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BIOGRAPHIES
HISTORY
OF
LORAIN COUNTY
OHIO
With
Illustrations & Biographical Sketches
of
Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers.
Publ. Philadelphia:
by Williams Brothers
1879
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ZOPHER IRISH
 Source: History of Lorain County, Ohio - Publ.
Philadelphia: William Brothers - 1879 - page 226 |
Nathan P. Johnson |
NATHAN
P. JOHNSON. A man actuated in private
and public life by motives founded on the right and
good never fails to leave his impress on the
community in which he resides. Few men had
more to do in the healthy moulding of Lorain County
than the Hon. N. P. Johnson, of
Lagrange. He was of New England stock, his
parents having been born at Old Haddam, Conn.
They removed to Hartford, Washington Co., N. Y., in
1785. April, 1801, gave them a new home at
Champion, Jefferson Co., N. Y. Of their early
history the writer knows little.
At Hartford, as above, their son, Nathan P. Johnson,
was born Jan. 30, 1801; in Champion his early years
were spent. Of this early life meagre are the
details. However, such opportunities as he had
for education and for self-improvement must have
been eagerly embraced and worthily used. Ere
he had reached the age of thirty he served his
fellow-citizens at Champion for three years as
trustee, and for five years was elected as justice
of the peace; commenced a lieutenant in the 76th
Regiment of the New York Militia in 1823, 1824 gave
him commission as captain.
In the year 1833, exchanging real estate, he moved into
Lagrange, Lorain Co., Ohio, where his remaining days
were spent; days full of work, - work for self and
family; work for his town, his county; work for the
good and the true everywhere.
On the 20th of October, 1822, Mr. Johnson
married Miss Laura Wait, daughter of
Dorastus Waite, Esq., of Champion, N. Y., who
was to her husband a companion in his every endeavor
in the early Lagrange life. She died very
suddenly, on the 19th of January, 1846, while her
husband was a Columbus, Ohio.
Mrs. Laura Johnson was a woman of singular
merit. With gratefulness do her children - now
men and women grown - look back to her kindly care,
self-denial, and example that had so much to do in
forming the characters that have made them valuable
citizens.
On the 13th day of August, 1846, Mr. Johnson was
again a husband, May R. Hart, daughter of
J. Hart, formerly of Norwich, Conn., becoming
his wife. She is yet living at the old home,
hallowed by the memories of the past, and mourns the
loss of the fond husband who has gone before her.
N. P. Johnson was father of the following
children: Sarah L., born Sept. 14, 1823;
living. William H., born Sept. 19,
1825; died Oct. 11, 1829. Cynthia, born
Sept. 25, 1827; living. Mary L., born
June 29, 1830; living. Phoebe M., born
Apr. 24, 1832; died Apr. 4, 1866. William
H., born May 30,1834; living. Elizur G.,
born Nov.. 24, 1836; living. Ellen M.,
born Jan. 25, 1840; living. Ann Eliza,
born Feb. 11, 1842; died De. 4, 1869.
Mr. Johnson's early life in Lagrange was
that of all pioneers - daily toil. His
occupation, farmers. His integrity and large
common sense soon attracted attention.
Township offices were showered upon him; fidelity in
the duties of such offices drew attention to his
merits, local respect soon became general, and in
the fall of 1844 he was elected to the legislature
of Ohio from Lorain County, and re-elected in 1845.
So well were the duties of this position performed
that the years 1847 and 148 saw him a member of the
Ohio Senate, from the district composed of Lorain
and Medina Counties. Returning to Lagrange,
there the remainder of his days were passed, each
and every day made joyous to him by the numerous
trusts confided to him by his fellow citizens.
N. P. Johnson was noted for deep religious
convictions and for true manhood. Strong and
earnest in his feelings, prejudice was but a
flitting cloud over his grand, kind heart. An
ardent Whig of the old school, he was never the mere
partisan, looking ever for the good. Party was
no factor in any moral or political problem to him
presented for solution. In 1846, while running
for the State Senate, many prominent politicians
took open and decided grounds for the repudiation of
the State debt. Mr. Johnson took just
as decided ground in favor of sustaining the faith
and credit of the State. ON this issue the
people heartily sustained him.
Duty and right being to him the all, he found no
difficulty of laboring with voice or pen, as a man
and a legislator, for the repeal of the infamous
Black Laws of Ohio, although temporary odium
followed his efforts, Retiring from public life, so
far as office was concerned, his voice and trenchant
pen were ever found ready to defend and aid that
which he considered the right. This was
wonderfully true during the dark years of the
Rebellion.
Quick in his decisions, of remarkable mental equipoise,
Mr. Johnson was noted as a presiding officer.
No one during his life was more frequently called
upon in Lorain County to preside over conventions,
whether religious, moral, or political.
Honored by all, giving always with no grudging hand of
his means, and of the rich experiences of a
well-spent life, he died Dec. 29, 1874. True
of him is that said of another:
"This man, that thought himself nobody, is dead, is
buried; his life has been searched; and his memory
is hallowed forever."
Source:
History of Lorain County, Ohio - Publ. Philadelphia:
William Brothers - 1879 - page betw. 316 - 317 |
NOTES: |
