The New Student's Reference Work/Johnson, Sir William

Johnson, Sir William, was born at Warrentown, Ireland, in 1715.  At 23 he was sent to America to manage the estates of his uncle.  His business brought him into contact with the Mohawk Indians, whose language he learned, and who made him an honorary chieftain of their tribe.  Johnson received his baronetcy during the French and Indian Wars.  His services to the British cause were so highly esteemed that the king presented him with 100,000 acres in New York.  Here was planted a settlement, named Johnstown for him, in Tyrone County; and here he died on July 11, 1774.  See his Life by W. L. Stone.