Marion County, Indiana - Biographical sketches (3 of 3 so headed), 1884

Mr. Johnson was a native of Grayson County, Va., from whence he early removed to Butler County, Ohio, and to Indianapolis on the 11th of March, 1823, his first home being a hewed log house on the present Market Street. Mr. Johnson's own account of his experience as a pioneer conveys a graphic idea of the privations and hardships of the early settler : frame on the corner of Washington and New Jersey Streets. In this old shell I wintered and served a regular apprenticeship to the chills and fever, shaking sometimes three times a day, and sometimes only once in three days. I moved to a cabin I built on the farm [which was his home during his life, five miles from the city on the Crawfordsville road] on the 15th of March, 1824, without its being chinked or daubed, or loft or floor being in it, having only a door, but no shutter, and fireplace cut out and built up of wood as high as the mantel log. In this situation I commenced trying to make a farm, ague still visiting me now and then. I was there in the woods, and not very well situated, without a horse or anything of consequence, except a very good cow with horns, and a dog which had a disease called the sloes. But I succeeded that spring in clearing out about three acres of ground and fencing it, cutting and splitting the rails and carrying them on my shoulder to make my fence. I got my corn planted on the 15th of June, 1824. I succeeded, with the help of a neighbor and his horse to do the plowing, in raising a crop of fodder and some sound corn, of which I used a part for bread. In the mean time I had to carry my meal from Indianapolis on my shoulder, having made a small crop of corn the year before on the donation land, and what is now known as Blackwood's addition to Indianapolis. Whenever we wanted a grist of meal I would go over to town, shell the corn, and take it to old Mr. Isaac Wilson's mill on Fall Greek, get it ground, shoulder it up and start for home, wade White River, and make the trip with about one bushel of meal, which would generally last us about four weeks."

And he adds : " In the fall of the year 1824 my father died, and at the sale of his personal property I bought an old horse and his blacksmith tools. Being rather handy with tools, I soon learned the blacksmithing business, so as to do the work of some of my neighbors. In fact, I was not very particular whether it was iron- or wood-work they wanted, I could turn my hand to anything. I did dress out the guns, mend the locks, shoe the horses, sharpen the plows, repair the old wagons, and make and mend shoes for the neighbors, and so in this way I have been able to get along a part of my time, always ready to take hold of any work that was proper to be done, and if I could not get the largest price for my work I would take what I could get."

Mr. Johnson for fifty years was identified with the advancement and prosperity of Indianapolis and the county adjacent. He began life without the usual aids to success, but developed in his business career those qualities which made prosperity almost a certainty, and enabled him to acquire a competence. He possessed untiring energy, and believed that one of the aids not only to affluence but to happiness was constant employment. He was, therefore, never« idle, and always profitably employed. He was in his political faith a Democrat, and during his life identified with that party, always manifesting great intelligence and decided convictions on questions of public policy. He was a man of strict probity in all business and social relations, and faithful to every trust confided in him. He was honored with many official positions during his lifetime, being for eleven years justice of the peace for Wayne township, one of the superintendents appointed by the government for the construction of the National pike, sherifi' of the Supreme Court, deputy marshal under Hon. Jesse D. Bright, member of the State Legislature for the years 1838 and 1839, and Presidential elector. His home relations were always foremost in his thoughts. Whether as son, husband, or father, he was equally tender and affectionate. Mr. Johnson was married at the age of nineteen to Miss Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Catherine Snively. Their children are Catherine (Mrs. W. C. Holmes), Mary E. (Mrs. W. R. Hogshire), John, James, Jesse, and Isaac, now living, and Samuel, Sarah, and Henry, deceased. He was a second time married, to Annie Heath Branham, of Madison, Ind. The death of Mr. Johnson occurred on the 16th of May, 1882, in his eighty-first year.