Hinkles and Hanrahans

Sir William Johnson, Baronet, was an Irish official of the British Empire. As a Catholic, William Johnson had limited opportunities for advancement in the British Empire. Never particularly religious, Johnson converted to Protestantism when offered an opportunity to work for his uncle in British America. He moved in 1738 to the Province of New York to manage an estate of his uncle Admiral Peter Warren, which was located among the lands of the Mohawk. Johnson learned the language and customs of the Iroquois Nation, and was appointed British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the northern colonies in 1756. Throughout his career as a British official among the Iroquois, Johnson combined personal business with official diplomacy, acquiring tens of thousands of acres of Native land and becoming very wealthy. Johnson commanded Iroquois and colonial militia forces during the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War (1754–1763) in Europe. His role in the British victory at the Battle of Lake George in 1755 earned him a baronetcy; his capture of Fort Niagara from the French in 1759 brought him additional renown.

Johnson became closely associated with the Mohawk, the easternmost nation of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League. By the time Johnson arrived, their population had collapsed to only 580, due to chronic infectious diseases unwittingly introduced by Europeans and warfare with competing tribes related to the lucrative beaver trade. The Mohawk thought an alliance with Johnson could advance their interests in the British imperial system. Sometime around 1742, they adopted him as an honorary sachem, or civil chief, and gave him the name Warraghiyagey, which he translated as "A Man who Undertakes Great Things."

In 1762, Johnson founded the city of Johnstown on his grant, about 25 miles west of Schenectady, New York, north of the Mohawk River. He named the new settlement, originally called John's Town, after his son John. There, at Crown expense, he established a free school for both white and Mohawk children. Outside the town, in 1763 he built Johnson Hall, where he lived until his death. He recruited numerous Irish immigrant tenant farmers for his extensive lands, and lived essentially as a feudal landlord. He also purchased African-American slaves to work as labourers, especially in his lumber operations. Johnson had some 60 slaves working for him, making him the largest slaveholder in the county and likely in the province, comparable to major planters of the South.

Johnson's most important legacy is the comparatively peaceful co-existence of Anglo-Americans and Indians during his tenure as Indian Agent for British North America. Co-existence was part of Johnson's other major historical legacy: the protection of British sovereignty and Anglo-American settlement as a bulwark against French control of northern New York State and the Great Lakes region. Johnson was instrumental in sustaining British-Iroquois alliance through the Covenant Chain, which consolidated both Iroquois and British territorial and commercial interests against the rival Algonquin and French interests in New France before 1763. After Britain assumed control, Johnson eventually won a political dispute over Indian policy with Lord Jeffrey Amherst, who disdained the Iroquois alliance Johnson had so devoted himself to nurturing and defending. It was to Johnson that Pontiac finally surrendered after the eventual failure of the rebellion named for him (Pontiac's War).

In his lifetime, Johnson gained a reputation as a man who had numerous children with several European and Native American women. Even while living in his home with Catherine Weisneberg, Johnson had a relationship with Elizabeth Brant, a Mohawk woman by whom he had three children: Keghneghtago or Brant (born in 1742), Thomas (1744) and Christian (1745); the latter two boys died in infancy. About 1750, Johnson had a son named Tagawirunta, also known as William of Canajoharie, by a Mohawk woman, possibly Margaret Brant, Elizabeth's younger sister. Johnson may have also been intimate with the sisters Susannah and Elizabeth Wormwood, and an Irish woman named Mary McGrath, by whom he appeared to have had a daughter named Mary. Mary, Keghneghtago (Brant), and Tagawirunta (William) received inheritances in Johnson's will.
In 1759, Johnson began a common-law relationship with Molly Brant, a Mohawk woman who moved into Johnson Hall and lived with Johnson as his consort for the rest of his life. Molly was the older sister of Joseph Brant; her younger brother joined the household when he was young. Johnson's relationship with Molly gave him additional influence with the Mohawk. The couple had eight children, all of whom received land from Johnson in his will. A grandson of William Johnson and Molly Brant was William Johnson Kerr who married Elizabeth Brant, a daughter of Joseph Brant and granddaughter of George Croghan.
Chief Joseph Brant was the same man who accompanied William's nephew Guy Johnson to London during the Revolutionary War.

Johnson Hall, along with St John's Episcopal Church in Johnstown and Indian Castle Church near Danube, NY, all constructed by William, are still standing.

Source Wikipedia article Sir William Johnson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_William_Johnson,_1st_Baronet
citing numerous original sources.