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Part six of milking my friend famous YouTuber Blobbygobster ’s birthday for content is slightly different, because this guy's not an OC per se. I remember a handful of conversations with Brandon trying to find a place for him to fit in his story, but it was always a little nebulous at least at the time. See, this guy is actually one of Brandon's historical ancestors, the furthest back you can go on his direct patrilineal line in fact. As such, I made the creative decision to design this guy as neither Assassin or Templar, but rather just as neutral an outfit as possible so that Brandon can decide for himself where to take the character, and I'll write the proper non-fanficky biography for the man as far as I've managed to dig up while helping him out with his family tree because I'm still a total genealogy nerd.

Thomas A. Johnson (no, I couldn't find out what the “A” stands for) was born in Litcham, Norfolk, England on January 14, 1832. His gravestone says June 15, 1832 but I'm going to assume this is just a weird error because his death certificate says Jan. 14 and he was baptized on January 18, 1832. Sorry Brandon, I don't think we have a time traveling baby on our hands. He was the son of a Lydia Johnson and an illegitimate father, whose identity is probably lost to history because Lydia was anywhere between seventeen and twenty-one at the time (I swear every census with a “Lydia Johnson” on it gives a different birth date, and no one seems to have any secondary documentation to back any of the individual claims up) and the baptism record doesn't even try to guess at a partner.

Whatever his origins, by his early adulthood, Thomas Johnson had found himself a career at sea. He was well acquainted with the rough and often dangerous life of a sailor, battling no shortage of storms and equally ferocious men. These long and arduous journeys gave Thomas ample time to study character and form impressions, and his daughter Mabel quoted him as saying that “during such trying trips, real character is revealed”. That's probably why the Mormons confused him so much. Despite being hated, persecuted, and generally just societal rejects, every Mormon missionary and convert he'd met aboard his ship was nothing short of polite, amicable, and full of hope. It intrigued Thomas, who wondered what could possibly drive these otherwise intelligent men to abandon everything and travel to the other side of the world to this mythical “Utah”. It inspired him to go check it out for himself, but unlike these men, he wasn't exactly comfortable with just uprooting his life in England whole hog, especially because of his girlfriend.

See, Ann Sarah Dearns was a lady of refinement. She was in the employ of two Ladies in Waiting to Queen Victoria herself. Ann was responsible for their wardrobes, fine sewing, and serving their 4 o'clock tea like proper Englishwomen. She'd even been gifted a mother-of-pearl clock once owned by the Queen herself. Now, obviously she had at least a little taste for the rough in tumble if she was dating a seaman like Thomas, but she was also chronically unwell, and to Thomas's credit, he didn't believe it was right to ask her to piss off to parts unknown on a whim. Instead, in 1854, Thomas made the journey to Utah himself by handcart to scope things out and see if it was all that's cracked up to be. It… wasn't. I couldn't find exactly what Thomas found so disagreeable about Utah, but I mean it was just a podunk desert frontier full of Mormons, so like come on. So instead, he returned to England, mind made up that the Mormon ideal was just that: an ideal. He and Ann got married at the Parish Church of St. Mary Newington in London on November 12, 1862.

However, the call of the Gospel tugged at the two of them, making them wonder if the ideal was still possible. I'd imagine this had something to do with the tragic loss of three of their children all before the age of five. By 1873, the call to the West became too much. Selling their possessions off at auction to an exclusive furniture and antique store owner whom they believed was sent by God to get them on their way, the couple gathered their three surviving children and hopped aboard the steamship Nevada at Liverpool on June 4. The family docked in New York on June 16, and arrived at last in Salt Lake City on June 26. Their marriage was sealed by the Mormon Church on September 8, and Ann gave birth to a daughter just a few weeks later, the first of four more healthy kids they'd eventually go on to have, giving the family hope that the new beginning would indeed be worth the turmoil they left behind.

Thomas himself seems to have left seafaring behind in exchange for rising through the ranks of the Church. He was a High Priest and Superintendent of the Sunday School for many years (at least according to Mabel, I couldn't dig up any concrete numbers on this) and apparently was “blessed with the power of healing”. Like one time his own son was ill with “convulsions” and when Mabel begged her father to “administer” to him, the son miraculously chilled out. Take that as you will, but at least Thomas practiced proper social distancing, cleaning his clothes, taking a bath, and locking himself in the barn overnight whenever he attended to patients sick with diphtheria so as not to infect his family. Still, illness gets us all in the end. Thomas's beloved Ann passed away on March 6, 1891, after which he moved to Rigby, Idaho, I assume because there's no better place to get as far away as possible from literally everything than Idaho. The last three years of Thomas's life were marked by a particularly bad case of mitral regurgitation, and he was looked after by his son Fountain until old age claimed him on February 7, 1912. He was buried in Salt Lake City five days later, and remembered fondly by his children as a strict but fair father who treated them well and always had old sagely wisdom to impart.

Design notes, Ancestry.com has three photographs of the man to offer, which always feels like hitting the jackpot. His face and hair are therefore taken directly from the source. His outfit meanwhile was a little trickier, because obviously in real life he just wore the most generic Victorian three-piece just like everyone else. That's boring though, so instead I decided to dress him up like some sort of mild-fantasy steampunk sea captain. The layering on his coat is actually a tamer version of Brandon's favorite D&D character, Io, so you're welcome for that reference Brandon. I wasn't sure about it at first, but by the end I actually thought it came out pretty damn sleek. The beard kinda obscures the collar and tie, but that's more on the color scheme than the lineart. I could easily see this guy standing proud at the helm of a ship battling a white whale, so I'm quite happy with the end result.

