Thomas Johnson ( jurist ) Thomas Johnson ( November 4 , 1732 – October 26 , 1819 ) was an American jurist with a distinguished political career . He was the first Governor of Maryland , a delegate to the Continental Congress and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States . Background . Johnson was born in Calvert County , Maryland , on November 4 , 1732 to Thomas and Dorcas Sedgwick Johnson . His grandfather , also named Thomas , was a lawyer in London who had emigrated to Maryland sometime before 1700 . He was the fourth of ten children , some of whom also had large families . His brother Joshua ' s daughter , Louisa Johnson , married John Quincy Adams . The family , including Thomas , were educated at home . As a young man he was attracted to the law , studied it , and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1753 . By 1760 , he had moved his practice to Frederick County , Maryland , and in 1761 he was elected to the provincial assembly for the first time . Johnson married Ann Jennings , the daughter of a judge from Annapolis on February 16 , 1766 . The couple had eight children : Thomas Jennings , Ann Jennings , Rebecca ( who died in infancy ) , Elizabeth , Rebecca Jennings , James , Joshua , and Dorcas . Revolutionary years . In 1774 and 1775 the Maryland assembly sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress . In the Congress he was firmly in the camp of those who favored separation from Great Britain . In November 1775 , Congress created a Committee of [ Secret ] Correspondence that was to seek foreign support for the war . Thomas Johnson , along with Benjamin Franklin , and Benjamin Harrison V were initially named to the committee . He then returned to Maryland and continued his work in the state ' s Assembly when the United States Declaration of Independence was signed . In 1775 he drafted the declaration of rights adopted by the Maryland assembly and later included as the first part of the state ' s first constitution , which was adopted for Maryland by the state ' s constitutional convention at Annapolis in 1776 . He also began his service as brigadier general in the Maryland militia . In addition to his political activities , he and his brother Roger supported the revolution by manufacturing ammunition . The remains of their factory , Catoctin Furnace , is located just north of Frederick , Maryland . As Maryland began to exercise its newly declared autonomy , the state legislature elected Johnson as the state ' s first Governor in 1777 . He served in that capacity until 1779 . In the 1780s he held a number of judicial posts in Maryland , and served in the assembly in 1780 , 1786 , and 1787 . Following Virginia ' s lead , he pushed a bill through the Maryland Assembly naming commissioners to meet with commissioners from Virginia and " … frame such liberal and equitable regulations concerning [ the Potomac ] river as may be mutually advantageous to the two states and that they make report thereon to the General assembly . " While not a commissioner himself , the resulting conference agreed to regulate and settle the jurisdiction and navigation on their mutual border . He attended the Maryland Convention in 1788 , where he successfully urged the state ' s ratification of the United States Constitution . Federal years . In September 1789 , President George Washington nominated Johnson to be the first federal judge for the District of Maryland , but he declined the appointment . In 1790 and 1791 , Johnson was the senior justice in the Maryland General Court system . In January 1791 , President Washington appointed him , with David Stuart and Daniel Carroll , to the commission that would lay out the federal capital in accordance with the Residence Act of 1790 . Among other contributions , in September 1791 the commissioners named the federal city " The City of Washington " and the federal district " The Territory of Columbia " . On August 5 , 1791 , Johnson received a recess appointment from Washington to the seat on the U . S . Supreme Court that became available after John Rutledge resigned . Formally nominated on October 31 , 1791 , Johnson was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 7 , 1791 , and received his commission that day . He was not sworn in until August 6 , 1792 . Johnson was the author of the Court ' s first written opinion , " Georgia v . Brailsford " , in 1792 . He served on the court until January 16 , 1793 , when he resigned due to the difficulties of circuit - riding with his poor health , giving him the shortest tenure ( to date ) on the Court . His health also made him decline Washington ' s 1795 offer to nominate him for Secretary of State , which Thomas Jefferson had recommended . On February 28 , 1801 , President John Adams named him chief judge for the District of Columbia . Later life . His daughter Ann had married John Colin Grahame in 1788 , and in his later years he lived with them in a home they had built in Frederick , Maryland . The home , called Rose Hill Manor , is now a county park and open to the public ; a high school named for him is on half of the Rose Hill property . Johnson was in very poor health for many years . He did deliver a eulogy for his friend George Washington at a birthday memorial service on February 22 , 1800 . He died at Rose Hill on October 26 , 1819 , and was originally buried in All Saints churchyard . His remains were removed and re - interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery 515 South Market Street in Frederick . Monuments and memorials . More than one school is named after Thomas Johnson , e . g . , Governor Thomas Johnson High School in Frederick , Maryland , Governor Thomas Johnson Middle School in Frederick , Maryland , Thomas Johnson Middle School in Lanham , Maryland and Thomas Johnson Elementary School in Baltimore , Maryland . In 1978 , the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge was opened to traffic after being named for Johnson . The bridge crosses the Patuxent River and connects Calvert County , Maryland with St . Mary ' s County , Maryland .