ABSTRACT

Harvey Johnson was born in Richmond, Virginia, on September 26, 1892. He was the third son of Ruffin F. and Ellen Johnson. His two brothers were Alpheus and Joseph. Harvey’s grandfather was Samuel Johnson of Caroline County, Virginia, a strong character of Native American and African American ancestry who not only purchased his freedom before the Civil War with wages earned as a carpenter but later was a successful builder and casketmaker. Harvey Johnson’s maternal great-grandmother was an octoroon and a free person.