Rootwork Genealogy

One of the first people in what was to become America to own a slave (laborer for life) by definition of law was an Angolan man by the name of Anthony Johnson (born around 1600). Rumor has it that he was originally captured by a neighboring enemy tribe in Angola and sold to Arab slave traders. In 1621, he arrived on the Virginia shores as “Antonio a negro” a captive and under an indenture (laborer for a time) contract. He was sold to a planter by the name of Bennett, to work on his to***co farm. In early years, most prisoners/captives were held under indentured agreements. At the end of said indenture, they were free and sometimes received land/equipment etc. During this period, it wasn’t so much about race, as indentured servants were of every “color” and from every corner of the world. Most white laborers came to the colonies as indentured servants.
1622, Antonio almost lost his life not long after arrival, due to the Powhatan natives staging an attack to get rid of the colonists. They killed 350 colonists, 52 were killed on the place Anthony worked. Anthony and 4 others dodged death somehow.
In 1623, “Mary A negro” was brought in to work on the plantation, the ONLY woman on the plantation at the time. Virginia was populated by majority men. Anthony and Mary became husband and wife, having four children.
Sometime after 1635 Anthony and Mary bought their way out or their contract of bo***ge. They acquired their own land, in the 1640s they lived on their own place, raising livestock. By the 1650s they’d amassed 250 acres. For an ex-servant (black or white) to own your own land was uncommon, despite promises made by the Virginia company to give a tract of land to each servant at the end of service. For an ex servant to own 250 acres was even more rare. They acquired the land by the head right system by buying contracts of 5 indentured servants, one being his son Richard Johnson. Their land was on the Great Naswattock Creek in North Hampton County, Virginia.
In 1652, an unfortunate fire occurred and Johnson applied to the court for tax relief. The court reduced the family’s taxes, exempted his wife and two daughters from paying taxes during their natural lives. This change gave them the same social standing as white women, who weren’t taxed. The court case recorded Anthony and Mary as being Virginia inhabitants for 30 years and “respected for their hard labor and service”. Anthony owned the services of 5 men, 4 white and his son.
In 1653, John Casor, a black indentured servant’s contract who Anthony Johnson purchased in the 1640s, approached captain Goldsmith claiming his indenture had ended 7 years prior and that he was being held illegally by Anthony Johnson. A neighbor, Robert Parker intervened and persuaded Johnson to free Casor. Parker offered Casor work, he signed an indenture to the planter. Johnson sued Parker in the Northampton Court in 1654 for the return of Casor. The court initially filed in favor of Parker, but Johnson appealed.
In 1655, the court reversed its ruling. Finding that Anthony Johnson still "owned" John Casor, the court ordered that he be returned with the court dues paid by Robert Parker. This was the first instance of a judicial determination in the Colonies that a person who had committed no crime could be held in servitude for life (A SLAVE). Different from John Punch, who ran away during his indenture and was punished by being indentured for life.