[2][3] His grandfather, Jeduthan Abbot of Andover, was a sergeant during the Revolutionary War, serving in the Saratoga Campaign under General John Burgoyne in Captain Joshua Holt's company at the Lexington Alarm.

Together they had five children, three sons and two daughters:[8] After Johnson died in 1837, Lucretia Bly continued to live in Samaritan House (see image), taking care of students as well as allowing some to board there.

"[24] On April 28, 1834, the Trustees resolved that Johnson would simply earn $1000 each year, essentially abandoning Farrar's plan.

Chiefly is the account by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in his poem, The School-boy:[26] His was the charm magnetic, the bright look That sheds its sunshine on the dreariest book; A loving soul to every task he brought That sweetly mingled with the lore he taught; Sprung from a saintly race that never could From youth to age be anything but good, His few brief years in holiest labors spent, Earth lost too soon the treasure heaven had lent.

Another comes from Isaac P. Langworthy, a former student of Johnson's and founding President of the student-run Society of Inquiry on his teaching style:[27][28] As a teacher, I never knew one more thorough, lucid, patient, or inspiring.

He was always self -poised, awake to every emergency; and having full command of his varied and broad resources, he could meet every exigency incident to his responsible position with most admirable tact and skill....When he became Principal, he at once began the gradual elevation of the standard of scholarship, keeping it abreast, if not in advance, of the best Academies in the country.

After the establishment of William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator slavery became a heated issue in New England and as a result in 1835, the "Anti-Slavery Rebellion" rose in popularity, including among Phillips Academy students.

Teachers at the Andover Theological Seminary as well as Johnson who opposed abolition, banned anti-slavery societies, their reason being "such organizations would bring odium on the institutions, and keep away Southern students.

[30][31][32] Tens of students gathered in July 1835 on Indian Ridge to discuss the formation of an anti-slavery society, and multiple times their requests were denied by Johnson.

A similar parallel "English Commons" was completed in 1836 for the Teachers' Seminary about a quarter mile to the north.

Dr. John P. Gulliver, a teacher, described his figure and state of health:[35] I first saw Johnson while, slowly and limpingly, he was making his way from the door of the old Brick Academy down to his chaise.

His pallid face, surmounted by a dome-like brow, with his large spectacles and a peculiar spiritual expression, gave me the impression, to a degree I never got from any other man, that what I saw was not the man, but that his real self was out of sight, behind those glasses, and that white, placid face, and that great coat and muffler which he wore.

His infirmities added to his dignity, and the whole effect of his appearance was to inspire the idea that some supernatural being had been born lame, like Vulcan, and unjustly cast down from Olympus.

During this time William Augustus Peabody, a student at the Theological Seminary, served as Acting Principal.