Click here to go to a condensed version of this biography.
Much of the following history is taken from Bethiah Garnsey by Paddy Spillsbury, Ezekiel Johnson by Clara S. Johnson and Johnson Gems by Judy Cluff and Franklin K. Gibson pp.2-48 as edited for Benjamin Franklin Johnson Family ~ A Royal Legacy, by Loni Gardner.
Ezekiel Johnson was born to Bethiah Garnzey 12 January 1773 in Uxbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts., where she was living with her stepfather, Ebenezer Smith, and her mother Bethiah Lee Garnzey Smith. Young Bethiah Garnzey was hauled into Worcester Court and fined five shillings for bearing a child out of wedlock. Bethiah refused to name the father of her child in court. However, by November 1775, she was calling her son Ezekiel Johnson.1
For almost two hundred years, the descendants of Ezekiel Johnson (1773-1848) have worked to identify Ezekiel’s biological father. Recent DNA testing has established a link to Ezekiel Johnson (1750-1808), the son of Isaac and Suzannah Thayer Johnson, of Bellingham, Massachusetts.
Life in Uxbridge may have been uncomfortable for the Smith family after Ezekiel’s birth. For whatever reason, they moved south to Douglas, Massachusetts. Bethiah and Ezekiel continued to be part of the household. Paddy Spilsbury says that the concern of town fathers about financial support followed Bethia. “The next time Bethia's name appears in the records is again in the Worcester County court records, this time in 1776, when she and her mother's family were "warned out" of the township of Douglas. Under the date of 2 January 1776, is found:
“Smith, Ebenezer, w(ife) Bethia [our Bethia's mother], ch(ildren) Sarah, Patience, Lewis, Abel, Bethia Gansey, and her child, Ezekiel Johnson. 27 Nov. 1775"
“There is a gap in the Douglas town records for the year preceding January 1776, so we cannot see the initial record of November 1775 or know what the situation was. However, we do know that town fathers throughout the colonial period felt strongly that they should not have to provide support for a family coming from another town. In order to avoid that responsibility, colonial acts were passed forbidding "strangers or stragglers who appeared in communities" from settling there "for any length of time, unless some reliable persons furnished security for their behavior and support.
“Just such a situation must have presented itself, for on 1 January 1776, the day before the warning out was made official, intentions to marry were registered for Bethia Garnsey and Jonathan King, of Douglas.” The Smith family was able to stay in Douglas. Ezekiel would have been about 3 years old at the time of his mother’s marriage.”1
Jonathan King was a widower with children. In one deed, he is called a “yeoman”, and in another, Jonathan states that he is a “husbandman.” He sold his property in Douglas on 30 December 1775, two days before posting his intentions of marriage to Bethiah Garnsey, and bought property in Ashford, Connecticut.2
In Johnson Gems Judy Cluff says, “Some traditional stories … claim that Ezekiel grew up in the King home in Ashford, Connecticut.” On the 6 February 1776, Jonathan King purchased 100 acres and a house in Ashford, Windham County, in the Colony of Connecticut for 750 pounds from his sister, Susanna King Williams. Two years later, on December 4, 1777, Jonathan King sold this same property to Benjamin Horton for 300 pounds. Ezekiel was four years of age when the farm in Ashford was sold. But it is entirely possible that he continued living with his family in or near Ashford until he left home.”2
Although no record is found that Jonathan purchased more land in the Ashford area, when he and Bethiah sold her inherited property in 1779, they listed their residence as being "of Ashford". Perhaps they were living on property owned by other family members or possibly they rented property in the Ashford area. In the 1790 census, there is a Jonathan King listed as being head of a family in a small town not too far from Ashford. Possibly this was the same Jonathan King who bought and sold the Ashford farm. At this time, Ashford was a rather busy and important place with a major road intersecting it. Perhaps Jonathan King did move to a nearby place but still gave his place of residence as "of Ashford" because it was readily recognized by name.3
