< BACK TO 1917 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
< BACK TO BIOGRAPHICAL INDEXES >
 

*	THE JOHNSON FAMILY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. By Thomas L. Johnson      The ancestors of the branch of Johnson family, who were early settlers in Champaign county came from Great Yarmouth, England.  One Thomas Johnson, in 1700, eloped with a chancery ward, Mary Baker, and had committed a penal offense in running away with a ward of court, he braved the dangers of apprehension by the authorities and started back to England.  The ship was captured by the Spanish, but he finally succeeded in escaping and returned to America by way of Canada, to find his home burned by the Indians.  He lived but a few years after his return.  He left an only son, Thomas, born on Feb. 2, 1702, who at an early age married Dorcas Sedgwick. Eleven children were born to this couple, and upon the death of his wife, Thomas took unto himself a second wife, whose maiden name is not known. SONS OF THOMAS JOHNSON.      In 1738 Thomas Johnson moved to Washington county, Maryland.  In 1832 his eldest son was born, named for his father.  This son studied law at Annapolis, was a member of the Continental Congress and was chosen governor of Maryland in 1777.  In 1791 he became an associate justice of the United State supreme court.  He died in 1819.      The second son, James, was born in 1736 and died in 1809.  He discovered iron ore in Washington county and built several furnaces.  During the Revolutionary War he cast a large number of cannon and "furnished the Continental army with one hundred tons of bombshells."      Joshua Johnson, the fourth son, was born in 1743.  In early life he went to England, and after the Revolution was appointed first American consul by President Washington.      John Johnson, the fifth son, born in 1745, became a physician.  He died in 1811.  Baker Johnson, born in 1749, also a lawyer, died in 1811.  He commanded a battalion of infantry during the Revolutionary War.  Roger Johnson, born in 1750, became interested in the iron business. WILLIAM JOHNSON, HEAD OF THE FAMILY IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.      William Johnson, the third son, was born in 1742 at Hancock, Maryland, on the Potomac river, about thirty-five miles from Ft. Cumberland.  His early life was the usual life of the pioneer boy, so far as we know, shortly after his birth, from about the year 1750, the began to be much interest in the western country, al through Virginia and Maryland.  That same year Christopher Gist left Old Town, Virginia, on a voyage of discovery for the Ohio company.  In 1754 James McBride and party passed down the Ohio in canoes and a few years later came stories of the beauty and fertility of Kentucky, which later so well deserved the name of the "dark and bloody ground."  A great movement set in that way following the mighty Daniel Boone.      For a long period of time it was generally understood that the territory lying to the north and west of the Ohio belonged to the Indians.  While that on the south and east was open to the white man.  However, the spirit of adventure and conquest was not willing to forego the virgin lands of the Muskingum and Miami valley, and sundry frontiersmen of treacherous and bloodthirsty temper, such as Cresap and Greenhouse, cruelly murdering the family of the Indian chief, Logan, and other innocent Indians, brought on a condition of hatred, and suspicion and open warfare, which rendered existence to the frontier of the utmost hazard.  Finally Lord Dunmore organized an army to punish these Indian aggressors and a bloody battle was fought Oct. 10, 1774, at Point Pleasant, which was most disastrous to the Indians.  This victory for the frontiersmen was speedily followed by a treaty of peace on the Pickaway plains and served to weaken the confidence of the Indian as to his ability to cope with his paleface foe, and likewise admonished him that the white man would seek out the fertile places where he had so long made his home.      In 1770 Col. Ebenezer Zane and his two brothers, Silas and Jonathan, had settled at a place on the Ohio called Wheeling Fort, and a center was established where began a colony of pioneers.  In 1784 Virginia, which had hitherto made claims to the Northwest Territory, ceded all rights to the new government called the United States.  In 1788 Cutler and Sargent located upon their purchase at Marietta.  The year 1785 had seen a settlement made where Portsmouth is now located by four families from Redstone, but the Indians were unfriendly and too powerful, and they had to abandon the enterprise.  Shortly after the settlement was made at Marietta, and during the same year, some adventuresome spirits had gone down to the Symes purchase, a few miles above Cincinnati.  They began a clearing in the forest, and very soon thereafter at Ft. Washington, now Cincinnati, and at South Bend, a few miles down, the river flatboats landed, and cabins began to be built.  In 1790 some French frontiersmen located at Gallipolis, so that before the opening of the new century, there were quite a number of cabins on the Ohio river.      These events profoundly affected William Johnson, who seemed to possess a more restless spirit than his brothers.  In 1765 he was married to Ellen Mills, who had reached the mature age of seventeen years, and they began to carve out their own destiny in the world, which, to them, was so full at that time of stirring events and important issues.  Jacob, their first child, was born in 1767, and other children followed: Hannah, Ellen, Lydia and Jane, and two sons, Barnett and Otho. WILLIAM JOHNSON GOES WEST      The restless spirit of the times seemed to possess William and he felt that he must get away from present surroundings and become a party of that hardy throng which braved all dangers and hesitated at no hardship to reach the unknown West.  But he had an invalid mother, not his own mother, but one who had come in and cared for the brood she found in the home.  This mother, being unable to travel, there was much discussion in this valley cabin as to what should be done.  This new, rich, alluring West must be seen and some of the prizes it offered to the early comer secured; so William, his wife, his small children, his eldest boy, Jacob, being twelve years old, and the helpless grandmother, decided to go out to this great West.  They at once made preparations to travel over the road cut out of the forest by the unfortunate Braddock, toward the Ohio country.  Their few possessions were gathered up, a litter was constructed between the pack mules into which the helpless grandmother was placed and goodbye was said to the old home.  Thus they moved out to find the new home beyond the Alleghenies.  This move was in the fall of 1778, and when they came near Redstone Old Fort, an important place on this famous road, and where it first reaches the Monongehela, a halt was made and the new home chosen.  The grandmother did not live to see the waters of the Ohio, for she died during the winter of 1780.  Redstone Old Fort, or as it was sometimes called, Ft. Burd, was at the junction of Redstone creek and the Monongehela, and is now the site of the busy city of Brownsville.  William did not long remain here.  He crossed over into Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the west side of the river, and busied himself for some ten years in the business of clearing up the forest, making occasional visits to surrounding settlements, but all the while hearing the call of the great, splendid West to come out and be one of her sons - to start as her child in the most primitive way, and to live in a close and intimate relationship.      The records show that William Johnson enlisted in the Revolutionary War in 1777, and served until June, 1778. In January, 1780, he received a Virginia certificate for a tract of land "situate on the waters of Charteris creek."  It was surveyed and contained three hundred and ninety-one acres.  The patent was obtained Nov. 20, 1786.  On May 6, 1795, he sold this land.  In April, 1786, he was appointed justice of the peace.      Jacob, the eldest son of William Johnson, now grown to manhood, was a vigorous, healthy, young man, fond of travel and anxious to see what was happening down in this great valley of the Ohio.  Accordingly he sought some experience as a boatman.  The river on which he had spent his boyhood, the beautiful Potomac, was not such a great . "Stream as the Ohio and the Ohio swept away in the West, and the Mississippi, and far off, at the. end of a five-months trip, was that fabled city on the other side of the world New Spain, New Orleans.      In the fall of 1798, William and Jacob Johnson, father and son, possessed by this spirit which truly harried men out of the Eastern settlements, must needs go to a country in Ohio, called the "Mad river country."  