auction when it was she who spotted Johnson. Liking his looks, she asked him to buy her, which he did. Whether Dolly's account is true or not, it does suggest there may have been attraction between them—or that Dolly preferred a story in which she was not passive. Whatever happened, by the laws of the day Johnson was her owner, the master. Years later a rumor circulated to the effect that Johnson had fathered at least one, if not all three, of Dolly's light-skinned children—although it was also said that Johnson's son Robert had fathered Dolly's youngest. Such allegations would surprise no one, then or later. It's also true that political enemies often accused one another of miscegenation.
— The Impeachers (2020)[6]
Historian David Warren Bowen argues in Andrew Johnson and the Negro that Sam and Dolly were purchased in part to demonstrate an increase in the class status of the once-impoverished Johnsons, rather than because the family had significant unmet needs for labor.[24] According to Frederic Bancroft in Slave-Trading in the Old South, young female slaves were also considered an excellent financial investment: "Not only real estate, but also stocks, bonds and all other personal property were little prized in comparison with slaves...Absurd as it now seems, slaves, especially girls and young women, because of prospective increase, were considered the best investment for persons of small means."[25]
1843–1861 edit
When he bought teenage Dolly in 1843, Andrew and Eliza were parents to four children, aged 15, 13, 11 and nine.[26] Dolly was roughly the same age as the oldest child, Martha. For the next 20 years, from 1843 to 1863, Dolly Johnson was enslaved by the Johnson family, presumably working as a housekeeper and cook, which were her declared occupations after emancipation.[7]
In March 1846, when she was between 16 and 21 years old, Dolly Johnson became a mother herself with the birth of her daughter Lucy Elizabeth, called Liz or Lizzie.[27] Liz was born in Tennessee to parents who were both born in Tennessee.[27] Dolly's second child, also a daughter, named Florence, was born approximately 1850 in "Green, Tn."[28] Dolly was approximately 20 to 25 years old at the time.[28] The father of Liz and Florence was never named in any known historical document, and the paternity of Dolly Johnson's children remains officially unknown.[3] As historian Annette Gordon-Reed notes: "Dolly, who was described in the census as black, would give birth to three children ... listed as 'mulattoes,' which suggests that they had been fathered by a white man or an extremely light-skinned black man."[29]
Names of individual slaves were not usually recorded on the slave schedules of the U.S. censuses of 1850 and 1860,[30] but Dolly is believed to be the 24-year-old black woman enumerated as one of four slaves owned by A. Johnson in Division 9 in Greene County in 1850. The four-year-old and two-year-old female mulatto children listed are believed to be Liz and Florence, and the 20-year-old male would be Sam.[3][31] According to the U.S. National Park Service, Dolly may have had a third-born baby who died in infancy or childhood.[19]
In 1851, Andrew Johnson bought an eight-room, three-floor brick house in Greeneville, Tennessee, which would be his home base for the remainder of his life, and where Dolly would have worked.[32] According to the Robert W. Winston biography of Johnson published in 1928, Johnson's slaves "lived in a cabin, about 20 ft (6.1 m) by 30 ft (9.1 m), located on the premises and not far from the spring".[33] In 1852, Eliza had her fifth and last child, Andrew "Frank" Johnson Jr., born 18 years after the birth of her fourth child.[26] In 1854, Governor Johnson wrote a letter to his second-born son Robert, aged 20, that included this statement: "I have bought a basket and some other little notions for your little brothe[r] and a little chair for Liz and Florence &c."[19] At the time, Liz was eight years old, Florence was six, and Frank was two.[19][26]
On February 8, 1858, when she was between 28 and 33 years old, and approximately eight to ten years after the birth of Florence, Dolly Johnson gave birth to her only son, William Andrew Johnson.[34] According to Jesse J. Holland in The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House, this child received two Johnson family names.[35] William was the first name of Andrew Johnson's "beloved brother", and Andrew was, of course, the first name of former Tennessee governor Andrew Johnson, just then the newly elected junior U.S. Senator from Tennessee.[35] William Andrew Johnson was interviewed in 1932 by columnist Bert Vincent, a living institution of Knoxville journalism, who quoted Johnson as saying, "Massa named hisself. He called me William Andrew."[21] The father of William Andrew Johnson is identified on his death certificate as Andrew Johnson's fourth-born son with Eliza, Robert Johnson. Robert Johnson was between four and nine years younger than Dolly Johnson,[36] and the year following William Andrew's birth was elected representative to the Tennessee state legislature.[37] In 1943, Andrew Johnson's great-granddaughter Margaret Johnson Patterson stated that William Andrew Johnson was the only one of Dolly's children to have been born in Greeneville.[38]