Ezekiel’s stories to his children indicate his dislike for his stepfather. In her 1960 report to the Johnson Family, Clara Johnson said, “It is my belief that our Ezekiel Johnson’s boyhood days were spent on a farm in Connecticut. His boyhood days may have been happier than we are led to believe. I am certain that many children at one time or other in their younger days are prone to believe they are harshly, even unfairly treated, by their parents. It is quite a common threat down through the years of childhood to parents to hear “I am going to run away.” As a teenager, Ezekiel did decide to run away. As Ezekiel told the story to his children, his chance came when his stepfather gave him a calfskin pocketbook with the name of James King and the date, April 1742, stamped on it (both Jonathan’s father and grandfather were named James), and sent him on an errand to collect a debt owed to him by a neighbor. He was supposed to place the payment into the leather pouch, hand over the debt agreement, and return home as quickly as possible with the money. “Ezekiel collected the payment and placed it into the pouch as instructed, but when he started for home it occurred to him that he had within his grasp the financial means to provide for his needs for a while and to be able to live on his own. He pondered the situation and his future and made the decision to take the money and run away.” Family tradition says that Ezekiel never saw his mother or father again. They, eventually, moved south to New London, Connecticut, where they lived near Isaac and Elizabeth Chapel, Jonathan’s son-in-law and daughter.3
Cluff says, “We do not know where Ezekiel was or what he did after he ran away but we do know that in 1800, he showed up in Grafton, Massachusetts where he met and married Julia Hills. Grafton is only about 30 miles from Ashford, which is in Windham County, Connecticut and which borders Worcester County of Massachusetts where both Uxbridge and Grafton are located. In fact, it would appear that Ezekiel was born and raised and married, all within a 30-mile radius.” When they married, Ezekiel still had the old leather wallet that had belonged to his stepfather. It was stuffed with papers giving some clues to his activities. Three were promissory notes for cowbells he had sold. One was signed in Albany, N.Y. in March 1797 by a gentleman there who owed Ezekiel money. Albany, N. Y. is quite a distance from Grafton, Massachusetts. “From the time he ran away from his childhood home in Ashford, Connecticut, until he married Julia Hills in Grafton, Massachusetts, in 1801, Ezekiel may have traveled extensively around the Eastern Seaboard with his business.”2
Julia Hills was the second of the three children born to Joseph Hills and Esther Ellis Hills. She was born in Upton, Massachusetts on 26 September 1783. She had an older brother, Joel, and a younger sister, Nancy. Her father, who was a blacksmith, died, possibly of tuberculosis, when Julia was four years old, and was buried in the Old Oak Street Burial Ground in Grafton, Massachusetts. Her mother, Esther, married Enoch Forbush of Grafton on 27 January 1793 when Julia was 10 years old. Enoch was a widower with three children, Stephen, Chloe, and Enoch. He and Esther had several more children together, Joseph, Seneca, Diadamia, and possibly Stephen. Julia and her brothers and sisters were given the opportunity of an education. The family seemed to be very close, and Julia expressed much love and respect for her mother and sisters in her letters.4
Julia may have been ill as a teenager. When a child’s father died, the courts appointed a guardian, not to provide daily care, but to protect the child’s inheritance and any other financial interests. On 1 January 1801, just prior to her marriage, Enoch Forbush, Julia’s stepfather, had to pay her guardian the sum of £3.12 plus 6s interest, for his use of her share of her father’s estate’s improved land. At the time Enoch paid her guardian that sum, he also charged her estate £3.12, plus 6 shillings interest for “Nursing and taking care of Julia When sicke four years from January 1795 to 1799.” 4, 5
Thirteen years after her father’s death, 17-year-old Julia married Ezekiel Johnson in Grafton on 12 January 1801. He was ten years older than she. He stood about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and had a solid build. His eyes were a steel blue, and his features well-molded. He had fair skin, and his hair was fine textured and light brown.6
Three months after their wedding, on 20 April 1801, Ezekiel and Julia sold land in the town of Grafton, Worcester, Massachusetts, to Amos Ellis, for $94.50. On the bill of sale, Ezekiel stated that he was living in Uxbridge and was a yeoman by trade. Julia‘s mother, Esther Forbush, was a witness. This was probably land Julia inherited from her father‘s estate. Julia and Ezekiel remained in Grafton for the first year following their marriage. Their first son, Joel Hills Johnson, named for Julia’s brother, was born in Grafton on 23 March 1802.4
Ezekiel engaged in “land speculation” or real estate development. He would buy land, subdivide it, build cabins on the lots, and sell them. Shortly after Joel’s birth, the Johnsons moved to Northborough, Massachusetts, and Nancy Maria, named for Julia’s sister, was born there on 1 August 1803.
