Biographical/Historical Information

Zachariah Johnston was born in 1742 in Augusta County, Virginia, to William Johnston and Ann Johnston. He attended Liberty Hall Academy and later was a trustee of Washington College. Johnston was a prosperous farmer by the time the American Revolution began. In 1776, he was appointed a captain in the county militia. Johnston's company actively patrolled against Indian uprisings, and, in 1781, participated in the Virginia campaign which led to Lord Cornwallis' surrender. Representing Augusta County in the House of Delegates from 1778 to 1791, Johnston was chair of the House committee on religion and helped pass the "act for establishing religious freedom" in 1786. After he moved to Rockbridge County, Virginia, in 1792, he represented that county in the House of Delegates in 1792 and 1797-1798. An opponent of paper money, and a proponent of court reform and payment of British debts, Johnston supported the federal Constitution in 1788. As Augusta County's representative to the ratifying convention, he was influential in having his section of the state unanimously vote for ratification. In the 1790s, Johnston was interested in connecting Virginia's western rivers to the Potomac River. Johnston owned three plantations in Rockbridge County, one in Augusta County, and lands in Kentucky. He married Ann Robertson (d. 1818), and they had eleven children. He died 7 January 1800 in Rockbridge County.

"Mr. Chairman, I am a Presbyterian, a rigid Presbyterian as we are called; my parents before me were of the same profession; I was educated in that line. Since I became a man, I have examined for myself; and I have seen no cause to dissent. But, sir, the very day that the Presbyterians shall be established by law, and become a body politic, the same day Zachariah JOHNSTON will be a dissenter. Dissent from that religion I cannot in honesty, but from that establishement I will." And his name goes down to posterity in favor of the passage of the act for establishing Religious Freedom.

  http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59601

Similarly, Zechariah Johnston, another Revolutionary soldier who also served in the Virginia legislature and Constitutional Ratification Convention <http://www.worldnetdaily.com/>, said:

The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them. … This is a principle which secures religious liberty most firmly.

American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) <http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3599&enc=1>
about Zachariah Johnston

Name: Zachariah Johnston

Birth Date: 1740

Birthplace: Virginia

Volume: 92

Page Number: 391

Reference: Historical reg. Of Virginians in the Rev., soldiers, saliors and marines, 1775-1783. Ed. By John H. Gwathmey. Richmond, Va. 1938. (13, 872p.):425

Religious freedom was essential to him. Before the Virginia House of Burgesses, delegate Zachariah Johnston confronted Patrick Henry with the following passionate speech: "…I was born a Presbyterian and I shall die a Presbyterian! But that day that Presbyterianism should become the established religion of this Country, I shall cease to be a Presbyterian." What an inspirational man.

We do certify that Capt. Zh Johnston, his wife Ann, his sons John and Zh and his daughter Elizth are in full communion, and free from moral blot known to us: The remainder of his juniors are of fair and unblemished standing in this place. Signed by advice of Session this 21st May, 1792. J. McCue