In June and July 1860, census workers assembled the slave schedules for Greene County, Tennessee. The five enumerated slaves of Andrew Johnson appear in district 14 of that county.[39] The ages and sexes of the children match those of Dolly's children, Liz, Florence, and William A.[39] William A. Johnson recalled this period of the family's life when interviewed in 1937: "Mr. Andrew Johnson would hold me on one knee and my sister on the other, and he'd rub our heads and laugh."[22]
The next appearance of Dolly Johnson in the documentary record is a photograph. She was photographed holding Andrew Johnson Stover, the grandson of Andrew Johnson by his younger daughter Mary.[19] Andrew Johnson Stover was born March 6, 1860, so the photograph can be roughly dated to 1861.[40] The apparent quality of Dolly's gown may reflect that Andrew Johnson, a tailor by profession, was "always impeccably dressed"[41] and widely known for the "remarkably neat appearance of his apparel".[42]
1861–1875 edit
The American Civil War began with the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861. On March 4, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed U.S. Senator Andrew Johnson to be the military governor of Tennessee.[43] Nearly 70 years later, Dolly's son William Johnson described to a reporter an experience they had during this period:[20]
[Andrew Johnson] was trying to keep Tennessee in the Union, and as he spoke on the capitol grounds, two shots were fired at him by secessionists. The bullets entered trees near him .... My mother had me with her near Marse Andrew when the shots were fired. She took me and ran as fast as she could, not stopping until she got to the basement of the house, which was on Cedar Street.
— Knoxville News-Sentinel (1929)[20]
In 1863, according to University of Virginia history professor Elizabeth R. Varon:[44]
Fearing that emancipation by federal edict would alienate Tennessee's slaveholding Unionists, Johnson urged that the state be exempted from the Emancipation Proclamation, so he could promote the issue from the inside: in August 1863, Johnson freed his own slaves, seeking to set an example for his fellow Tennesseans.[44]
Johnson variously claimed to have owned a total of eight to 10 slaves.[33][24] The exact number of people enslaved by Johnson during his lifetime remains "surprisingly difficult to determine".[24] Parts of Tennessee and Kentucky celebrate August 8 as Emancipation Day, possibly because that was the day on which, according to family lore, Andrew Johnson freed Sam, Liz, Florence, William, and Dolly Johnson; Sam Johnson was involved in organizing early celebrations of Tennessee's Emancipation Day and may be responsible for popularizing the commemoration on August 8, specifically.[45][46] Johnson did not, however, personally convey the news of the liberation of his slaves. According to William Johnson, "Mrs. Johnson called us all in and said we were free now. She said we were free to go or could stay if we wanted to. We all stayed."[22]
After freedom, the former slaves stayed with Andrew Johnson as paid servants.[19] Most of the family moved to Washington, D.C., when Andrew Johnson became president following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, although Dolly and William, aged seven, reportedly remained in East Tennessee.[10][22][47][48] Dolly's daughter Florence worked at the White House as a maid.[49] Of this era, Sarah Stover, older sister of Andrew Johnson Stover, wrote in her diary later in life, "my mind wanders back to the days when we children used to have a black mama as well as our own dear mama, but thank God the race is free. I think slavery is a sin".[19] In an 1866 meeting with Frederick Douglass and other African-American leaders about the place of the freedmen in Johnson's version of Reconstruction, "Johnson made insensitive statements regarding slavery as a practice, telling the group: 'I might say, however, that practically, so far as my connection with slaves has gone, I have been their slave instead of their being mine. Some have even followed me here, while others are occupying and enjoying my property with my consent.'"[3]
As Johnson's presidential term was coming to an end in March 1869, a reporter from Cincinnati visited Greeneville and met Sam Johnson's wife Margaret and two of his children, and "Aunt Dolly."[50] At that time Sam's family lived in the old tailor shop, and Dolly lived in a two-room, one-chimney building that had once been home to Andrew Johnson's mother-in-law.[50] According to the Cincinnati report:[50]
Aunt Dolly and Sam are the only negroes Johnson ever owned. Dolly says he was a very kind master, she having lived in the family for some thirty years. She says he quit the tailor business about the time he bought her and never worked at it anymore. To use her language, 'Mr. Johnson kept going up and up after he bought me.'
