Jeh Johnson

NEW YORK CITY – NOVEMBER 22, 2015: first responders staged an active shooter exercise in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in response to ISIS threats. Jeh Charles Johnson, homeland security director, andykatz/bigstock.com

Birth Name: Jeh Charles Johnson

Place of Birth: Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.

Date of Birth: September 11, 1957

Ethnicity: African-American, as well as English

Jeh Johnson is an American attorney and government official. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, from December 23, 2013 to January 20, 2017. He was also General Counsel of the Air Force, from October 15, 1998 to January 20, 2001, and General Counsel of the Department of Defense, from February 10, 2009 to December 31, 2012.

Jeh is the son of Norma Eleze (Edelin) and Jeh Vincent Johnson. His father was an architect and college lecturer, and his mother worked at Planned Parenthood. His uncle, Kenneth C. Edelin (Kenneth Carlton Edelin), was a physician and abortion rights advocate. Jeh was raised mostly in Wappingers Falls, New York.

He is married to dentist, Susan DiMarco.

A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2023) stated that Jeh’s genetic ancestry consists of:

*52% European
——–*15% England & Northwestern Europe
——–*6% Wales
——–*5% Germanic Europe
——–*4% Ireland
——–*3% Sweden & Denmark
*48% African
——–*24% Nigeria
——–*apprx. 8% Cameroon, Congo, & West Bantu
——–*6% Senegal
——–*6% Benin & Togo
——–*4% Mali

Jeh’s paternal grandfather was Charles S. Johnson (Charles Spurgeon Johnson, the son of Charles Henry Johnson and Winifred Lee “Winnie” Branch). Jeh’s grandfather Charles was born in Bristol, Virginia, and was a prominent sociologist and college administrator. He was the first black president of historically black Fisk University, and a civil rights advocate. Jeh’s great-grandfather Charles was a Baptist minister. Jeh’s great-grandmother Winifred was the daughter of Edward Beverly Branch and Julia Whiteley.

Jeh’s paternal grandmother was Marie Antoinette Burgette (the daughter of Anthony Gabriel Burgette and Mary Jane Smith). Mary Jane was the daughter of Samuel S. Smith and Alice Carty.

Jeh’s maternal grandfather was Benedict Francis Edelin, a postal worker (the son of John Albert Edelin and Theresa Thomas). John was the son of Lawrence Edelin and Mary Elizabeth Queenan.

Jeh’s maternal grandmother was Ruby Marguerite Goodwin (the daughter of Richard Marshall Goodwin, Jr. and Eleze Clore). Richard was the son of R.M. Goodwin, who was founding secretary of the Brown AME Chapel in Selma, Alabama. Eleze was the daughter of Joseph Angus Clore and Frances “Fannie” Diggs. Jeh’s great-great-grandfather Joseph was the son of Lewis Benjamin Clore and Margaret Anna “Annie” Arrington, who were born into slavery in Virginia. Lewis’s father Aaron Clore was a white slave owner, and Lewis’s mother Eliza was his black slave. Aaron and Eliza had ten children together. After the abolition of slavery, they lived together.

Sources: Genealogy of Jeh Johnson – https://www.geni.com

Obituary of Jeh’s father – https://www.legacy.com