Two years later, on 7 February 1805, they bought a 20-acre farm in Royalston, Massachusetts, where Ezekiel was listed as a “housewright.” Seth Guernsey, named for Ezekiel’s grandfather, was born there 7 days later. Just a few weeks after Seth‘s birth, Ezekiel bought and sold two more pieces of property in the Royalston, Massachusetts area. One of the farm properties was purchased from Julia‘s brother, Joel Hills. Their stay in Royalston was short, as the family moved on to Vermont within a year.
“Although Ezekiel was a fine man of great fortitude, patience and strength, he seemed to have taken little or no interest in religious matters. Julia always had a strong religious conviction. From their mother, the Johnson children got their religious training and convictions and learned to read. From Ezekiel, their father, they learned the habit of hard work and acquired skills in carpentry, husbandry and agriculture. They learned to clear virgin land, plow and plant crops and to harvest and preserve them for food and seed. They learned to survive meager times and means and to enjoy the fruits of their honest labors.”9
“Ezekiel mastered the skills of a carpenter, owned a brickyard, and even did a little inventing. Fireplace cooking was the general method used to prepare food in those days. Ezekiel designed an oven for his wife that allowed her to bake pies, turnovers, cakes, and puddings.”9
Julia’s beloved uncle and aunt, Amos and Meletiah Ellis Partridge, encouraged Julia and Ezekiel to come and live near them, in Westford, Vermont. The next four children were born in Westford: Delcena Diadamia (19 November 1806), Julia Ann (9 November 1808), David (10 September 1810), and Almera Woodward (12 October 1812). Ezekial continued to build houses for settlers. Julia’s mother came to visit, and later, Julia’s brother, Joel Hills, who was moving from Canada to Ohio, where their sister, Nancy, lived, stopped to visit, and took young Joel with him.9
In 1814 the family left Vermont and moved south, as far as Pomfret, New York. Because of the glowing reports given by Joel Hills of the bounties to be had from settling in the Ohio wilderness, Ezekiel left the family in Pomfret and followed him there to investigate the opportunities in the Ohio country and to retrieve his son, Joel. Julia’s letter from Pomfret to her mother, 13 October 1814, says,
“My Dear Mother,
After my love to you, I would inform you of our welfare, and hope these few lines will find you in health and prosperity. Through our journey we have been blessed with health and we are now all well and hearty. We started from Westford, Vermont on the 27th of June and came on over some one hundred miles and one of our horses became lame and we laid by for a week. We then came awhile but was obliged to stop again for three or four days, and then came on as far as Hamburg, this side of Buffalo where we stopped about seven weeks. I was very discontented there, yet the people urged us to stay. They gave Mr. Johnson one dollar a day with house rent, garden vegetables, milk etc. He thought it was best to stay until our horses got recruited up and we got rested, as he had the money for his work. But I could not be contented to stay any longer for there was no neighbors short of about two miles, and all Sabbath breakers and I could not feel at home there.
We started from there on the 24th of September, and was four days coming to this place on account of bad roads. This is a beautiful country and we have concluded to stay here until spring if not longer. Mr. Johnson intends to go on himself and see the country before he moves his family any further for fear he would not like it so well as he does here. There is many moving to the west, some days ten or twelve wagons in company and some have come back to this place. This country is very healthy indeed and good for grain which is plenty and cheap, markets at present are distant. Such corn I never saw before as I have seen here. It is only seven years since the first settlements were made here. There begins to be fruit of almost every kind; I never saw such sights of peaches before. Thousands of bushels rot on the ground. They make sauce of them, and brandy. The trees bear in three years from the stone, and apples in six. We have hired a little house about two miles and a half from the village of Canadaway which contains three societies, Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists. There is also mills and school near at hand with neighbors who appear very friendly and kind. If Mr. Johnson does not like it better at Cincinnati he intends to settle here before any other country he ever saw. It is a good place for his trade which demands one dollar and fifty cents per day, but the Lord knows what is best and I hope that I shall be reconciled to His will. The Lord only knows whether we shall ever see each other again on this earth. I hope we shall put our trust in Him and be reconciled to His will, for he knows what is best for us. All things shall work together for the good of those who love Him. If we are afflicted it is for our good, for He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. Therefore, let us put our trust in Him, for He hath said, "They that put their trust in Him shall be a Mount Zion which shall not be removed.”
