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BIOGRAPHIES
† Source:
Biographical Record of Wayne & Holmes Co.
Publ. Chicago:
J. H. Beers & Co.
1889
(Contributed by Sharon Wick)
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1889
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
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ADAM FOREST JOHNSON,
a well-known farmer of Wooster Township, was born in Salt Creek
Township, Wayne County, Ohio, Mar. 19, 1856. His grandfather,
James Johnson, a native of Pennsylvania, married Mary
White, and in 1816 they came to Wayne County, settling in Salt
Creek Township on a piece of wild land, where the sound of the white
man's ax had never been heard. Here they died, the grandfather
in 1869, at the age of seventy years, and the grandmother in 1884,
at the age of eighty-four. Four children, three sons and one
daughter, were born to this couple, two of whom are yet living:
St. Clair Johnson, in Salt Creek Township, Wayne County, and
Mrs. Ruth Grant, in Stark County, Ohio. One son,
William Johnson, father of Adam F., was born in Fayette
County, Penn., in 1815, and remained on the home farm until he was
twenty-one years of age, at which time he married Mary Hatfield,
a native of Wayne County, and daughter of Robert and Nancy
Hatfield. In 1868 our subject's parents removed to Wooster
Township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They
were the parents of ten children, as follows: James W., who
was for three years a soldier, and is now living in Salt Creek
Township, this county; Nancy M., deceased; Ruth E.,
residing in Wooster; Margaret L., now Mrs. Robert
Mackey; Catherine, now Mrs. B. C. Smith, of
Fredericksburgh; Jennie, living in Wooster; Adam F.;
Lucinda B., a teacher in Wooster; Homer E., deceased,
and Ezra D., a resident of Indiana. The parents of this
family died, the father in 1873, at the age of fifty-eight years,
and the mother in 1883, at the age of sixty-two, both members of
Apple Creek Presbyterian Church, then of Fredericksburgh, later of
Wooster, of which church the family are also members.
William Johnson passed a busy life, and did much toward
the development of the county. He won success solely by his
own exertions, and without help from any adventitious circumstances.
Politically he was first a Whig, and afterward, on the formation of
the party, an active Republican.
Adam F. Johnson has most of his life made his
home near his parents' place, his sister keeping house for him part
of the time. After some five years' residence on the "lower
farm," he removed to the parental homestead, where he has since
remained. In 1885 he was married to Miss Laura J. Searight,
a native of Fredericksburgh, Wayne County, and a daughter of
Gilbert and Matilda J. (McCullough) Searight. Mr.
and Mrs. Adam F. Johnson have one child, named Adam Forest.
The parents are members of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics
Mr. Johnson is a Republican. He has met with
success in life, and socially is highly esteemed and warmly beloved
by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.
Gilbert Searight, father of Mrs. Adam F.
Johnson, was a native of Salt Creek Township, Wayne County,
Ohio, and was born on the farm on which he died. Here he grew
to manhood, and in 1849 was married to Matilda J., daughter
of James and Sarah (McCall) McCullough, natives of Holmes
County, Ohio. Dec. 2, 1879, Mrs. Gilbert Searight died, aged
nearly forty-seven years, and the mother of ten children, viz.:
Ohio J., living in Fredericksburgh; William A., in
Carlisle, Penn.; John F., deceased; Leonard M., in
Cook City, Montana; Laura J., now Mrs. Adam F.
Johnson; Lucinda F., now Mrs. H. C. Bishop, in
Mount Vernon, Knox County; Sadie M. and Frank D., at
home; Annie D. died iu 1875; Gilbert S. died in
October, 1888. For his second wife Mr. Gilbert
Searight married, June 30, 1885, Miss Nancy Haley, and
on July 7, 1888, he departed this life, at the age of sixty-nine
years. He was a stanch Republican, and a member and deacon of
the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburgh. Before there were
any churches in the locality services were held in his house, and he
gave the land for the church. His widow, Mrs. Nancy
Searight, continues to live at the old home place, at
Fredericksburgh.
