Sir Nathaniel Johnson, who had been general of the Leeward Islands in the reign of King James, was created a Cassique of Carolina by the Lords Proprietors on April 1, 1686, with rights to 24,000 acres in the province.

On June 18, 1702, the Lords Proprietors commissioned him as Governor of South Carolina, but he did not arrive in Charles Town and take the oaths of office and allegiance until March of 1703. He was governor until November 26, 1709.

In 1703, the Lords Proprietors patented him as a Landgrave, and on June 22, 1709, a grant was issued to him for 12,000 acres "on Auendaubooe Creek." In one of the earliest mentions of this estate it was styled as "Seewee Barony."

Sir Nathaniel Johnson, Knight died in 1713, and his property passed under his will to his son, Robert Johnson, who was later also Governor of South Carolina - twice. Although Robert Johnson was within his rights to assume the title of Landgrave from his father, there is no clear evidence that he did so. By 1713, the "nobility" of South Carolina was no longer "fashionable" and it is likely that he did assume the title of Landgrave but did not publicize this fact. Or.. he simply never took the title.

Seewee Barony Plat

Source: The Baronies of South Carolina by Henry A.M. Smith, as published in the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, Volume XII, 1911.