— "Andrew Johnson: Sketch of the President", Nashville Republican Banner, March 1869[50]
Dolly Johnson and her youngest two children appeared in the U.S. census under their own names for the first time in 1870.[7] Her work was listed as "keeping house" and while she was illiterate, her daughter Florence could read and write, and her son William was attending school.[7] Dolly Johnson lived in close proximity to Andrew Johnson, occupation "Ex Pres, Retired."[51] Florence Johnson, age 22, was dually enumerated. In addition to being listed in her mother's household, she was enumerated as a cook in Andrew Johnson's household.[51] Young William was also present in the household: "After he came back from Washington I was with him all the time. I slept right in the same room with him."[22] William A. Johnson stayed in Andrew Johnson's room after Andrew suffered a stroke, nursed him through his final illness, and was with him when he died in 1875.[22] A contemporary neurologist credited William with astute observation skills and his clinically valuable description of Johnson experiencing "one of the earliest known cases" of the medical condition asomatognosia.[4]
Sometime after freedom in 1863 and before his death in 1875, Andrew Johnson gave Dolly Johnson a cherrywood writing desk, a mahogany chest of drawers, and two "black china" turkey platters. These were passed down to Dolly's son William A. Johnson, who sold them in 1930, perhaps due to financial distress.[52][53] William Johnson also recalled that Dolly Johnson was given bed frames, bed linens, a pair of linen pillowcases, a drop-leaf table, and cooking utensils.[9] Johnson also inherited a family-favorite cake pan, and had "many little trinkets" given to him by Andrew Johnson, and family photos; the trinkets and photos burned in a fire at a hotel where he worked in Knoxville.[54] Andrew Johnson died intestate—"for some unexplained reason, Johnson, whose estate exceeded US$100,000 (equivalent to $2,774,545 in 2023), left no will."[55] However, per William Andrew Johnson, when the former president died, "he left a house and some land to his ex-slaves."[22]
Later life edit
By 1880, 21-year-old William had moved out of his mother's house, and at the time of the decennial federal census was living with the family of his older sister Liz Johnson Forby.[56] Dolly's 14-year-old grandson, Tillman Forby, is dually enumerated in his parents' household and as a domestic servant in the home of Andrew Johnson's granddaughter, Lillie Stover Maloney.[57] Several of Dolly Johnson's grandchildren were given names that overlapped with the given names of Andrew Johnson's family (including Andrew, Charles, Lillie, and Belle).[58] Dolly Johnson appears to be absent from the 1880 census of Greene County, but an 1881 news item in the "Home and Neighborhood News" column of the Greeneville Herald reported that "Dolly Johnson, colored, has established a bakery in town."[59]
In 1886, a reporter from the New York Mail and Express[1] visited Greeneville and met "Aunt Dolly Johnson, a former slave of the late President", then in her late 50s or early 60s. The article appeared on December 2, 1886, in the New York Mail and was reprinted 14 days later in the Iowa State Register.[1] The reporter was underwhelmed by his first two destinations in Greeneville, homes in which the president had once lived; not so the third stop on the tour, Johnson's old tailor shop, which was located along Richland Creek in the southern half of old Greeneville.[1][60]
