William Andrew Johnson | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Greeneville, Tennessee, U.S. | February 8, 1858
Died | May 16, 1943 Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. | (aged 85)
Mother | Dolly Johnson |
Relatives | Florence Johnson Smith (sister) Elizabeth Johnson Forby (sister) Sam Johnson (uncle) |
William Andrew Johnson (February 8, 1858[a] – May 16, 1943) was a lifelong Tennessean who was primarily employed as a restaurant cook. He was described as a "quiet, bright-eyed" man,[1] a "great favorite" in Knoxville,[2] and (per the Indianapolis Recorder in 1941) he was "regarded by many as the best pastry chef in East Tennessee."[3] William Andrew Johnson was believed to be the last surviving American to have been enslaved by a U.S. president.[4] Johnson, his two sisters Florence and Elizabeth, his mother Dolly and his Uncle Sam were all once legally the property of Andrew Johnson, who became the 17th President of the United States following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. In later years, when describing his lifelong relationships with Johnson's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Johnson said "They treat me just like I was one of the family."[5]
Local media covered Johnson and his recollections of the late President with some regularity beginning in the 1920s, although the coverage often described Johnson in fairly patronizing terms.[6] William A. Johnson made national headlines in 1937 when he visited the White House at the invitation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who gave him a silver-handled cane engraved with both of their names. Meeting Roosevelt one-on-one had been a dream of Johnson's since at least 1934, when he told a local reporter, "I feel like he's one of my kin folks, since I used to stay in the White House, too."[7]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).