So they procured some boats and, trusting to the river current, committed themselves to the Monongehela, and in due season reached Cincinnati, or Ft. Washington.  They came up the Miami, and into this "Mad river country," concerning which the Indians told such good things.  Shortly before they came, Isaac Zane had purchased a large tract of land and was living in his blockhouse on the present site of Zanesfield, Logan county, and William and Jacob visited him, spending a day or two.      A very early settler in Logan county was on one Job Sharp, who had located about midway between East Liberty and Middleburg, and having heard that a man by the name of Johnson and his son were stopping at Zane's a pressing invitation was sent that they partake of the Sharp hospitality, and they accordingly stayed over night with Mr. Sharp.  There were a goodly number of Indians in the Mad river country and the house of Isaac Zane and his half-breed Wyandotte wife was a favorite place of rendezvous.      The Johnsons looked over the place they came to see, and were greath pleased with its apparent fertility, and also felt that they could live here without too much crowding.  On this expedition William and Jacob called at McPherson's store, kept by an Indian trader about six miles south of the present site of West Liberty.  They saw the valley of Kings creek, and all the beautiful land lying to the west, and felt that here somewhere would be an ideal spot for a home.  This country was then the Northwestern Territory and the population within the bounds of what is now Champaign and Logan counties did not, exceed a dozen white families.      I have mentioned Jacob's tendency to see something of the world, and on one of the trips down the Ohio, in the vicinity of Wheeling Fort, he met a young widow by the name of Martha Boggs McFarland, and, though he had grown to the mature age of thirty-two without having fallen under the spell of feminine wiles, this Ohio Valley woman captured his affections and being of a frank disposition, he immediately inquired if he might not claim her as his wife; without needless waiting they were married in 1799.  Whether Jacob first met the noble woman who became his wife when he was on the trip to the Mad river country, or on some prior visit, this chronicler cannot say.      Capt. William Boggs. father of Martha, was a true pioneer.  He was born in Berkley county, Virginia, and married Jane Erwin.  Just when they left Virginia is not known, but Martha was born the year of Lord Dunmore's War, 1774, at Laurel Hill, Pennsylvania, near the summit of the Alleghenies on the Braddock road.  Captain Boggs moved down to the vicinity of Wheeling, and Martha was in the fort at the time the Indians attempted to capture it. and it was with kindling eye and animated face that she used to recite to her children the story of that vivid incident in her girl's life.  Captain Boggs lived in the vicinity of Wheeling Fort for several years, later moving to an island in the Ohio just below Wheeling, which was called Boggs' Island.  Here his wife fell sick and died in the night.  Having no neighbor nearer than Wheeling Fort, the eldest daughter, Lydia, a girl of sixteen, took a canoe and alone in the darkness, on this great river, paddled up to the fort, arousing the sleeping inmates in order that some of the good women might come to care for the body of her dead mother.  At the time of the death of his wife, Captain Boggs had eight children, Lydia, the sixteen-year old girl, being the eldest.  A widow by the name of Barr, taking pity on his helpless condition, consented to come and be mother in his household and she accordingly came as she promised bringing along her own family of eight children.  To this number of sixteen were later added two.  So well did the Boggs and Barr families agree, that two weddings were had without going out of the family, two of the Boggs children marrying two of the Barr children.  Shortly after the marriage of Jacob Johnson and Martha Boggs, Capt. William Boggs moved to the Pickaway Plains, being the first pioneer settler and suffering much hardship.  He settled within a few rods of the spot where the treaty of peace was made at the close of Dunmore's War.  He and his descendants were prominently identified with the settlement and development of that locality. WILLIAM AND JACOB JOHNSON COME TO CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.      Upon the marriage of Jacob Johnson and Martha Boggs, they went back to Washington county, Pennsylvania, and there on Jan. 26, 1800, their first child, Mary, was born.  Jacob was thirty-four years of age and Martha twenty-six, and this crowded Washington county was no place to get on and make a home for the little ones.  So a family council was called, the father, William, acting as chief adviser.  He and Jacob told the others about the rich "barrens" of Mad river, Macochee and Kings creek, near where the Mingoes lived, and how much better it would be there than in hilly Washington county.  The wives thought that though it was a long way from old friends, it would be better, while the children danced in glee in anticipation of the long journey which was to form one enlarged picnic.      So in the spring of 1803 we find them launching a flatboat and putting aboard the household goods of three families, William Johnson, Jacob Johnson, his son, and Robert Russell, a son-in-law.  Jacobs family consisted of his wife, Martha, the two boys, who bore the name of McFarland; Mary, their first born, and Lydia, a second daughter.  Robert Russell had married a sister of Jacob, and they were also coming to Ohio.      Pushing away in their commodious flatboat in the early spring of 1803, when the current was swift, one can imagine the light, happy hearts of all the company as they floated down the noble river with eager anticipations of the goodly country in the Mad river valley.  Of course, sharp lookouts had to be kept for the perils of the navigation, and dangers from the lurking Indian and the river pirates.  The beauty of the blossoming killikinic and the snowy dogwood appealed to them as they swept between the heights of the lower Monongehela.  How eager were they all, especially the women and the younger children, to see old Ft. Duquesne, now newly named Ft. Pitt; and how interested they all were when William and Jacob pointed out the mouth of Yellow creek, where the Logan family had been so brutally murdered; and with what interest was noted all that Martha had to tell when they reached Wheeling Fort, of her girlhood and her friendship with the hero of Indian warfare, Lewis Wetzel, and the heroic defense of the little fort : how they landed at the island in midriver for a last lookat the lonely grave of Martha's mother; of the eagerness to see where the "Yankees" had settled at Marietta, and what progress they had made in founding a New England in the Ohio wilderness; the great desire to see Point Pleasant at the mouth of the Kanawaha, where the Indian slaughter took place October, 1774; and doubtless they all joined in sinking its commemoration song: " Let us mind the tenth day of October,   Seventy-four, which caused our woe:   The Indian savages they did cover   The pleasant banks of the Ohio."      We do not know how much time was consumed in this journey.  If all conditions were favorable, ten days time was considered a quick trip from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, floating by night as well as by day.      Reaching Cincinnati, they prepared to come to their new Ohio home.  They passed through Dayton, on the Miami, where there was a mill and where they could get "flour for bread."  They passed through what is now Springfield, and probably stopped at the public house kept by Griffith Foos.  Later they came through the site of Urbana and here were four log cabins.  They were a little indefinite as to just where they would finally locate their habitation.  The low land at that time was very productive of "chills and fever," and the early settler chose, if wise, some more elevated place for building his home.  So they passed over the bottoms or flat land and came up the south branch of Kings creek and halted on the gravelly bluff just south of the creek, and a few rods east of the present Ludlow road.      Here they all remained during the fall of 1803 and all of 1804, and the winter of 1805.  They had very few neighbors.  Upon the site of the house formerly occupied by Col. John Thomas, lived a man by the name of Davis, but no other white inhabitants occupied this smiling valley at that time. JACOB JOHNSON SETTLES IN MINGO VALLEY.      During the winter of 1805, Jacob planned to move to Mingo valley and arrangements were made for the purchase of the Denny and Tarbell surveys containing four hundred and seventy-eight acres on the north side of the valley, where the Indians had lived.  In pursuance of this plan, on Apr. 1, 1805, Jacob and Martha with their five children came across the prairies from Kings creek and occupied the log cabin out of which the Indians had moved.  