The tailor shop, where his fortunes began, is a place of no little interest. A single room, 14 ft (4.3 m) by 20 ft (6.1 m) feet, scarcely a step from the sidewalk, on a by-street, old and dilapidated, a muddy branch near, a shackling fence without a gate, two planks nailed from post to post across the opening near the ground ... a low doorway passed, the writer stood within the walls, upon a rough, pieced-up floor of wide plank, badly worn and wearing many other marks of age. Two small windows, with glass panes and solid board shutters hanging from the outside, lighted the room, which is furnished with two beds, some chairs, and sundry household articles, the property of the present occupant, Aunt Dolly Johnson, a former slave of the late President. The house was given to her by her late mistress, Mrs. Johnson, who died subsequently to her husband, and is occupied by herself and her family as a home. Aunt Dolly supports herself by a small bakery up town. She will kindly give each tourist a splinter from some portion of the house where old master wielded his needle, thimble and shears, while his mind roamed in greater fields. It is her delight to talk of him and his family in the olden days, and show a large photograph which hangs upon her walls. "It looks just like him," she says, "and he gave it to Dolly himself."
— New York Mail via Iowa State Register, 1886[1]
Dolly Johnson died sometime after July 1887.[62] The National Park Service suggests her death may have occurred between 1890 and 1892.[19] Liz's youngest daughter Dollie Forby was born in May 1888 and seemingly named after her grandmother.[27] An article in the September 1893 issue of Ladies' Home Journal reported that Martha Patterson lived in her parents' former home in Greeneville with her six-year-old granddaughter, her daughter's widower, and an unidentified "servant woman."[63][c] Per a 1922 newspaper feature on William Andrew Johnson, "The Johnson family, according to the negro, wanted to have [Dolly] buried in the family cemetery, but her relatives objected, as they were old fashioned negroes and were afraid the rest of their race would not understand."[54] Dolly Johnson's burial place is unknown but her daughter Elizabeth Johnson Forby, her daughter Florence Johnson Smith, and her son William Andrew Johnson, were all buried at Knoxville College Colored Cemetery, now called Freedmen's Mission Historic Cemetery at Knoxville College.[65][28][34]
Gallery edit
- Bill of sale John W. Gragg to Andrew Johnson for Dolly, a slave (verso, Gilder-Lehman Collection #GLC02041)
- 1850 - Slave schedule for the A. Johnson household, Division 9, Greene, Tennessee, United States
- 1860 - Slave schedule for the Andrew Johnson household, District 14, Greene County, Tennessee, United States
- Nashville Republican Banner, 1869
- Greeneville Herald, 1881
- Iowa State Register, 1886
See also edit
- Bibliography of Andrew Johnson
- History of slavery in Tennessee
- Tennessee in the American Civil War
- History of Tennessee § Reconstruction era and disenfranchisement
- African Americans in Tennessee
- Emily Harold
- Catharine (Tennessee)
- Julia Chinn
- Walter White (NAACP) § Early life
- Jefferson–Hemings controversy
Notes edit
- ^ He bequeathed to his wife four people, including an enslaved family of three ("my negro man named Adam & negro woman Lucy & her son Robin" and "my negro man Gifford") and appointed his son John W. Gragg, Jr., as executor of his estate.[17]
- ^ The bills of sale for Dolly and Sam were apparently once in the possession of Col. Fay Warrington Brabson, a Johnson biographer and native Tennessean.[23]
- ^ Patterson survived until 1901; the home was occupied by Patterson's immediate descendants until 1942.[64]
References edit
Citations edit
- ^ a b c d e Iowa State Register (1886).
- ^ a b Susong (1937).
- ^ a b c d e Fling (2020).
- ^ a b Boren (2022).
- ^ Gordon-Reed (2011), pp. 41–42.
