Johnny Tremain characters

Appears from the start

A gifted fourteen-year-old apprentice in the Boston silver shop of Ephraim Lapham. Proud of his skill and impatient with less talented workers, Johnny expects to inherit the business through marriage to Cilla Lapham. A serious injury to his right hand destroys that plan and forces him to find a different place in a city moving toward revolution.

Also known as Grandpa Lapham

Appears from the start

The elderly master silversmith to whom Johnny is apprenticed. Religious, patient, and more interested in sound character than commercial success, he tries to temper Johnny's pride while trusting him with demanding work.

Appears from the start

Ephraim Lapham's widowed daughter-in-law, who manages the crowded household and hopes one of her daughters will marry Johnny and keep the silver shop in the family.

Also known as Cilla

Appears from the start

Priscilla Lapham, a practical girl in the silversmith's household and Johnny's expected future wife. She can answer his arrogance without being intimidated and cares devotedly for her younger sister Isannah.

Appears from the start

Cilla's delicate and strikingly beautiful younger sister. The family protects her from work and hardship, and Cilla often puts Isannah's needs before her own.

Appears from the start

A resentful apprentice in the Lapham shop who dislikes Johnny's authority over the younger boys. He secretly gives Johnny a damaged crucible for an urgent casting, helping to cause the accident that cripples Johnny's hand.

Appears from the start

The youngest Lapham apprentice, generally overshadowed by Johnny and Dove. He is less malicious than Dove but easily led and frightened.

First appears in chapter 3

A wealthy Boston merchant whom Johnny believes may be related to his late mother. Courteous in public but protective of his money and family standing, Lyte reacts suspiciously when Johnny presents an old silver cup as evidence of the connection.

First appears in chapter 4

Jonathan Lyte's elegant daughter, admired throughout Boston for her beauty and social confidence. She belongs to the prosperous Loyalist world that Johnny sees from the outside.

First appears in chapter 4

A quiet, self-possessed young printer at the Boston Observer. Rab gives the injured and defensive Johnny food, useful work, and friendship without pitying him, and introduces him to the Patriot network surrounding the newspaper.

First appears in chapter 5

A leading Boston organizer of resistance to British policy. He uses the Observer office as a meeting place and comes to trust Johnny as a messenger who can move quickly around the occupied city.

First appears in chapter 5

A Boston silversmith and Patriot organizer whose practical skill and resolve earn Johnny's admiration. He helps coordinate the resistance and later carries an urgent warning into the countryside.

First appears in chapter 9

A young British private stationed in Boston. Tired of military life and longing for his family farm, he quietly makes a dangerous bargain with Johnny in the hope of deserting.

First appears in chapter 11

A Boston physician and Patriot leader who treats both civilians and soldiers. He recognizes that Johnny's damaged hand may be more useful than Johnny has believed and remains in danger as fighting begins.