There was very little timber of much size in the valley, and standing where the old Johnson cabin stood, one could look across the valley to the higher land at the south.  Martha in telling her children of one of one of the incidents of the moving day, said that in the valley were a great many wild-plum trees and that she remembered well how beautiful they looked with the snowy burden of bloom that April afternoon from this new home.      The Indian cabin into which the} moved was not a suitable place for this mother to bring up her daughters, who must he good housewives, so a new cabin had to be built.  During the early fall of that year the father and other members of the family were busy in getting ready the new house, so as to be comfortable for the winter, as well as to have the newest and finest house in the valley.  The chimney was the last part of the house to be finished and great anxiety was manifested by the good housewife that they might be able to have supper in the new house the day they moved.  There was some uncertainty about the chimney, but fortunately it had been finished as the day closed, and there was no doubt that the supper could be prepared in the new home.  As she looked up from her work of putting things on the table, lo! there stood Mr. Davis, their nearest neighbor, who had come two miles to sit with them at their first meal in the new house.      The "Indian field'" had been cleared and cultivated, but it was of comparatively small area.  So, Jacob went busily at work, clearing away the brush and small timber in the "barrens," as it was called, so as to be able to put in the crops.  His father, William during the year of 1805, purchased three hundred and seventy-five acres immediately south of Jacob's purchase, and in the spring of 1806, William moved from Kings creek to the south side of the valley and erected a house.  A short distance east of the house built by William, his son, Barnet, erected a house and later the youngest son, Otho, who lived there until the year 1838, when he moved to Illinois.      Here Jacob and Martha faithfully did their duty toward making a home and getting on in the world.  The neighborhood began to fill up and relatives began to locate in the vicinity.  The usual pioneer development went steadily forward.  The lives these pioneers led were very simple.  They were ambitious to get the farms cleared and put under cultivation.  Their personal wants were few.  They were very much interested in their neighbors and there was a feeling of brotherhood that is little known today.  When misfortune came there was no lack of sympathetic friends, who came with hearts full of help and comfort.  There was a feeling of mutual interest through the entire community.  The lives of our pioneer ancestors were doubtless narrow and their contact with the great outside world was limited, but they were honest and sincere men and women, and though they knew nothing of fashionable society and their clothing did not hang as on the tailor's model, yet they worthily wore the habilaments of true manhood and womanhood.      The fall of 1805 found this couple installed in the new house, and the Indian cabin abandoned.  As was the fashion in those old days, each two years found a new baby in the home, and Mary had, as she thought, no end of cradle rocking, and the trundle bed kept getting more crowded year by year.  God was good; the rains came; the sun shone; seed time always came around, and harvest invariably followed.  Assuredly, this home was the dwelling place of peace and of filial and parental love. THE CALAMITY OF 1821.      The children were growing up.  Mary had been married at the age of seventeen and Hiram and Nelson were vigorous, healthy boys able to do quite a little, when a calamity came to the family.  On Christmas eve of 1821, the father, Jacob, was hauling some logs, having one end loaded upon a sled, the other end dragging upon the ground.  One of the horses was young and spirited.  He was driving, walking behind the sled, when suddenly the free end of the log slid round, catching his foot between the heavy log and a tree stump.  He stopped the team and called to Nelson to come and release him, but the horses became restive, and he could not control them, and consequently his foot was pulled round as the team started, the bones broken, and the tendons badly torn.  Here at this Christmas time was a calamity indeed; the father wholly incapacitated and three boys to do the work and pay for the farm, the eldest of whom was barely thirteen.      Every effort was made to save the foot, but surgery in those days was only in its infancy, and so it was finally decided that the leg must be amputated.  I wish an artist could paint the scene as it has been pictured to me, so that it might be put upon the wall of some great hospital to tell the story of the progress made in surgery during the years intervening.  This was long before the blessed days of chloroform, and nothing was known of antiseptics.  The day was fixed to take off the leg of Jacob Johnson, and it happened to be a bitterly cold day in February.  The whole countryside was interested, and everybody came for ten or more miles.  The house was small and could not contain all who came, so big heaps of logs were made outside and set on fire to provide warmth for the neighbors.  Doctor Mosgrove, from Urbana, Doctor Carter, and a student, Doctor Lord, were in charge of the operation.  A large table was brought near the middle of the room and upon this the patient was placed.  The room was crowded with people.  Upon a bed opposite, so as to see that all was going well, sat Martha, and by her side the youngest son, Alfred, then about five years old.  Near them were interested and sympathetic neighbors.  The surgeons began the work, and to many it seemed grewsome, but when they vacated their places, others eagerly sought them.  Sitting by the side of the five-year old boy was a near neighbor, Thomas Lindsay, who, like some others, feeling that such exhibitions are not wholesome, fell over in a faint.  The work stopped for a moment while the fainting man was carried into the open air.  The patient was of stoic mould, and bore the pain unflinchingly; except once, he groaned when an unusually painful period came.  I say I should like to see some artist faithfully put this scene on canvas - the face of him so brave under the knife; the lineaments of rugged old Dr. Mosgrove, a name so long honored in this county ; the face of her sitting on the bedside, looking into the future as she thought of the battle with the wilderness; the face of the five-year-old lad as he sat with his hand in that .of his mother, fear and wonder alternately running across his child's countenance; the features and expression of the curious, and yet kindly sympathetic friends and neighbors, anxious to help this helpless man in his awful trouble, and this woman in what seemed to them worse than widowhood.  Such a picture by a competent artist would tell a story which this generation can only know as it comes to it from those who lived in the period of die "cabin and the clearing."      The year of 1822 finds this family with the father disabled, but the blow became softened by time.  The boys grew up and the mother became cheery and happy, having learned as a girl, the necessity of making the best of everything.  Thus things assume a more cheerful aspect.      The boys as they grew up toward manhood felt that they must make a success in life, and while the father could not be of any actual physical help, he was ready with wise advice and suggestion.  Hard and faithful work counted in those days, as always, and it was evident that the farm would be paid for and all would go well.  So it was decided that they would have a new house, and that a part of it, at least should be of brick.  During the summer and fall of 1832, the brick was made and the house completed.  It was a one-story house, with a low attic, and it had the large rooms and cavernous fireplaces of the day.  Later, a frame part of substantially the same size was built.  This house was occupied by the family until 1870. THE SONS OF JACOB JOHNSON.      I have spoken of the three boys working together, and this they did to an unusual degree, for all they had was in common and all there was belonged to each.  Somehow, each seemed to feel it a duty to remain at the family hearthstone.  When Hiram reached the age of forty-three, he concluded he was sufficiently mature to take a wife, but he waited until after the father had passed out of life, and it was evident that Nelson and Alfred could and would care for the aged mother.  Jacob died on July 4, 1845, lacking but eight days of having reached the age of seventy-nine years.  On Mar. 6, 1854, death came and ended the busy life of Martha - it had indeed been a busy life during the eighty-one years of its existence.      