Sir John Johnson House National Historic Sites of Canada

Natural Wonders & Cultural Treasures

History

• Sir John Johnson, Loyalist Leader
• Williamstown
• The Manor House

Sir John Johnson, Loyalist Leader

The outbreak of the American Revolution in 1776 divided the inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies. While the majority favoured independence from the British Crown, a substantial minority maintained their loyalty and were prepared to fight to support the royal cause. In 1776, Sir John Johnson (1742 - 1830) was a wealthy landowner in the Mohawk Valley in what is now New York State. The son of Sir William Johnson who had promoted the settlement of the area and founded the community of Johnstown, he remained true to his allegiance to Britain, at the cost of his fine home in Johnstown and his extensive properties in the Mohawk Valley.

Johnson and his family were arrested very early in the conflict, but he managed to escape, leading a large body of his estate tenants and loyal allies of the Six Nations Confederacy northwards to Montreal. They became the core of the regiment that the British military command authorised Johnson to recruit. Known as the King's Regiment of New York, it saw considerable action under his command during the course of the revolution, and Johnson became a highly respected and decorated military leader for the British, being raised to the rank of brigadier-general in 1782. By that time, however, it was clear that the British cause was lost. Within a year the Treaty of Paris had been negotiated, recognising the independence of the Thirteen Colonies and leaving Johnson and the thousands of loyalists who had fled to Canada in permanent exile from their homeland.

The coming of peace left the British with a major problem. The loyalists had made great sacrifices in support of the British cause and something had to be done to help them begin new lives in Canada. Sir John Johnson, having contributed to the King's cause throughout the war, was once again called upon to assist in this difficult task. His specific assignment was to distribute crown lands in the eastern part of what is now Ontario to the loyalists who had come to the Montreal area and then to help them to settle on their new property. It was an enormous task but in the course of the spring and summer of 1784 Johnson had, according to his estimate, organised the movement of 3,776 loyalists to their new lands along the St. Lawrence River and the north shore of Lake Ontario.

Crown lands were distributed to the loyalists on the basis of a detailed formula by which a married civilian was given 100 acres while soldiers received land according to their rank. A man of the stature of Sir John Johnson was eligible to receive very considerable grants and Johnson's holdings eventually extended throughout Eastern Ontario. One of his properties, of about 2300 acres, was in Charlottenburgh township just to the east of present day Cornwall. There he selected a location on the Raisin River to build a house.

Williamstown

The location for Sir John Johnson's house became known as Williamstown, in memory of Johnson's father Sir William Johnson. As a considerable land owner in the area, Johnson's goal was to encourage the settlement and, to achieve that end, he also had a grist mill and a saw mill built on the river, adjacent to the house. It is doubtful that Johnson had any intention of ever living in the house. For the time he owned the property, the house seems to have been occupied only by the man hired to run the mills, while Johnson himself lived in Montreal. But his vision was fulfilled to the extent that Williamstown became a thriving village in the midst of a prosperous farming community.

The Manor House

The date of construction of Johnson's house is unknown beyond that it was built sometime between 1784 and 1792, making it one of the earliest houses in present-day Ontario. It is likely that Johnson brought in workers from the Montreal area to build the house, for the method used in its construction, referred to as pièce-sur-pièce, is typical of French Canada. It consisted of a frame of timbers morticed on the corners with logs laid horizontally, one on top of the other, to create each section of the wall.

Johnson's house was a five bay building with a centre hall flanked by two rooms on either side. A staircase led from the hall to the second storey loft. Intended to meet the domestic and office needs of Johnson's hired millwright, the house was not large but was pleasing in its proportions. It was also located on high, open ground overlooking the Raisin River and would have been an agreeable place to live.

Johnson held on to the property until 1819 when he sold it for £3000, a sum which he considered a "considerable profit" on his investment. The purchaser was Hugh McGillis, a wealthy, retired fur trader who had been a partner in the North West Company in Montreal. McGillis seems to have found the house too small for his needs and, around 1825, extended the house by two bays. The same building technique was used for the extension as for the original house and the addition harmonised well with the Johnson house while providing two extra rooms on the main floor and more bedrooms on the second.

McGillis continued to operate the two mills and farmed the land adjacent to the house until his death in 1849. The property then passed to his nephew, John McGillis, who lived there with his family and was responsible for the building of a major addition to the house in the 1850s. This one and a half storey "Gothic Revival" structure, larger and designed in a different style from the old house, could well have ended up dominating it. In fact, the two contrasting sections have been blended in such a way that they achieve a satisfying architectural unity.

The connection of the McGillis family with the Manor House came to an end in 1872. For the next century, there was a succession of owners until 1971 when Parks Canada acquired it following its designation as a national historic site. The house itself changed little over those years. By the early 1900s, however, the mills had ceased to operate and eventually fell into ruins. In addition, an unfortunate fire in 1954 destroyed several of the property's farm buildings. Besides the house, all that survives on the property from an earlier time is a two storey shed and a stone ice house. Nevertheless the "Manor House", as it has long been known locally, surrounded by trees and shrubs, retains a look that evokes its long history.

In recent years, Sir John Johnson House has found a new role within its community. In 1975, part of the building was leased to the Williamstown Branch of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry library and now serves as an active local library.

In 1996 a group of local citizens, committed to raising the profile of the property and working in partnership with Parks Canada to ensure its long-term protection and presentation, formed a not-for-profit organization called the Sir John Johnson Manor House Committee. This group houses its local archives and genealogical resources within the house and offers guided tours and special programmes throughout the summer season