- ^ a b Wineapple (2020), p. 52.
- ^ a b c d e f Ninth United States Census, Dolly Johnson household (1870).
- ^ a b c "Bill of sale to Andrew Johnson for a slave girl named Dolly" (1843).
- ^ a b Knoxville News-Sentinel (1927).
- ^ a b c Knoxville Journal (1943).
- ^ Schroeder-Lein & Zuczek (2001), p. 269.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Slavery, p. 172.
- ^ Gragg in "Early Tennessee Tax Records (1783–1895)".
- ^ Gragg in 1850 Tennessee slave schedules.
- ^ Gragg in 1840 Tennessee census.
- ^ Gragg in 1850 & 1860 Tennessee agricultural schedules.
- ^ a b c John W. Gragg Sr. (1842) in "Tennessee Wills, 1809–1863".
- ^ Bancroft (1931).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i NPS: "Slaves of Andrew Johnson" (2022).
- ^ a b c Knoxville News-Sentinel (1929).
- ^ a b Vincent (1932).
- ^ a b c d e f g Pyle (1989), pp. 304–306.
- ^ Bowen (1989), p. 175.
- ^ a b c Bowen (1989), p. 51.
- ^ Bancroft (1931), p. 343.
- ^ a b c NPS: "Andrew Johnson's Family" (2020).
- ^ a b c Twelfth United States Census, George Forbey household (1900).
- ^ a b c Florence Johnson Smith death certificate (1920).
- ^ Gordon-Reed (2011), p. 41.
- ^ Morton (2019).
- ^ Seventh United States Census, Slave Schedules (1850).
- ^ Lawing (1961).
- ^ a b Winston (1928), p. 102.
- ^ a b William A. Johnson death certificate (1943).
- ^ a b Holland (2016), p. 197.
- ^ NPS: "Andrew Johnson National Cemetery" (2022).
- ^ The Tennessean (1859).
- ^ Knoxville News-Sentinel (1943).
- ^ a b Eighth United States Census, Slave Schedules (1860).
- ^ Andrew Johnson Stover death certificate (1923).
- ^ Trefousse (1989), p. 34.
- ^ Winston (1928), p. 56.
- ^ Trefousse (1989), p. 152.
- ^ a b Varon (2016).
- ^ Brown (2003).
- ^ Gordon (2018).
- ^ Jackson Sun (1943).
- ^ Castel (1979), pp. 33–35.
- ^ Morristown Gazette (1920).
- ^ a b c d Nashville Republican Banner (1869).
- ^ a b Ninth United States Census, Andrew Johnson household (1870).
- ^ Knoxville News-Sentinel (1930).
- ^ Knoxville Journal (1930).
- ^ a b Journal and Tribune, Knoxville (1922).
- ^ Trefousse (1989), p. 378.
- ^ Tenth United States Census, George Forbey household (1880).
- ^ Tenth United States Census, Thomas Maloney household (1880).
- ^ Schroeder-Lein & Zuczek (2001), p. 166.
- ^ Self (1881).
- ^ The Illustrated Nashville American (1901).
- ^ The Tennessean (1886).
- ^ The Tennessean (1887).
- ^ Moore (1893).
- ^ Lawing (1961), pp. 114–115.
- ^ NPS: "Dolly's Children" (2022).
Books edit
- Bancroft, Frederic (1931). Slave-Trading in the Old South. Baltimore: J.H. Furst Company. doi:10.2307/j.ctv37xg0dk. ISBN 9781570031038. JSTOR j.ctv37xg0dk. LCCN 31002005. OCLC 426282. OL 6273244M.
- Bowen, David Warren (1989). Andrew Johnson and the Negro. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-0-87049-584-7. LCCN 88009668. OCLC 17764213.
The servants were procured for what might best be described as cosmetic purposes, since they were clearly not an essential part of the family's support. In Johnson's world, success almost inevitably resulted in slave-holding .... Not buying a slave 'to take the drudgery' of household labor from his family, if one could afford it, would be unusual and probably require a conscious moral commitment against the institution.