My children send their love to you all. Remember my love to all inquiring friends. Tell Almera I wish they would write to me. Do write as soon as possible. I shall write as soon as Mr. Johnson gets back, if not before. From your affectionate children, E. and J. Johnson.9
On 27 February 1815, Julia wrote a letter from Pomfret, New York, to her mother and step-father:
My Dear Parents: After my love to you, I will inform you that through the blessing of God, we are all in good health and hope this will find you so. I have not heard a word from you for more than a year. I have written to you four letters since I have received any. Mr. Johnson has gone to Cincinnati, Ohio. He started on the last day of January. I have not heard a word from Joel [her brother, living in Ohio] for a year or more. I am very anxious to hear from my friends. I wrote the particulars of our journey thus far in my last letter. If Mr. Johnson likes that country, we calculate to move on in the spring, if we live and are well. Many families are passing here almost every day for that place. We like this country first rate upon many accounts. It is not as cold as Vermont and is excellent for grain, grass, and all kinds of produce. With good inhabitants and good schools. My children go to school and learn very fast. Seth and Nancy want to write to their grandmother, but it will cost too much to pay for their letters. I had a daughter born on the 16th of December, who is smart and well. I want you to write how you enjoy religion. Whether you are cold and stupid like myself, or are you engaged in the good cause of Christ? I hope you are like Mary and have chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away. I hope we shall live as we shall wish we had lived when we are called from time to Eternity. I hope we shall be prepared to meet in Heaven to dwell with the righteous forever. I hope we shall see each other again in a few years, but life is uncertain. I want you to give my love to Aunt Woodward‘s family, tell the girls to write to me. I remain your affectionate child, Julia Johnson.9
Not satisfied with the results of the Ohio preview trip, Ezekiel and 12-year-old Joel retraced the distance to Pomfret by foot through 500 miles of heavily forested and wilderness land. They had to pass near isolated cabins where Indians had only recently killed the occupants. For protection, Ezekiel carried only a small shotgun with two barrels. Ezekiel often humorously referred to this gun—an old gun with silver trimming—as Old Bess. This experience of surviving by their wits, shared by father and son, served to draw them close together; they formed a strong bond that lasted a lifetime.9
Upon the return of Ezekiel and Joel, the Johnson family settled in the township of Pomfret, Chautauqua County, New York. Here they settled into a home on lot 21 and stayed for the next 17 years. Pomfret had only been settled for about 7 years when the Johnsons arrived. It was still largely wilderness and the Johnson’s worked hard to clear the land.9
The house stood on a rise of land that gave it a pretty view of the surrounding countryside. The lot contained one square mile of land. It lay between Fredonia on the north and Lake Cassadaga on the south. Lake Erie was located 10 miles away to the west. Buffalo lay 40 miles north following the Lake Erie shoreline. Closer to Lake Ontario and 120 miles northeast, was a small New York town called Palmyra. Events that would transpire there in the late 1820s would greatly influence all of their lives. The bell of the local school could be heard clearly from the Johnson dooryard. In their early years in Pomfret, wolves and bears freely roamed the nearby woods and occasionally were seen in the local fields. Ezekiel found employment as a miller in the gristmill of Elijah Risley, Sr. and worked as a carpenter in Fredonia, a village in Pomfret Township.9
Again, from Pomfret, on 11 November 1818, Julia wrote to her half-sister, Diadamia Forbush:
