The fourth daughter of Joshua and Catherine Young Newth Johnson, Mariane was born on Christmas Day of 1777. She was baptized less than a month later, on 20 January, 1778 at Saint Botolph without Aldgate in London, the Johnsons' Anglican church near their home at that time at No. 1 Swan Street, and where their three older daughters had also been baptized. Their home on Swan Street was just within the established boundaries of the parish of St. Botolph, that appearing to have dictated their attendance of that Anglican church. St. Botolph is referred to as "without" Aldgate, as it was originally outside the Roman built city walls of London and the city gate, Aldgate, which no longer survives. The distinction was either within (the wall) or without. The attached map of the Tower Hill section of London from the 1790s shows the church, the approximate location of the Johnson home on Swan Street, and the family's later home on Cooper's Row after 1783. The purple line on the map is the then city line, all outside in other boroughs.

The specific, but "text only" records found for her note her as "Mary Ann", but her sister, Louisa Catherine Johnson (Adams) specifically recorded her in her own memoirs as instead "Mariane", so that is the spelling now entered here, and the alternate spelling perhaps explained as entered, perhaps transcribed, in error, possibly originally phonetically. As with the other Johnson daughters, she most likely had a middle name, but which is now unknown.

The cause of her death was not recorded in Louisa's diaries, she only noting her infant sister much later in her life. Those same late genealogical notes provided to her youngest son, Charles Francis Adams, also recorded her mother's middle name, Young, that Catherine Newth's mother's maiden name. One unexplained discrepancy between Louisa's recollections and the English records found, is that Louisa notes Mariane's death in Nantes after her mother's arrival. This cannot be resolved with the hard records available, and Louisa may have not recollected correctly, as her references to Mariane were made decades after the fact and Louisa then only about five years of age.

She was buried on 29 July, 1778, her date of death not noted, but with the times, was most certainly the previous day, or at most the 27th. The entire remaining Johnson family would depart London not long after her burial for Nantes, France, Joshua possibly already in France, where they would spend the next five years of the American Revolution, returning to London again in April of 1783.

It is assumed, therefore speculative, that she was buried in the churchyard at Saint Botolph. The burial record for her is specific as to the date, but as a "text only" transcription, and incomplete, the location is not noted. Saint Botolph appears a reasonable speculation, and an attempt will be made to confirm that or modify this memorial accordingly if another location is identified and confirmed.

Even with this speculation on her burial, with the addition of this memorial all the offspring of Joshua and Catherine are now recorded, this infant seemingly overlooked by most researchers.

Allan Garner - Rev: April 24, 2024