Description
Part six of milking my friend famous YouTuber Blobbygobster ’s birthday for content is slightly different, because this guy's not an OC per se. I remember a handful of conversations with Brandon trying to find a place for him to fit in his story, but it was always a little nebulous at least at the time. See, this guy is actually one of Brandon's historical ancestors, the furthest back you can go on his direct patrilineal line in fact. As such, I made the creative decision to design this guy as neither Assassin or Templar, but rather just as neutral an outfit as possible so that Brandon can decide for himself where to take the character, and I'll write the proper non-fanficky biography for the man as far as I've managed to dig up while helping him out with his family tree because I'm still a total genealogy nerd.

Thomas A. Johnson (no, I couldn't find out what the “A” stands for) was born in Litcham, Norfolk, England on January 14, 1832. His gravestone says June 15, 1832 but I'm going to assume this is just a weird error because his death certificate says Jan. 14 and he was baptized on January 18, 1832. Sorry Brandon, I don't think we have a time traveling baby on our hands. He was the son of a Lydia Johnson and an illegitimate father, whose identity is probably lost to history because Lydia was anywhere between seventeen and twenty-one at the time (I swear every census with a “Lydia Johnson” on it gives a different birth date, and no one seems to have any secondary documentation to back any of the individual claims up) and the baptism record doesn't even try to guess at a partner.

Whatever his origins, by his early adulthood, Thomas Johnson had found himself a career at sea. He was well acquainted with the rough and often dangerous life of a sailor, battling no shortage of storms and equally ferocious men. These long and arduous journeys gave Thomas ample time to study character and form impressions, and his daughter Mabel quoted him as saying that “during such trying trips, real character is revealed”. That's probably why the Mormons confused him so much. Despite being hated, persecuted, and generally just societal rejects, every Mormon missionary and convert he'd met aboard his ship was nothing short of polite, amicable, and full of hope. It intrigued Thomas, who wondered what could possibly drive these otherwise intelligent men to abandon everything and travel to the other side of the world to this mythical “Utah”. It inspired him to go check it out for himself, but unlike these men, he wasn't exactly comfortable with just uprooting his life in England whole hog, especially because of his girlfriend.

See, Ann Sarah Dearns was a lady of refinement. She was in the employ of two Ladies in Waiting to Queen Victoria herself. Ann was responsible for their wardrobes, fine sewing, and serving their 4 o'clock tea like proper Englishwomen. She'd even been gifted a mother-of-pearl clock once owned by the Queen herself. Now, obviously she had at least a little taste for the rough in tumble if she was dating a seaman like Thomas, but she was also chronically unwell, and to Thomas's credit, he didn't believe it was right to ask her to piss off to parts unknown on a whim. Instead, in 1854, Thomas made the journey to Utah himself by handcart to scope things out and see if it was all that's cracked up to be. It… wasn't. I couldn't find exactly what Thomas found so disagreeable about Utah, but I mean it was just a podunk desert frontier full of Mormons, so like come on. So instead, he returned to England, mind made up that the Mormon ideal was just that: an ideal. He and Ann got married at the Parish Church of St. Mary Newington in London on November 12, 1862.

However, the call of the Gospel tugged at the two of them, making them wonder if the ideal was still possible. I'd imagine this had something to do with the tragic loss of three of their children all before the age of five. By 1873, the call to the West became too much. Selling their possessions off at auction to an exclusive furniture and antique store owner whom they believed was sent by God to get them on their way, the couple gathered their three surviving children and hopped aboard the steamship Nevada at Liverpool on June 4. The family docked in New York on June 16, and arrived at last in Salt Lake City on June 26. Their marriage was sealed by the Mormon Church on September 8, and Ann gave birth to a daughter just a few weeks later, the first of four more healthy kids they'd eventually go on to have, giving the family hope that the new beginning would indeed be worth the turmoil they left behind.

Thomas himself seems to have left seafaring behind in exchange for rising through the ranks of the Church. He was a High Priest and Superintendent of the Sunday School for many years (at least according to Mabel, I couldn't dig up any concrete numbers on this) and apparently was “blessed with the power of healing”. Like one time his own son was ill with “convulsions” and when Mabel begged her father to “administer” to him, the son miraculously chilled out. Take that as you will, but at least Thomas practiced proper social distancing, cleaning his clothes, taking a bath, and locking himself in the barn overnight whenever he attended to patients sick with diphtheria so as not to infect his family. Still, illness gets us all in the end. Thomas's beloved Ann passed away on March 6, 1891, after which he moved to Rigby, Idaho, I assume because there's no better place to get as far away as possible from literally everything than Idaho. The last three years of Thomas's life were marked by a particularly bad case of mitral regurgitation, and he was looked after by his son Fountain until old age claimed him on February 7, 1912. He was buried in Salt Lake City five days later, and remembered fondly by his children as a strict but fair father who treated them well and always had old sagely wisdom to impart.

Design notes, Ancestry.com has three photographs of the man to offer, which always feels like hitting the jackpot. His face and hair are therefore taken directly from the source. His outfit meanwhile was a little trickier, because obviously in real life he just wore the most generic Victorian three-piece just like everyone else. That's boring though, so instead I decided to dress him up like some sort of mild-fantasy steampunk sea captain. The layering on his coat is actually a tamer version of Brandon's favorite D&D character, Io, so you're welcome for that reference Brandon. I wasn't sure about it at first, but by the end I actually thought it came out pretty damn sleek. The beard kinda obscures the collar and tie, but that's more on the color scheme than the lineart. I could easily see this guy standing proud at the helm of a ship battling a white whale, so I'm quite happy with the end result.