Dear Sister, I have another chance of writing to you, which I improve. I have written several times but received no answer. I have heard of the death of our mother which was very heavy news to me. We have lost a very kind, affectionate parent of which no doubt you are sensible but we have no right to murmur, God will do all things right. We must be submissive and prepare to follow our dear deceased mother. I wish you would write the particulars concerning her death and write me a long letter. I have been anxious to hear from you for a long time. Almera Woodward [Julia‘s cousin] wrote to me that you was keeping house for your father and made out very well, which I was glad to hear. I send this letter by Mr. Johnson; he will tell you the particulars of our affairs. I want your father to send me that Great Dictionary; that was my father‘s, and if Joel [Julia‘s brother] has a chance to get if from here he shall have it, for that was my mother‘s desire as she expressed it when she was up in Vermont. And I wish you would send me some straw braid for a bonnet and Mr. Johnson will pay you for it. Such things are very scarce here. Remember my love to your father and family and take a good share yourself. Julia Johnson9
On 21 December 1818, Ezekiel acted as agent to sell some property which had belonged to his mother-in-law, Esther Hills, to her step-son, Enoch Forbush, Jr. Esther is listed as the widow of Joseph Hills, late of Grafton, Massachusetts. The selling price was $100. Ezekiel listed himself as being of Pomfret, Chautauqua County, New York and states that he is a laborer.9
Nine more Johnson children were born while the family lived in Pomfret:
Although loving and sympathetic, Julia was a strict mother and required each child to fulfill his farm and household chores with dependability and promptness. In their world of planting and harvesting, making of clothes and bed-linen, toweling, etc., from flax and wool, manufacturing of shoes, candlemaking, knitting of gloves and hosiery, creating soap from animal fats and wood ashes, drying fruits and storing them for the winter, preparing hominy, making pickles and kraut, and processing syrup from the nearby maple forests, there were plenty of opportunities for each child to learn valuable skills and complete equally important survival chores. Their property hummed with industry. Like their parents, many of the children loved the soil and through their own adulthood, planted orchards, vineyards and gardens wherever they stayed long enough to do so.9
Baby Elmer Wood died at 18-months-old and was probably buried in the Laona Cemetery in Pomfret Township. Benjamin wrote about the “deep and lasting sorrow and grief” he felt about this first death in their family.6, 7, 8
Julia had a deep sense of religion and was a devout member of the Presbyterian Church that she and her children attended regularly. The Bible occupied a central table in their home and was regularly read and studied by the family members. Julia‘s oldest son, Joel Hills recorded, “I was so carefully instructed by a pious mother that I dared not do anything that would displease the Lord or my parents. As soon as I could read, she gave me a small New Testament which I carried in my pocket” (as cited in Cluff and Gibson 13)
The Johnson family was in Pomfret for almost 19 years – the longest time they ever lived in one spot. George W., one of the younger boys, in later life composed poems which expressed the joys of their home life. George described their home in Pomfret as follows:
Oh, don‘t you remember the dear old brown cottage,
The kitchen, the square room, the bedroom and hall.
The well at the door and the orchard near by it.
The garden, the barn and the corn house and all?
Oh, don‘t you remember the old dingy schoolhouse,
With benches and desks, all defaced with the knife,
Where we learned the first lessons in reading and spelling
That did mark out the way that has followed through life?
Oh, don‘t you remember the old kitchen fireplace,
Where oft we have met when our day‘s work was done,
With brothers and sisters and friends we loved dearly,
To pass off the evening with all sorts of fun?
How well I remember each tree in the orchard,
Each shrub and each flower in the garden that grew,
The well and the spring and the brick yard near by it.
The rustle of leaves as the gentle breeze blew.
To scatter the hay, I would go to the meadow
Or ride on old Katy to plough out the corn
Or pile up the brush in the clearing and burn it,
Till I‘d hear the sweet sound of the old dinner horn.
Fond memories will come of the scenes of my childhood;
How well I remember the dear old brown cot
Surrounded by orchard, by fields and by wildwoods. I
cannot forget them, that dear hallowed spot.