William Searight, father of Gilbert Searight,
was a native of Carlisle, Cumberland County, Penn., born Oct. 17,
1779, the son of a Revolutionary soldier, who came from Ireland in
about 1760, settling in Carlisle, Penn. William
Searight married, in Carlisle, Miss Jane Johnston, and in
1811 they removed to Salt Creek Township, this county, where they
settled on the 460-acre tract he had entered shortly before, and
which now constitutes the home farm of the family. Here they
endured all the trials and hardships of pioneer life, and for a long
time were the only family in Salt Creek Township, their nearest
neighbors being residents of that part of Holmes County now known as
Prairie Township. William Searight built, in 1813, the
first saw-mill on Salt Creek, a short distance from the residence of
Gilbert Searight. William was a man
of large physical proportions, weighing 300 pounds. He died
July 16, 1846, and his wife in February, 1848. The paternal
and maternal grandparents of Mrs. Adam F. Johnson came to
this country together (from Pennsylvania), her maternal grandparents
settling in Holmes County, becoming the nearest neighbors of
William Searight, and the first blockhouse in the country
was built there.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio – Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. – 1889 -
Page
455 |
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J. R. JOHNSON,
farmer, is a member of one of the representative
families of Wayne County. His father, Henry Johnson,
was a native of Washington County, Penn., and in his boyhood went
with his father to Stark County, Ohio, where he lived until eighteen
years of age. He was married in that county to Catherine
Gingry, a daughter of John Gingry, of Pennsylvania. In
1836 they came to Wayne County, and settled in the northeastern part
of the county.
J. R. Johnson was the eldest of a family of ten
sons and three daughters. He was born in Stark County, Ohio,
Aug. 7, 1833, and was but three years old when his parents moved to
Wayne County. Being the eldest of a large family, his services
were early required on the farm, and in his youth he acquired habits
of industry that have been of lasting benefit to him. He has a
pleasant home, his farm containing 106 acres of valuable land, and
his improvements being among the best in the county. Mr.
Johnson was married, in 1858, to Margaret Winkler, and
to them were born two children: William C. and Effie
(now Mrs. Summers). The mother died, and the
father afterward married Martha O'Hail, of York
County, Penn. They have had a family of seven children:
Mary E., John W., Benjamin F., Charles Wesley
(deceased), James L., Morris and Hugh Jacob.
In politics Mr. Johnson affiliates with the Republican party.
He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio – Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. – 1889 -
Page
428 |
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MATTHEW JOHNSON
and Sarah, his wife, settled in Wooster in 1817, having come
from Beaver County, Penn. They were two of the first members
of the old Seceder Church, now called United Presbyterian. He
was born Mar. 20, 1785, and died June 17, 1853. Mrs.
Johnson was born May 20, 1787, and died Feb. 5, 1877, a
remarkably smart and interesting old lady, loved and respected by
all who knew her. They had a family of six sons and one daughter:
John, Matthew, James, Elias S., William,
Perry and Belinda, the hitter of whom married
Thomas Power and resided in Wooster until her death, in
l882. The sons were all active business men, none now living,
James, the last surviving one, dying iu Wooster in 1888.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio – Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. – 1889 -
Page
593 |
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SINCLAIR JOHNSON,
a son of James and Mary Johnson, was born Feb. 23, 1824, on
the farm now owned by him in Salt Creek Township, Wayne Co., Ohio.
His grandfather, Thomas Johnson, previous to the War of 1812,
moved from near Baltimore, Md., to Fayette Co., Penn., where he
remained several years, and then came to Wayne County, arriving Apr.
9, 1816; he died in a fit of apoplexy on the road southwest of
Dalton, this county. He was the father of five children, three
sons and two daughters, all now deceased.
James Johnson, father of the subject of
this sketch, and also a native of Maryland, removed from there to
Fayette County, Penn., where he married Mary, daughter of
John White, of Uniontown, same State. Here they
located for a brief time, and then came to Salt Creek Township,
Wayne Co., Ohio, where they settled on the farm now owned by
Sinclair Johnson. James Johnson died Oct.
