Dolly Johnson

Dolly Johnson
African-American female in 1860s-era full-skirted dress; holding a white baby with a quizzical expression and a hand-tinted red-white-and-blue ribbon in her hand
Dolly Johnson about 1861, holding Andrew Johnson Stover; she was still legally enslaved at the time this photograph was made
Born1825–1830
Tennessee, U.S.
Diedafter July 1887, possibly 1890‍–‍1892
Likely Tennessee
Burial placeUnknown, possibly Freedmen's Mission Historic Cemetery, Knoxville
Occupations
Known forEnslaved by Andrew Johnson from 1843 to 1863
Children
RelativesSam Johnson (half-brother)

Dolly Johnson (born late 1820s, died after 1887), in later life known as Aunt Dolly, was a small-business owner and domestic worker, remembered in Greeneville, Tennessee as one of the best cooks in the region. Andrew Johnson, who became the 17th president of the United States in 1865, enslaved Dolly from 1843 until 1863. The paternity of Dolly Johnson's children, Elizabeth Johnson Forby, Florence Johnson Smith, and William Andrew Johnson, remains an open question in the study of the history of the United States.