How well I remember the old cellar kitchen,
Where mother presided at night, noon and morn
And always had puddings and pies and turnovers
And the best thing of all was a pot of hulled corn.
Sometimes she would make us meal-mush for our supper
With milk from the dairy or fresh from the cow
Or a pudding, well sweetened with maple molasses;
It was made of corn meal but I cannot tell how;
Or a pot of baked beans, smoking hot from the oven
With a chunk of fat pork with rind sliced and torn
Or a loaf of brown bread with sweet yellow butter
But nothing compared with the pot of hulled corn.9
Several of the family developed and shared their talents of writing poetry, songs and stories. The following poem, which Joel Hills Johnson wrote, is typical of the memories and feelings shared by all the children about this time period spent in Pomfret, New York.
My Boyhood Home
The home of my boyhood, the place of my birth
It is dearer to me than all others on earth
Its charms are still with me wherever I roam
I‘ll never forget my own boyhood home.
My dear loving mother; she watched o‘er my youth
And taught me the lessons of honor and truth.
Her voice, in my fancy, in accents so low
Is whispering to me wherever I go.
The voice of my father still sounds in my ear;
The laugh of my brothers and sisters so dear.
The cow bell‘s jingle; the old dinner horn,
The crow of the cock to awake us each morn.
The hoot of the owl, the lone whip-poor-will
At evening we heard from the woodland and hill,
They still ring in my ears tho long years have past
Since I saw the dear home of my infancy last.
Altho many a mile have I wandered away,
My body grown feeble, my hair turning gray;
Yet the happy scenes linger; I dream of them yet;
The home of my boyhood I‘ll never forget.9
In their writing, the Johnson sons mention swimming and fishing in Lake Cassadaga and "the brook," presumably Canadaway Creek. Canadaway Creek rises in Cassadaga lake, and runs northwesterly, entering Lake Erie near Dunkirk. In 1821, while the Johnsons were living in the area, the Village of Fredonia tapped an accumulation of inflammable gas that bubbled up from the bed of the Canadaway Creek. The citizens of Fredonia opened a hole on the bank of the creek and collected the gas in a gasometer. They then laid lead pipe through the streets, allowing the gas, forced by its own natural pressure, to flow freely into a total of 100 streetlamps throughout the village. Freedonia was the first place in the United States to be illuminated by natural gas.
“In Pomfret, Nancy was thrown from a horse and her thigh-bond was broken close to the hip socket. Nothing medically could be done for her in those times, and Nancy was left crippled and could walk only with the aid of crutches. Most of the time, she was in considerable pain.”
Benjamin records, "My father, for a series of years, wrestled with the herculean task of clearing off the forests, but worn with incessant labors and the care of so large a family, he sought stimulus, and in my earliest childhood became addicted to the use of ardent spirits. Neither his labors, nor his love for his family seemed to diminish, yet the fiend of unhappiness had entered our home to break the bonds of union between our parents and to destroy the happiness of their children."6
Julia wrote the following letter to her sister Diadamia Forbush from Pomfret on 21 July 1831. It reads:
My dear Sister: How long a time it is since I received a line from you, and how much longer since I saw you? I have waited long for a letter, but getting none, I improve this opportunity of informing you that myself and family (those about home) are as well as has been usual for us to be for some time and I do really hope that this may find you enjoying the best of earthly blessings, health [...] Mr. Johnson is now gone to Ohio. Joel and family have removed to that state, in Loraine County, Amhurst Township. David is with them. It‘s about two months since I heard from them. Mr. Johnson and Seth went last fall to Cincinnati and Newport and spent the winter at or near those places. Seth taught school. They found sisters, Nancy and Rhoda with their families well and left them so. I think I wrote to you that my family consists of fifteen children, two married, Joel and Delcena, both have two children and each have lost one, the rest as I said, generally live at home. Nancy had the misfortune last August to be thrown from a horse which dislocated or broke her hip. She will probably have to use crutches as long as she lives. For the most of the time, she is able to sew, paint, etc. We are in rather low circumstances as it respects the good things of this world, but through the good providence of God, we have a comfortable living, and knowing that we need but little here below nor want that little long as we endeavor to be content with such things as we have and give thanks to the giver and seek that durable riches and righteousness which shall never fail. Dear sister, how oft have I wished that you and I were