Three years before her death, in 1851, Hiram had married, and now Nelson and Alfred were alone in the world.  Alfred, being younger and more venturesome perhaps, insisted that there must be a housewife and one who had more interest than the mere housekeeper.  He took into the house very shortly after his mother's death as his wife, one who had ministered unto that mother in her last months of life.  A new farm was bought and Hiram went and occupied it, and Nelson and Alfred stayed on in the old house.  Other farms were bought and whatever was purchased was the property of the three brothers.  The common money bought the dresses of the wives, and the clothing: of the children; whatever was had.  What they possessed belonged to the three.    They did business as H., N. and A. Johnson, or more familiarly "the Johnson boys."      They had bought, from time to time, large amounts of land, so they owned at one time something like two thousand acres, and were largely engaged in the live-stock business.  In 1868 Nelson married Anne E. Gilbert, and went to live on the farm about a mile east of the village of Mingo, Hiram sometime prior having moved to a farm south of Kings Creek, near the Ludlow road.  About the time of Nelson's marriage, as the children of Hiram and Alfred were growing up, it was thought best that a division of their property be made.  This was done to the entire satisfaction of each, and the only necessity for calling in a lawyer was to take the acknowledgments to the respective quit-claim deeds.  I think I am warranted in saying the business dealings of these brothers were somewhat unusual.  They were partners for forty years without a serious difference, and they divided a large property without a word of dispute. CHILDREN OF JACOB AND MARTHA JOHNSON.      Mary, the eldest child of Jacob and Martha Johnson, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, Jan. 26, 1800.  At the age of seventeen she married Robert Blair.  To this marriage two children were born.  Jacob and Alonzo, both of whom, inheriting the pioneer instinct, in early manhood sought their homes in Illinois.  In 1831 Mary married Col. John Thomas, and for many years resided near Kennard.  Three children were born to this second marriage, and two.  Ivan and Marion Thomas, were long prominent citizens of this county.  Mary Thomas, familiarly called by the neighbors "Aunt Polly," died in January, 1884.      Nelson Johnson, second son of Jacob and Martha, was born July 1, 1810.  He was a great lover of books and reading, and especially of history, and had a great interest in the lore of the early settler.  He possessed a remarkable memory and was fond of telling Alfred's children stories of the early days.  The story of many of the incidents narrated in this sketch came from his lips.   In 1868 he married Anna E. Gilbert, and in this marriage he had the good fortune to secure a wife who admirably fitted his nature and temperament.  He died in August, 1895.  His widow still resides at the old home east of Mingo, and with her lives their only daughter, Mary.   Their two sons died; Rodney, in early childhood, and Amos, in recent years, in the prime of young manhood.      Alfred, the youngest son of the pioneers, Jacob and Martha, was born June 10, 1817.  He was of a quiet disposition, but active and energetic, a man of unusually deep feeling and affection; but was brought up in the old school which preached the doctrine that the exhibition of all feeling should be stifled, lest it be an expression of weakness.      Of the three brothers, Alfred was the more active in meeting the public in the conduct of their business.  Shortly after his mother's death in 1854, he married Ann Elizabeth Stone, and they lived together for over fifty-one years in a most happy companionship.  It was his earnest desire that he should live to help commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the settlement of his parents on the farm at Mingo, and that wish was granted.  He died Sept. 9, 1905, and at his request his body was taken to the little cemetery on the farm, where he four generations of his family.  His widow continued to reside in Mingo, until the last few years, when failing health prompted her to make her home with her daughter in Marion during the winter.  She was always eager to get "back home" among her friends in the village.  On June 28, 1917, at the age of almost eighty-eight years, she passed into the Beyond, and she sleeps in the little cemetery on the "Johnson farm." CHILDREN OF ALFRED AND ANNE ELIZABETH JOHNSON.      The children born to Alfred and "Lizzie" Johnson were as follow:      Thomas L. Johnson, the eldest son, became a lawyer, went to Cleveland as a young man, and is now a practicing attorney in that city.      John B., the second son, lived for some years in Kansas, and then in Chicago, and has recently moved to DeFuniack Springs, Florida.      Otha G. lived for many years on the old farm, but now resides in the village of Mingo.      Martha, eldest daughter, married Daniel W. Strayer, and resided in Degraff for a few years, and later moved to Marion, Ohio.      Charles N. until recently lived in Kansas City, where he was engaged in the live-stock business.  He recently returned to this county, and now resides on the John Enoch farm, near West Liberty.      Alfred, the youngest son, lived in the West and died at Mexico, Missouri, in 1912.      Merton, the youngest child, married Adolphus Russell, and now resides in the village of Mingo. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Pages 979 - 992
	ALFRED JOHNSON.     Albert Johnson, farmer, of Wayne township, this county, was born in the vicinity where he still resides, July 5, 1884, and while still a young man has won a definite degree of success in his chosen life work.  He is a son of Otho and Laura (Thomas) Johnson.  Otho G. Johnson, a retired former of Wayne township, has spent his life in Champaign county.  He was born near Mingo, Oct. 23, 1859, and is a son of Alfred and Elizabeth (Stone) Johnson the former of whom was born on the same place as his son, Otho G., his parents having been among the earliest pioneers in this section of Ohio.  Alfred Johnson, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was the son of Jacob Johnson, who came to Champaign county from Maryland in 1805, and settled in the woods in Wayne township.  Indians still were plentiful in this locality at that time.  He and his sons cleared and developed a good farm, which is still in possession of the Johnson family after the lapse of more than a century.  Jacob Johnson and wife were parents of four children, Hiram, Nelson, Polly and Alfred.  Reared on the home farm in Wayne township, Alfred Johnson established his home there after his marriage and there spent the rest of his life, becoming one of the leading general farmers in the township.  His family consisted of seven children, of whom Otho G., father of the subject of this sketch, was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow: Thomas L., a lawyer of Cleveland; John B., who is farming in Florida; Martha, who makes her home at Marion, Ohio, and is the widow of Daniel W. Strayer; Charles N., who formerly was connected with the stockyards at Kansas City, Missouri, and is now farming in Salem township; Fred, formerly a conductor on the Wabash railroad, who was killed in a wreck in 1913, and Merton R., who makes his home at Mingo.      Otho G. Johnson grew up on the home farm and attended the schools of his neighborhood.  He worked with his father on the farm when a boy and learned the various phases of agricultural and stock raising pursuits.  When twenty-one years old he married and located on a portion of the home farm, remaining there until 1910, when he left the farm and moved to the village of Mingo, but continued to engage in the live-stock business and there he has since resided.  For over twenty years he has been engaged in buying and shipping live stock, shipping mostly to the Cleveland yards, and has made a specialty of raising on his farm Poland China hogs and Percheron horses, long having been regarded as one of the leading stockmen in the eastern part of Champaign county.  He and his brother, Thomas L. Johnson, own more than five hundred acres of excellent farming land.      In 1880 Otho G. Johnson married Laura Thomas, who was born and reared in Salem township, a daughter of Josephus and Jane (Downs) Thomas, and to this union four children have been born, namely: Nellie, wife of Arthur Johnson, of Bellefontaine, Ohio; Alfred, the immediate subject of this sketch; Lulu May, wife of Edward Warye, of Salem township, and Mary, who married Blaine Watkins, a farmer, who is living on a part of the old Johnson home place.      Alfred Johnson grew to manhood on the home farm in Wayne township and received his education in the district schools of his home community, at the old Johnson school house.  After finishing school he took up farming with his father until he was married, Mar. 10, 1909, to Ruth Gilbert, a daughter of George and Emma Gilbert, to which union two children have been born, Claude G., and Otho G.      After his marriage Alfred Johnson began farming for himself by renting the B. R. Tallman place and has remained there ever since.  The farm consists of one hundred and seventy-four acres.  He raises considerable grain, which he feeds to live stock, preparing large numbers of cattle and hogs for the market.  Politically, he is a Republican. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 908