26, 1870, and his widow in 1885. Their children were
William W., Isaac S., Ruth and Sinclair. Of these,
William W. married, and located in Salt Creek Township, Wayne
County (he died at his late residence, near Wooster); Isaac S.
married, and located in Salt Creek Township, where he was
engaged in agricultural pursuits, and died; Ruth married
W. C. Grant, of Stark County, Ohio.
Sinclair Johnson, the subject of this
memoir, when a child of eight months was stricken with fever,
remaining ill for a period of three days, when he apparently fully
recovered, his mother leaving him at play upon the floor while she
engaged in spinning. His screams called her attention, when
she discovered that the child could not draw his limbs after him,
and found that he had lost the use of his lower limbs. He,
however, retained his mental and physical vigor, and persevered in
securing an education, receiving an elementary training in the
schools of the county. In 1851 he graduated from Jefferson
College, and became a professional and eminently successful teacher,
having taught at Fredericksburgh, Middletown, Shelby, Apple Creek,
and in other schools of the county.
On Mar. 1, 1860, he married Lucinda B. Hatfield,
and they have four children, viz.: Mary E. (now Mrs. Amos
B. Derr, of Franklin Township), James A., Isaac A. and Sarah
I. Cuinnugham, of Valparaiso, Ind. In1880 Mr.
Johnson was again visited with an affliction, a stroke of
palsy, which necessitated the relinquishment of active business
life. Mr. Johnson is a Prohibitionist, and both
he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, and he has
been a ruling elder a number of years in his church at Apple Creek,
Ohio. In his affliction he feels that "He who noteth even the
fall of a sparrow must have some purpose in the fate of one like
him." Mr. Johnson has been reasonably successful
financially, and is much esteemed by a large circle of
acquaintances.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio – Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. – 1889 -
Page
374 |
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SOLOMON H. JOHNSON
was born in that part of Richland County (Vermillion Township) which
is now Ashland County, Ohio, Apr. 12, 1829, and is a son of John
E. and Sarah (Harmon) Johnson, the former a native of New
Jersey, the latter of Pennsylvania. Other members of their
family are William E. Johnson, in Canaan Township, Wayne
County; Thomas Henry, in Medina County; John E., in
Clay City, Ind., and Abraham, in Gratiot County, Mich.
Our subject was reared on the homestead farm, receiving but a
limited education, means being slender. He remained at home
until the age of eighteen years, when he worked for two years at
carpentering. In 1848 he came to Wayne County, Ohio, and for
one year found employment as a carpenter. In 1849 he rented a
farm for six years, in Milton Township, and then purchased a farm in
Medina County, Ohio, which he carried on for eight years; then
purchased a farm in Medina County, Ohio, which he carried on for
eight years; then purchased a farm at Sterling, and in 1871 he moved
to his present place in Milton Township, Wayne County. In
addition to farming Mr. Johnson has followed the
occupation of an auctioneer for twenty-five years, with an average
of fifty-five sales per year. He is popular as an auctioneer
in four or five of the surrounding counties.
Nov. 20, 1849, Mr. Johnson married Rosana,
daughter of John and Sarah Lance, of Milton Township, Wayne
County. She died July 12, 1866, leaving eight children:
Sarah, wife of Barnhart Bartholomew, of Medina County,
Ohio (has three children): Wesley, Irvin and Charles);
Polly, wife of C. G. Beesey, of Abilene, Dickinson
Co., Ks. (has two children: Fay and Ray);
John O. (deceased); Casper, in Milton Township, married
to Emma daughter of J. H. Ruggles, of Creston, Ohio,
who died, and he afterward married Mamie, daughter of H.
P. Fassig, of Medina County, Ohio, and they have two children:
Nellie and Carl; Hettie, wife of George
Spooner, of Gratiot County, Mich., has one child, an infant;
Rosana, Alice Tiola, Solomon J. In 1872 Mr.
Johnson married his present wife, Harriet, daughter of
John M. and Elizabeth Smith, of Milton Township, Wayne County,
and by her has six children, as follows: Thurman, Corwin,
Thomas, David, Belle and Frank. Mr. Johnson
is an ardent Democrat in politics, and has always taken an active
part in the affairs of his township. He has served as
constable, supervisor, school director and assessor, and at the
present time (1888) he is one of the township trustees. He is
a member of Seville Lodge, No. 74, F. & A. M., and of Seville
Council, No. 474, R. A., also of Sterling Lodge, No. 173, K. P.
He is a member of the Untied Brethren Church in Christ at Sterling,
Wayne Co., Ohio.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio – Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. – 1889 -
Page
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