so situated that we might often see each other and speak to each other of the things most interesting and dear to us, and of our trials and cares and mutually share in each other‘s joys and sorrows, etc. But since we are separated let us be thankful for the mercies that we do enjoy and ever bear in mind that this earth is not our abiding place, and let us seek earnestly for one to come, one whose builder and maker is God. That we may soon meet again where parting and separation shall be known no more forever— this is my prayer. Oh, my sister, do not put off writing as you have done, but write soon and inform me of your present circumstances and situation, and of your future prospects and hopes. I very much want to know how you get along with your family and whatever else would be interesting to us respecting your situation and prospects, etc. And also what are your views of futurity and how you get along in your mind, etc. I want you should write what information you have respecting Aunt Woodward and the family; where is Almera and family? And tell me about Mr. Roberts, and my cousins and friends in that country. Give my love and best wishes to them all and accept the same yourself as well as the love and respect of all my children who are at home. Remember Enoch, Polly and Chloe and inform me of them and their families. Now my dear sister, I must draw to a close by requesting an interest in your prayers and by subscribing myself as ever your affectionate sister-in-haste.
Julia Johnson
Pomfret is where the majority of the Johnson family were converted to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Joel Hills Johnson had married Anna Pixley Johnson in 1826. They sold their farm in Pomfret in 1830 and moved to Amherst, Ohio. David went with them to help with the move and with getting them established in their new home. While there they encountered missionaries of the Church of Christ (now known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), were converted and baptized. Joel wrote home to his brother, Seth, and sent a copy of the Book of Mormon. Julia was horrified at first and began reading the Book of Mormon with her older children and some close neighbors to find the faults in it, so they could point them out to Joel and David. But soon they were marveling at the book’s simplicity and purity.
When David and Joel returned home to Pomfret from Ohio in December 1831, to testify of the truth of this new religion. Although they bore a strong testimony, neither they nor Almon W. Babbitt, who came with them, were capable of explaining the new teachings. When two missionaries, Joseph Brackenbury and Edmund Durfee, called on them, the Johnson family warmly welcomed them. They taught with such convictions that Julia and her son-in-law, Lyman R. Sherman, were soon baptized. Shortly after the baptism, Elder Brackenbury was poisoned by opposers in Pomfret, and died on 7 January 1832. After his burial, local men came to dig-up the body. The Johnsons had to prevent his body being taken by the grave-robbers. Benjamin said that the entire family except Ezekiel now believed, and the other Johnson children who had reached their majority were baptized. Ezekiel, however, was not interested in accepting membership in the Church and would not consent to baptism for any of the younger children.13 As his opposition to the Church grew, he determined to sell the farm in Pomfret and went to Chicago to purchase land.
Before leaving, Ezekiel told his wife that he would send for the rest of the family before the first of June when the new owners would take over the farm. When Julia had not heard from him by then, she took her family to join Joel in Kirtland, Ohio and there traded their team and wagon for a home on Kirtland Flat. When Ezekiel returned and found his family in Kirtland, he was told that the letters he had written telling of the quarter section of land he had purchased in Chicago had not arrived. Since his family was settled in Kirtland and did not want to leave, Ezekiel decided to move to Kirtland with them, but his disappointment caused him to become bitter.9
In spite of great opposition, persecution, trials and many sacrifices required to live with her decision and the demands of moving west with the Church as one of the early pioneer families, Julia never questioned the decision or wavered in her faith. The true gospel was restored, and to her it was always simply a matter of paying the price and doing whatever the Lord required or put upon her.9
These events had just the opposite effect upon Ezekiel. Because of the tragic influence of alcohol and his pride and stubbornness, Ezekiel refused to unite with his family in the Church in Ohio, and he was separated from Julia and most of the family still living at home. Benjamin remembered, "What little light there had been, soon disappeared and for whatever reason, he seemed to be possessed of the devil. Most men knew him as a good and honest neighbor and as a parent and husband, he had been the most loving and kind. But his habit of intemperance changed his whole nature."9