	FRED N. JOHNSON.    Fred N. Johnson, proprietor of a well-kept farm two and one-half miles south of Spring Hill, on rural mail route No. 1 out of West Liberty, on the Urbana-Spring Hill pike, in Harrison township, this county, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life.  He was born on a farm in Concord township on July 11, 1876, son of Silas and Sarah (Weidman) Johnson, both also natives of this county, the former born on a pioneer farm in the vicinity of Cable and the latter in Salem township, whose last days were spent in the county of their birth.      Silas Johnson was a member of one of the old families in Champaign county.  He was born in 1845 and was but six years of age when his father lied.  When ten years of age he left the home farm in the Cable neighborhood and moved with his mother and sister to Concord township.  After his marriage to Sarah Weidman he lived for a year on a farm south of Lippencott, in Salem township, and then established his home on a farm in Concord township, where Ralph Johnson now lives, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring in 1909 and hers in 1915.  They were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow: Anna, now deceased, who was the wife of Joseph Hewling; Frank, who died at the age of nineteen; Leila, wife of Fred Hurst, of Union township, this county; Charles A., who is living on a farm south of Kennard; Emma, wife of Charles Bair, of Mad River township, and Ralph W., who is living on the old home place in Concord township.  Silas Johnson and wife were members of Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal church and he for years served as a trustee of that church. Politically, he was a Democrat and had served the public as trustee of his home township.      Fred N. Johnson was reared on the home farm in Concord township, receiving his schooling in the local district school and in the high school at Kings Creek, and remained at home until his marriage when twenty-four years of age, after which he established his home on the Callend place, his wife's old home, and after three years of residence there built the house in which he is now living, on the old Joseph Callend place and has ever since made his home there, he and his family being very comfortably situated.  In addition to the tract of one hundred and thirty-eight acres which Mr. Johnson is farming there, he owns a further tract of one hundred and fifty-seven acres across the road from his home place and is regarded as one of the substantial farmers of that neighborhood. Politically, Mr. Johnson is a Democrat and is at present serving as a member of the township board of education.      On Dec. 25, 1900, F. N. Johnson was united in marriage to Nellie Callend, who was born in Harrison township, this county, daughter of Joseph and Isabel (Wilson) Callend, and to this union three children have been born, namely: Joseph N., who died at the age of one month; Robert C., born on Aug. 25, 1906, and Sarah Isabel, Mar. 22, 1911.  Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are members of the Presbyterian church at Spring Hill and take a proper interest in church work and other neighborhood good works.  Mr. Johnson is a member of the Masonic lodge at West Liberty and of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Degraff and takes a warm interest in the affairs of both of these fraternal organizations. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 702
	IVAN T. JOHNSON.     Ivan T. Johnson, a farmer of Salem township. Champaign county, was born in the locality where he still makes his .home, on Nov. 27, 1858.  He is a son of Hiram M. and Margaret (Brown) Johnson, the mother being a native of Virginia.  The father was born in Wayne township, Champaign county, Ohio, Aug. 6, 1808, and was a son of Jacob and Martha (Boggs) Johnson.  Jacob was born in Maryland, July 27, 1776, and his wife was born Oct. 20, 1774.  They made the overland journey from the old Oriole state to Ohio in an early day, taking up their residence in the wilderness of what is now Salem township, Champaign county, in 1804, settling on land on the east side of King's creek, but a year later moved to the north side of the Mingo valley, there clearing and developing a farm which is still in possession of the Johnson family.  He and his wife were the first white settlers in that part of the county.  They endured the usual hardships of frontier people.  It was in the midst of the Indian country, however, the red men disturbed them but little until they were removed from the country, in 1805, to Wayne township.  It was on this farm that the great grandparents of the subject of this sketch lived and died and were buried.  There were no community or public cemeteries in those days and over one hundred pioneers were buried in the old burying ground on the Johnson farm.  The great-grandfather Johnson died in 1820, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1817.  Their son, Jacob Johnson, paternal grandfather, remained on the home place until his death in 1845, his widow surviving until 1854.  Only nine acres had been cleared on the original Johnson farm, which had been done by the Indians, and had been under cultivation for some time.  Jacob Johnson became one of the leading farmers and influential citizens of Champaign county in his day, owning a farm of four hundred and seventy-eight acres, of which he cleared one hundred acres himself.  Owing to an accidental injury while hauling logs, he was not able to farm actively during the last twenty-two years of his life.  His family consisted of nine children, only four of whom grew to maturity, namely: Mary, Hiram, Nelson B. and Alfred.      Hiram Johnson, father of the subject of this sketch, lived on the old home place, the three brothers holding the estate in common, he remaining there until he was fifty-eight years old, at which time they owned a total of nineteen hundred acres.  At that time the property was divided, by mutual consent, without the aid of any legal advice.  The total value of the property was one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.      On May 15, 1851, Hiram Johnson married Margaret Brown, a daughter of David and Hester Brown, and to their union four children were born, namely: Jacob, Marie Theresa, Nelson B. and Ivan T., of this sketch.      Hiram Johnson was one of the progressive general farmers and stockmen of his day in this county, operating on a large scale.  He raised immense quantities of grain, a large portion of which was fed to live stock.  He shipped many carloads of cattle and hogs to the markets every year.  He owned over eight hundred acres of valuable land, which he brought up to a high state of improvement and cultivation.  He established a commodious and modernly equipped home in the midst of attractive surroundings and he had a large group of substantial outbuildings.  Part of his land was in Logan county.  His death occurred in 1900.  His widow survived until 1907.  His personal reputation was always that of a man of unquestioned business ethics and integrity in all walks of life.  He was public-spirited and, like his father before him, enjoyed the good will and esteem of all with whom he came in contact.      Ivan T. Johnson, the immediate subject of this sketch, grew to manhood on the home farm.  He received his education in the public schools of Wayne township.  He remained at home, farming with his father, until he was thirty-three years old, at which time he and his brother, Nelson B., began farming in partnership until 1911.  Since then he has been operating his own land and has been very successful as a general agriculturist.  He owns one of the choice and most desirable farms in the county, which consists of four hundred and ninety-eight acres, in Salem and Wayne townships.  It is highly improved, the best methods of up-to-date, twentieth century farmers being adopted in all departments.  He has a beautiful home, modern in every appointment.  In connection with raising large crops of grain he prepares a number of carloads of live stock for the market annually, always raising good grades of stock.      Ivan T. Johnson was married on Oct. 18, 1892, to Iona Igou, a daughter of Peter and Lucretia (Bayless) Igou.  She was born in Union township, Champaign county, where she grew to womanhood, and she attended the local schools.  Her parents were also natives of this county, her father of Wayne township and her mother of Union township.  