- Castel, Albert (1979). The Presidency of Andrew Johnson. Lawrence, Kansas: Regents Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700601905. LCCN 79011050. OCLC 4805118.
- Gordon-Reed, Annette (2011). Andrew Johnson. The American Presidents Series. New York: Times Books/Henry Holt. ISBN 978-0-8050-6948-8. LCCN 2010032595. OCLC 154806758.
- Holland, Jesse J. (2016). The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African American Slaves in the White House. Guilford, Conn.: Lyons Press. pp. 193–201. ISBN 978-1-4930-0846-9. LCCN 2015034010. OCLC 926105956.
- Mitchell, John L. (1860). "Tennessee state gazetteer and business directory for 1860–61". Tennessee State Gazetteer and Business Directory. Nashville: John L. Mitchell, Publisher – via HathiTrust.
- Pyle, Ernie (1989). Nichols, David (ed.). Ernie's America: The Best of Ernie Pyle's 1930s Travel Dispatches. Foreword by Charles Kuralt. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-57572-8. LCCN 89003967. OCLC 19510314. OL 2185974M – via Internet Archive.
- Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R.; Zuczek, Richard (2001). Andrew Johnson: A Biographical Companion. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-57607-030-7. LCCN 2001001777. OCLC 50174681. OL 3937770M.
- Scott, Samuel W.; Angel, Samuel P. (1903). History of the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, U.S.A. Philadelphia: W. Ziegler. LCCN 03008593. OCLC 771788381. OL 7064017M.
- Trefousse, Hans L. (1989). Andrew Johnson: A Biography (1st ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0393026736. LCCN 88028295. OCLC 463084977.
- Wallenstein, Peter (2007). "Antiliteracy Laws". In Rodriguez, Junius P. (ed.). Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 172. ISBN 9781851095490. OCLC 123968550.
- Whipple, Wayne; Longworth, Alice Roosevelt (1937). The Story of the White House and Its Home Life. Boston: Dwinell-Wright Co. LCCN 37005820. OCLC 6334513. OL 6350728M – via Google Books.
- Wineapple, Brenda (2020). The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 9780812987911 – via Libby.
- Winston, Robert W. (1928). Andrew Johnson, Plebeian and Patriot. New York: Henry Holt & Company. LCCN 28007534. OCLC 475518. OL 6712742M – via HathiTrust.
Articles edit
- Boren, Rance A. (September 2022). "A case of neglect". Cortex. 154: 254–258. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2022.06.003. ISSN 0010-9452. PMID 35810499. S2CID 249650951.
- Fling, Sarah (March 5, 2020). "The Formerly Enslaved Households of President Andrew Johnson". White House Historical Association. Slavery in the President's Neighborhood. from the original on 2023-04-25. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
- Gailani, Matthew (2020). "Eliza Johnson: The Forgotten First Lady from Tennessee". Tennessee State Museum. from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
- Gordon, Skyler (August 3, 2018). "The Eighth of August: Emancipation Day in Tennessee". Tennessee Historical Society. from the original on 2023-04-23. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
- Lawing, Hugh A. (1961). "Andrew Johnson National Monument". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 20 (2): 103–119. ISSN 0040-3261. JSTOR 42621527.
- Moore, M. V. (September 1893). "The Daughter of Andrew Johnson". The Ladies' Home Journal. Vol. X, no. 10. Philadelphia: Curtis Publishing Co. p. 5.
- Morton, Sunny Jane (February 26, 2019). "How to Find Slave Schedules and Share the Information in Them". Family Tree Magazine. from the original on 2023-05-07. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
- NPS Staff (July 24, 2020), "Andrew Johnson's Family", Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service), from the original on 2022-11-28, retrieved 2023-05-07
- NPS Staff (July 6, 2022), "A Short History of the National Cemetery", Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service), from the original on 2023-05-08, retrieved 2023-05-08
- NPS Staff (March 24, 2022), "Dolly's Children", Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service), from the original on 2023-04-30, retrieved 2023-05-09
- NPS Staff (March 24, 2022), "Slaves of Andrew Johnson", Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, U.S. National Park Service, from the original on 2022-01-06, retrieved 2023-05-07
- Varon, Elizabeth R. (October 4, 2016). "Andrew Johnson: Life Before the Presidency". Miller Center. University of Virginia. from the original on 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
Newspaper articles edit
- n.a. (August 8, 1859). "Election Returns". The Tennessean. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-05-14 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (August 19, 1868). "Miscellaneous News Items". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Vol. 28, no. 193. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-13 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (March 23, 1869). "Andrew Johnson: Sketch of the Early Life of the Ex-President - Interesting Reminiscences". Republican Banner. Vol. 55, no. 69. Nashville. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-07-05 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (March 27, 1869). "Andrew Johnson's Family". Daily Burlington Free Press and Times. Vol. 22, no. 72 (Evening ed.). Burlington, Vermont. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-05-08 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (April 28, 1869). "Death of Robert Johnson". Elyria Independent Democrat. Vol. XVII, no. 32. Lorain County, Ohio. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-05-13 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (January 20, 1876). "A Sketch of the Late Mrs. Andrew Johnson". The Daily Memphis Avalanche. Vol. XIX, no. 172. Memphis, Tenn. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-13 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (February 8, 1886). "Greeneville: Events and Incidents of a Historic Tennessee Town". The Tennessean. Vol. XL, no. 3486. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-07-06 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (December 16, 1886). "Andy Johnson's Home - His Old Home and His Grave, and How They Look - The Old Tailorshop in Which He Formerly Worked". The Iowa State Register (Morning ed.). Des Moines. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-05-09 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (July 14, 1887). "An Historic Spot". The Tennessean. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-07-06 – via Newspapers.com.
It is owned and controlled by his old servant, Dolly, who is now about 60 years old.
- n.a. (September 23, 1920). "Andrew Johnson's Housemaid Dies". The Morristown Gazette. Vol. LIV, no. 27. Morristown, Tenn. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-11 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (December 24, 1922). "Slave of Andrew Johnson Defies Father Time and Is Head Pastry Man for Gay Street Dairy Lunch". Second News and Editorial Section. The Journal and Tribune. Vol. XXXV, no. 77. Knoxville, Tenn. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-12 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (March 13, 1927). "Cook at Rutledge Inn Was One Time Slave of President Andrew Johnson". Section IV. The Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. D3. Retrieved 2023-05-14 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (October 1, 1929). "Johnson's Servant Tells Anecdotes of His Master: William Andrew Johnson Chuckles at Thought of Sharing Spotlight at Hotel; Told to 'Get Measured'". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. Vol. XLIII, no. 281. p. 20. Retrieved 2023-05-12 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (February 28, 1930). "Table Used by Johnson to be Sold". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. Vol. XLIV, no. 67. p. 15. Retrieved 2023-05-12 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (March 1, 1930). "Doorman Will Sell Table Johnson Used". The Knoxville Journal. Vol. XXXI, no. 100. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-05-12 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (May 17, 1943). "Negro Once Servant of Johnson Dies (Part 1 of 2)". The Knoxville Journal. Vol. 104. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-14. & "Ex-Slave of Johnson Dies (Part 2 of 2)". p. 2. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- n.a. (May 17, 1943). "Slave of Andrew Johnson Dies at the Age of 87". The Jackson Sun. Vol. LXIX, no. 117. Jackson, Tenn. Associated Press. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-05-12 – via Newspapers.com.
- n.a. (May 23, 1943). "Former Slave Dies". The News-Sentinel Sunday Magazine. The Knoxville News-Sentinel. No. 18789. p. C4. Retrieved 2023-05-15 – via Newspapers.com.
- Beaumont, Henry Francis (July 21, 1901). "Andrew Johnson's Tailor Shop". The Illustrated Nashville American. The Tennessean. Vol. XXV, no. 8989. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
- Brown, Fred (August 10, 2003). "Significance of this date recorded mainly in hearts; Researchers seek more". Local section, Appalachian Journal column. The Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. B1. Page image 22. Retrieved 2023-06-24 – via Newspapers.com. & "Journal, from B1". August 10, 2003. p. B2.
- Self, John R. (March 17, 1881). "Home and Neighborhood News". Greeneville Herald. Vol. I, no. 4. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-05-09 – via Newspapers.com.
- Susong, M. A. (February 22, 1937). "William Andrew Johnson, Ex-Slave of President Andrew Johnson, Visits Here". The Greeneville Sun. Vol. 54, no. 84. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-24 – via Newspapers.com.
- Vincent, Bert (November 27, 1932). "Poorhouse Looms for Former Slave of Andrew Johnson: Legs won't stand up for William, 79; He Yearns for Days When He Ate White Bread with Ol' Massa". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. No. 15074. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-12 – via Newspapers.com.
Primary sources: Johnson family edit
- "Dolley Johnson household", Ninth United States Census, District Ten, Greene County, Tennessee, United States, p. 19, June 7, 1870, retrieved 2023-05-11 – via FamilySearch
- "Andrew Johnson household", Ninth United States Census, District Ten, Greene County, Tennessee, United States, pp. 21–22, June 8, 1870, retrieved 2023-05-11 – via FamilySearch
- "William Johnson in George Forbey household", Tenth United States Census, Greeneville, Greene, Tennessee, United States, retrieved 2023-05-11 – via FamilySearch
- "Tillman Forbey in Thomas Maloney household", Tenth United States Census, Greeneville, Greene, Tennessee, United States, 1880 – via FamilySearch
- "Geo Forby household", Twelfth United States Census, Ward Seven, Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee, United States, 1900 – via FamilySearch
- "Florence Smith death certificate, Knoxville, Knox, Tennessee, United States", Tennessee Deaths, 1914–1966, Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives, September 15, 1920 – via FamilySearch
- "Andrew J. Stover death certificate, Elizabethton, Carter, Tennessee, United States", Tennessee Deaths, 1914–1966, Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives, 1923 – via FamilySearch
- "William A. Johnson death certificate, Knox, Tennessee, United States", Tennessee Deaths, 1914–1966, Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives, 1943 – via FamilySearch
- "Bill of sale to Andrew Johnson for a slave girl named Dolly". Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Greene County, Tenn. 1843. GLC02041. from the original on 2023-05-03. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
- "A. Johnson - Role: Slave Owner/Principal - Count: 4", Seventh United States Census, Slave Schedules, 1850 – via FamilySearch
- "Andrew Johnson - Role: Slave Owner/Principal - Count: 5", Eighth United States Census, Slave Schedules, 1860 – via FamilySearch
Primary sources: Gragg family edit
- "John W. Gragg, 1842, in Index to Wills, 1826–1921 & Wills, Volumes 1–2, 1809–1863". Tennessee, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1779–2008 – via Ancestry.com.
- "John W. Gragg". Tennessee, U.S., Early Tax List Records, 1783–1895. Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives – via Ancestry.com.
- "John W. Gragg in Slave Schedules". Seventh United States Census. 1850 – via Ancestry.com.
- "John W. Gragg household in Greene County, Tennessee, United States". Sixth United States Census. 1840. p. 19 – via FamilySearch.
- "Gragg in District 8, Cocke County, Tennessee, Agriculture Schedules". U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850–1880 – via Ancestry.com.
External links edit
- Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. "Andrew Johnson's Family Life: A look at the belongings of a Presidential family". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 2023-05-28.
- Buckles, Kristen (October 1, 2011). "How Mystery Cane In Closet Unraveled An Historic Puzzle". Greeneville Publishing Company. from the original on 2023-05-08. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
- Saunders, Christopher (September 1, 2020). "History Thread: Andrew Johnson's Dignity". TheAvocado.com.