Ezekiel bought a home in Mentor, Ohio, a town located not far from Kirtland. One of his daughters would keep house for him and look after his needs and comfort. The younger children stayed with him from time to time. He half-heartedly dabbled in his carpenter trade. From the terrible anger that boiled within him, he constantly ranted about the hated religion and the effects it had had upon his once-united family. He did not seem to ever consider the toll his past drunken condition had taken upon the happiness of his family, but rather credited all his unhappiness and disappointments to his family‘s membership in this hated church.9
When Julia moved with the family to Kirtland, Ohio, she assumed the full weight of the responsibility of caring for her large family. She provided a livelihood by manufacturing men‘s neckwear (called stocks) and palm leaf hats, and she found comfort in her Church duties—ministering to the poor and needy and nursing the sick. She taught her daughters in all the skills of making hats, neckties, and needlework. Their home was close to the schoolhouse where Susan and Seth taught. The entire family gave everything they had, including much labor, to the building of the first temple in this dispensation. Julia and Ezekiel‘s two oldest sons, Joel and Seth, and their son-in-law, Lyman Royal Sherman, assisted in laying the cornerstone of the temple. Julia aided materially in its construction by toiling industriously to help provide food and clothing for the builders, considering this an inestimable privilege.9
During these strenuous times, David, her third son, now 22 years of age and unmarried, measuring six-foot-three inches, worked through the damp and cold to secure wood for the temple brick kiln. He took a severe cold that quickly aggravated his consumption (now known as tuberculosis). Before they realized how really ill he was, David died on 30 October 1833. Ezekiel and Julia soon learned that this was only the beginning of their deep sorrows. Before another four years had elapsed, three more graves lay side-by-side on the hillside back of the family home. Seth, a member of the school faculty, weakened by over-exertion, attempted to continue to teach school while also volunteering labor on the temple construction. He had suffered from the effects of cholera while participating in Zion‘s Camp and had never fully regained his health from that experience. On 19 February 1835, Seth also died. The following month, on 16 March, daughter Susan passed away at the age of 22 years and 7 months. She had been a loving daughter and faithful to the tenants of her new faith.
Ezekiel and Julia‘s daughter, Nancy, still struggled with her injuries from the accident which had left her with a severely damaged hip that never healed properly. Elder Jared Carter healed her hip by performing what is generally recorded as one of the first miracles after the Church was organized. Elder Carter commanded her in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, to lay down her crutches and walk, and she was able to do so. Shortly after this miraculous healing, Nancy, at age 33 and unmarried, became ill and died. Her death occurred exactly three years after that of her brother David. She died 30 October 1836. Nancy, like her brother Seth, was one of the Kirtland school faculty. She had also achieved considerable success as a seamstress and was an accomplished artist with oil paints. Four unmarked graves now lay side-by-side in the hillside back of the family home in Kirtland.
Julia‘s life was now completely tied with the Church. In the spring of 1838, after mob violence became very great in Kirtland, Ohio, the Saints were compelled to leave their beloved temple and move west. Julia and her family followed. The Prophet asked the presidency of the Seventies, Joel being one of them, to supervise and assist the remaining Saints on the trek from Kirtland to Missouri. This group, consisting of about 520 people (including the Johnson family), became known as the Kirtland Poor Camp. Sixty teams and wagons were found to carry the needed supplies. Money was very scarce, and all were of poor circumstances. The trip was a hard and trying one. They were often without food, and there was much sickness among them. They stopped at Dayton, Ohio, for a month, where many died of typhoid fever. While there, Julia traveled to Cincinnati to visit her brother‘s family and to take the gospel message to them.
In the late fall, when approaching Springfield, a Brother Samuel Hale and wife fell ill and died and left their 10-year-old daughter, Mary Ann, to Julia‘s care. Julia willingly took Mary Ann to live with her family. This act of compassion was to have eternal effects on the family, for six years later, in 1844, Julia‘s son Benjamin married Mary Ann Hale as his second wife. Julia’s son-in-law, Lyman R. Sherman, also died in the Kirtland Camp, leaving his wife, