The Mohawk ancestors of Johnson's father, Chief George Henry Martin Johnson, had historically lived in what became the state of New York, United States . Theirs was the easternmost territory in the homelands of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League (later the Six Nations), also known as the "Haudenosaunee". In 1758, her great-grandfather Tekahionwake was born in the province of New York. When he was baptized, he took the name Jacob Johnson. He was named after Sir William Johnson, the influential British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, who acted as his godfather. The Johnson surname was subsequently passed down in the family.