Here they grew to maturity, attended school and were married, after which they established their future home on a farm in Union township.  Mr. Igou was one of the first to offer his services to the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War, and he served in an Ohio regiment four years, becoming an efficient and brave soldier, taking part in numerous important battles and campaigns in the South.  After he was honorably discharged he returned to Champaign county, married and spent the rest of his life here, successfully engaged in general farming.  His death occurred in 1903.      The father of Peter Igou (subject's wife's father) was Peter Igou, Sr., who was one of the brothers of French descent who were among the first pioneers of Champaign county, Ohio.  Peter Igou was a farmer and finally owned several hundred acres of land and put up houses on his several farms.  They were adherents of the Quaker church.      Ten children were born to Peter Ogou and wife, named as follows:  Iona, wife of Mr. Johnson of this sketch; Hugo, Albert, Richard, Arnet, Effie, Duward, Dale, Edward and Maude.      Eleven children have been born to Ivan T. Johnson and wife, named as follows:  Coppiela, who married Rolla Dagger; Benjamin W., Louis, Roger, Marion, Margaret, Julia is deceased; Alice, Isabelle, Alfred and Lowell.      Mr. Johnson is an independent voter, being liberal in his views on public questions.  He desires to see honest and capable men in office, no matter what their political affiliations may be.  He has never sought political leadership, preferring to devote his attention to his large farming interests and to his home.  His wife is a member of the Baptist church at Kings Creek.      The Johnson family has been one of the best known, most representative and highly honored in Champaign county since the early pioneer days, or for one hundred and thirteen years, and their record is eminently deserving of a conspicuous position in this biographical compendium. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 171
	OTHO G. JOHNSON.     Otho G. Johnson, well-known stockman and substantial retired farmer, of Mingo, this county, former trustee of Wayne township and for years one of the most active factors in the general business life of that community, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life.  He was born on the old Johnson homestead place north of Mingo, in Wayne township, Oct. 23, 1859, son of Alfred and Elizabeth (Stone) Johnson, the former of whom was born on that same place and the latter in the state of Virginia, her death occurring in July, 1917.  Their last days were spent here, where they were useful and influential residents of the neighborhood.      Alfred Johnson was the son of Jacob Johnson and wife.  The latter a member of the Boggs family who came to Ohio from Maryland in 1805 and settled in Wayne township, this county, early becoming recognized as among the leading pioneer families of that part of the county.  At the time Jacob Johnson established his home in Wayne township, Indians still were plentiful hereabout and his family was reared amid real pioneer conditions.  He and his sons developed a fine piece of property there and the old home place is still in the possession of the family after a lapse of more than a century.  Jacob Johnson and wife were the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter, namely: Hiram, who established his home on a farm on the Ludlow road; Nelson, who married Eliza Gilbert and established his home one mile east of Mingo; Polly, who married Colonel Thomas and lived in Salem township, and Alfred, the last born, now dead.      Reared on the old home farm in Wayne township, Alfred Johnson established his home there after his marriage and there spent all his life, becoming one of the most extensive farmers and stockmen in that part of the county, a man of large influence in his community.  He was a Republican and took an active part in political affairs, becoming one of the leaders of his party in his section.  His wife was a member of the Baptist church and their children were reared in that faith.  There were seven of these children, of whom Otho G. Johnson was the third in order of birth, the others being as follow: Thomas L., a well-known lawyer at Cleveland; John B., who is a farmer in the neighborhood of DeFuniak Springs, Florida; Martha, who is living at Marion, this state, widow of Daniel W. Strayer; Charles N., who for twenty years was connected with the Kansas City stock yards and is now a prosperous farmer in Salem township, this county; Fred, formerly a conductor on the Wabash railroad, who was killed in a wreck in 1913, and Merton R., a well-known resident of Mingo.      Brought up on the old home farm established by his grandfather, Otho G. Johnson received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and from the days of his boyhood was a valued assistant in the labors of developing and improving the place and in helping his father in the latter's extensive live stock operations, thus early becoming a practical farmer and stockman.  He married at the age of twenty-one and made his home on the west part of the old homestead place.  He remained there until 1910, in which year he left the farm and moved to Mingo, for the better management of the extensive live stock interests he had been developing, and there he has since made his home.  For twenty years or more Mr. Johnson has been engaged in the buying and selling of live stock, shipping mostly to the Cleveland yards, and has made a specialty of raising on his farm Poland-China hogs and Percheron horses, for many years having been recognized as one of the leading stockmen in this part of the state.  He and his brother, Thomas L. Johnson, are the owners of more than five hundred acres of excellent land.  Mr. Johnson is a Republican and for some time served as trustee of his home township.      In 1880 Otho G. Johnson was united in marriage to Laura Thomas, who was born on the old Thomas farm in Salem township, this county, a daughter of Josephus and Jane (Downs) Thomas, and to this union four children have been born, as follow: Nellie, wife of Arthur Johnson, of Bellefontaine, Ohio; Alfred, a progressive young farmer living one-half mile east of Mingo, who married Ruth Gilbert and has two sons, Claude and Otho; Lulu May, wife of Edward Warye, of Salem township, this county, and Mary, who married Blaine Watkins, who is farming the old Johnson homestead farm, and has one child, a daughter, Elsie, a representative of the fifth generation of the same family in continuous occupancy of that place.  Mrs. Johnson is a member of the Baptist church and both she and Mr. Johnson have ever been attentive to local good works, helpful in many ways in promoting such movements as were designed to advance the common welfare of the community in which they have lived all their lives and in which their respective families have been prominently represented since pioneer days. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 755
Peter Johnson	PETER JOHNSON.     The late Peter Johnson, who for years was regarded as one of the most successful grocers and retail meat dealers in Urbana and who died at his home in that city in the summer of 1913, was a native son of Ohio and lived in this state all his life.  He was born on a farm in Montgomery county on Sept. 13, 1861, son of Alexander and Maria Johnson, well-to-do farmers of that county and the former of whom is still living, now making his home at Tippecanoe, in Harrison county, over in the eastern part of the state.      Reared on the home farm in Montgomery county, Peter Johnson received his schooling in the local schools in the neighborhood of his home and from the days of his boyhood was a valued assistant to his father in the labors of improving and developing the home farm.  After his marriage, in 1886, he continued his labors on the home farm and there continued thus engaged until shortly before his departure from Montgomery county and removal to Urbana, where, in 1897, he engaged in the grocery and retail meat business and was thus engaged the rest of his life.  Upon his arrival in Urbana in 1897 Mr. Johnson opened a grocery store and meat market on North Russell street, at the stand now occupied by J. B. Method, and there continued in business until his death, on July 4, 1913.  Mr. Johnson was an enterprising and energetic merchant and built up one of the most extensive grocery stores in Urbana, his methods and the up-to-date character of his store attracting a large trade.  He was a member of the Lutheran church, as is his widow, and was ever a liberal contributor to the various beneficences of the local congregation of that church and otherwise helpful in local good works.  By political affiliation he was a Republican and ever gave a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs, an earnest supporter of the cause of good government, but was not a seeker after public office.  Energetic in the management of his own extensive business affairs, he was public Spirited and in the general commercial and industrial affairs of the City ever took an active interest, a consistent "booster" of all movements designed to advance the business interests of his home town and the county at large.      On Jan. 6, 1886, Peter Johnson was united in marriage to Louise Reuss, who was born in Montgomery county, in the city of Dayton, a daughter of Henry and Regina Reuss, natives of Germany, who had come to this country in the days of their youth and had located with their respective parents at Dayton, where they were married.  Henry Reuss was a butcher and for many years was very successfully engaged in that line at Dayton.  He and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom five are still living, those besides Mrs. Johnson being Elizabeth, Kate, Laura and Adam.  To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson one child was born, a son, Stephen Arthur Johnson.  Since the death of her husband Mrs. Johnson has continued to make her home at Urbana, where she is very pleasantly situated. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 616
	R. G. JOHNSON.    Although yet a young man, R. G. Johnson, who is teaching school at Cable, Champaign county, has won a large measure of success in one of the most exacting of professions and gives promise of accomplishing still greater good as an educator in the future.      Mr. Johnson was born in Union township, this county, Dec. 14, 1889, a son of John W. and Sepha (Wooley) Johnson.  The father grew to manhood on the farm in this county, and received his early education in the public schools of Union township.  He began farming when a young man in Union township, continuing there in general agricultural pursuits until he- was fifty years of age, when he moved to Wayne township, later locating in Cable, where he spent the rest of his life, dying in that village.  His widow is still living, making her home at Urbana.  To these parents two children were born, the subject of this sketch and Roy.       R. G. Johnson grew to manhood in Union township and received his early education in the public schools of that township, and in the high school at Mechanicsburg, which latter he attended for a short time; then studied at Miami University, finishing his work there in 1910.  During the year 1915 he attended Wittenberg College at Springfield, Ohio, and is nowplanning to take a special course in that institution.      Mr. Johnson has been teaching since 1911. He taught his first term at the White school house in Union township, spending one year there; then taught two years at Middletown and two years at Mingo.  At this writing, 1917, he is engaged in teaching at Cable, where he has been engaged for another year also.  He has been very successful from the first as an instructor and now ranks among the popular teachers of Champaign county.  He is a diligent student himself and keeps well abreast of the times in all that pertains to educational work.  He has introduced many new and approved methods in the schools of which he has been in charge, and has been popular with both pupils and patrons.      On May 29, 1916, Mr. Johnson was married to Alice Black, a daughter of Edward and Jennie Black.  Politically, Mr. Johnson is a Republican.  He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is past noble grand of the local lodge of that order.  He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 1063
	RALPH W. JOHNSON.     Ralph W. Johnson, a farmer living in Concord township, Champaign comity, was born July 14, 1888, on the farm he now owns.  He is a son of Silas and Sarah E. (Wiedman) Johnson.  The mother was born at Kings Creek, Champaign county, Aug. 2, 1845, and died May 26, 1915.  The father was born Apr. 17, 1845, and his death occurred on Apr. 12, 1909.  They were both members of the Methodist church in which they were active workers.  He was also identified with local politics, being a strong Democrat.  They spent their lives on a farm in Concord township, and they were parents of seven children, five of whom are living in 1917, namely: Fred N. is farming in Harrison township, this county; Leila is the wife of Fred Herst and they live in this county; Charles A. is farming in Salem township; Emma is the wife of Charles Bear and they live on a farm west of Urbana; Anna, now deceased, was the wife of Joseph Hewling and they had two children; Frank died when eighteen years old, and Ralph W., of this sketch.      Ralph W. Johnson was reared on the home farm in Concord township and there he attended the public schools, also Kings Creek high school.  On Dec. 25, 1908, he married Lula E. Robinson.  She was born in Adams county, Ohio, July 24, 1888.  She received a good education in the public schools and Kings Creek high school. Before her marriage she taught school for some time.  She is a daughter of Jesse E. and Anna B. { Atherton) Robinson, both natives of Ohio, he of Adams county and she of Brown county.  They came to Champaign county on Dec. 13, 1902, and here established their future home on a farm, but are now farming in Miami county, this state.      Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, namely: Merrill R., born Nov. 30, 1909; and Esther, born Oct. 14, 1915.      After his marriage Mr. Johnson moved to Logan county, Ohio, where he purchased a farm.  Two years later he sold out, returned to Champaign county and bought the old home farm in Concord township, which consists of two hundred acres of excellent land.  He has kept it well improved and under a fine state of cultivation.  In connection with general farming he carries on stock raising and is a breeder of high grade stock of all kinds.  He finds a very ready market for his stock whenever offered for sale owing to their high quality.      Politically, he is an independent. He and his family attend the Methodist Episcopal church at Kings Creek. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 647
	THOMAS LYNN JOHNSON.     The year 1803, two years before Champaign county was organized, saw the first members of the Johnson family locating in the county.  In this volume is given a very interesting review of the family from the time its first members came here and located in the Mingo valley in Wayne township, and the reader is referred to that sketch for a detailed history of the family, as a whole, during its connection with the county for the past one hundred and fourteen years.  One of the several members of the family who left the county of their nativity and went forth into the world to make a name for themselves, is Thomas Lynn Johnson, now a practicing attorney of Cleveland, Ohio.      Thomas L. Johnson, a son of Alfred and .Ann Elizabeth (Stone) Johnson, was born in the Mingo valley of Champaign county on May 29, 1855.  The father was born on the same farm, June 10, 1817, and died there on Sept. 9, 1905; the mother was born in Perry county, Ohio, Sept. 21, 1829, and died at Marion, Ohio, June 28, 1917.  The complete genealogy of the family, as above stated, is given elsewhere in this volume.      Thomas L. Johnson was reared on his father's farm and spent his boyhood days in a manner similar to all boys reared on the farm.  He attended the rural schools and then entered the National Normal School, at Lebanon, Ohio, graduating therefrom with the degree of Bachelor of Science.  He at once became a student at Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, where he took up the study of law, graduating in due course of time with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.  He was then twenty-four years of age, a graduate of one of the leading law schools of the country, and ready to begin the practice of his chosen profession.  The question was where should he locate.      After looking over the situation from every angle, he concluded to begin his legal practice in the city of Cleveland, Ohio.  Accordingly, the year 1879 found him located there, being admitted to the bar in that city in the same year.  At first he devoted himself to general practice, but as the years went by, he gradually became more interested in corporation and insurance law.  During the past few years, he has given the major portion of his time to "Trade Marks" and "Unfair Competition."  He practiced alone until 1900, in which year he became a member of the firm of White, Johnson & Cannon.  In 1914 the firm was enlarged by the addition of C. A. Neff, and since that year the firm has been White, Johnson, Cannon & Neff.  The offices of the firm are in the Williamson Building.      The career of Mr. Johnson as a lawyer has been one of quiet and undeviating devotion to his profession. He has never cared to take an active part in political affairs, although, as a citizen interested in good government, he has always been ready to co-operate in measures looking toward better civic conditions.  For this reason, he prefers to class himself as an  independent voter with Republican tendencies.  He is a member of the Cleveland and the American Bar Associations, and for two years, 1912-1914, he was president of the former.  In addition to his legal activities, he finds time to be a director in several corporations and is a stockholder in about a dozen more.      Mr. Johnson was first married to Isabelle Wilder, who was born at  Medina, Ohio, Apr. 13, 1856, and died Oct. 27, 1900.  To this marriage was born one son, Roy Wilder Johnson.  The son was born at Cleveland on Mar. 4, 1882, and after completing the work in the public schools of his home city, became a student in Dummer Academy, South Byfield, Massachusetts.  He completed his education by graduating from Harvard University and then started out in newspaper and magazine work after leaving college.  For a time he was on the editorial staff of Printers' Ink, New York City, but he severed his connection with this magazine in February, 1917, to enter business as a trade mark adviser and expert.  He maintains offices at 32 Nassau street, New York City.  Roy W. Johnson was married to Josephine Summer, a daughter of John L. Summer of Marysville, Ohio.  They have two children, aged six and four.  Their home is in New Rochelle, New York.      Thomas L. Johnson was married a second time to Feb. 20, 1912, at Springfield, Ohio, to Stella Reid Crothers, a daughter of W. B. and Martha Reid, of Jackson, Michigan. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 814
	WESLEY JOHNSON.    A well-to-do farmer of Champaign county is Wesley Johnson, who is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and six acres in Jackson township, located on the old Troy road three and one-half miles southwest of St. Paris, on rural route No. 1.  Mr. Johnson is the son of W. T. and Nancy (Camp) Johnson, and was born Mar. 18, 1846, on a farm in Jackson township, just north of his present home.      W. T. Johnson was born on a farm east of Cincinnati, Ohio, in Hamilton county, and was there reared to manhood and married in that county.  After his marriage he and his wife came at once to Champaign county, locating on the farm in Jackson township, where Wesley Johnson was born.  About ten years later they sold this farm, purchasing another tract of land near by, now owned by Frank Brubaker, and it was on this farm that the wife and mother died, after which the elder Johnson purchased a small tract of ten acres, where he lived the remainder of his life.  W. T. Johnson and wife were the parents of eight children, seven of whom grew to maturity, and five of whom are now living: Mary, who died in Kansas; Wesley, the immediate subject of this review; Oliver, of Richmond, Indiana; Elizabeth, deceased; Edward, living in Darke comity, Ohio; Hester, who died in Indiana; George W., of Covington, Ohio; and Amanda, the wife of George Apple, a farmer living near Covington, Ohio.      Wesley Johnson was reared on the farm, receiving his education in the public township schools, and early in life learned the lessons of industry and frugality, which served him well in later years.  After reaching manhood he engaged in farming for himself on part of his father's farm, where he lived for a number of years, after which he moved to his present home, where he is well and comfortably situated.      On June 27, 1869, Wesley Johnson was married to Mary Ann Oram, the daughter of Samuel and Catherine (Shaffer) Oram, who were natives of Montgomery county, Ohio, coming to Champaign county when Mrs. Johnson was but a small girl, and settling on a farm in Jackson township, known as the Wilson land.  Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the parents of three children: E. Albert, a farmer of Jackson township; Ida May, the wife of Emery Ullery, of Clark county, Ohio, and Jacob Ellsworth, who died in infancy.  The family are members of the Baptist church at Lena, Ohio, in which they are deeply interested.  Mr. Johnson is a Republican in politics, and has always been active in local public matters, having served his township as school director, and for the past eleven years has been ditch supervisor of the township. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 613
	WILLIAM A. JOHNSON.    William A. Johnson, a substantial landowner and stockman of this county, former trustee of Union township and former trustee of Wayne township, now living at Cable, where he is extensively engaged in the live stock business, is a native son of Champaign county and has lived here all his life.  He was born on a farm in Union township on Apr. 22, 1857, son of James and Mary (Woodard) Johnson, both of whom also were born in this county, the former in Wayne township and the latter in Rush township, and whose last days were spent in Union township.      James Johnson was a son of James and Matilda Johnson, Virginians, who came to this state after their marriage and located in Champaign county settling first in Wayne township and later moving down into Union township, where they established their home and where they spent the remainder of their lives, useful and influential pioneers of that part of the county.  The junior James Johnson was but a lad when his parents moved to Union township and there he grew to manhood on the home farm.  After his marriage to Mary Woodard, who was born in the neighboring township of Rush, daughter of pioneer parents, he established his home on a farm in Union township and there he spent the remainder of his life, one of the best-known and most influential farmers of the neighborhood in which he lived.  His death occurred in March, 1901.  His wife had preceded him to the grave about a year, her death having occurred in 1900.  They were the parents of seven children, of whom but three are now living, the subject of this .sketch having two brothers, Olney and Charles Johnson.      William A. Johnson grew to manhood on the home place in Union township, receiving his schooling in the district school in that neighborhood, and from the days of his boyhood was a valued assistant to his father in the labors of developing and improving the home farm.  He later became a partner of his father in the operation of the farm and after awhile bought the home place of one hundred and two and one-half acres and there continued farming and stock raising until in March, 1909, when he retired from the farm and moved to Cable, where he has since made his home.  Upon leaving the farm Mr. Johnson turned his attention to the buying and selling of live stock and has since been engaged in that business, shipping to the Pittsburgh markets.  Not long after locating at Cable he bought a fine farm of one hundred and ten acres in Wayne township, to the operation of which he gives considerable personal attention.  Some time ago he sold his farm in Union township.   Mr. Johnson is a Republican and for years has given close attention to local political affairs.  \un seven years he served as trustee of Union township and for four years as trustee of Wayne township and is now serving as a member of the local school board at Cable, in that capacity doing much to promote the interests of the schools in that pleasant and flourishing village.      On Apr. 22, 1886, William A. Johnson was united in marriage to Enola Durnell, who was born in Wayne township, this county. daughter of Booker R. and Catherine (Hall) Durnell, both of whom also were born in that township, members of pioneer families, and were there married.  Booker R. Durnell was a son of Hiram and Sarah (Middleton) Durnell, Virginians, who came to this county at an early day in the settlement of the same and became substantial pioneers of Wayne township, where they established their home.  During the progress of the Civil War Booker R. Durnell enlisted for service in behalf of the Union and went to the front as a private in Company K, One Hundred and Thirteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer infantry, with which command he served valiantly until he met a soldier's fate about a year later, at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, June 24, 1864.  His wife had died a little more than a year previously, her death having occurred on June 16, 1863, and their children were thus orphaned early.  There were three of these children, Mrs. Johnson having two brothers, Hiram and Richard Durnell.  Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have no children of their own, but they have reared four children with as much care and consideration as though they had been their own indeed.  They are membersof the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper interest in church work and in other local good works.  Mr. Johnson is one of Cable's most substantial citizens and is in the forefront in all movements having to dowith the advancement of the general interests of that thriving village. Source:  History of Champaign County, Ohio, Vol. II - publ. 1917 - Page 257

.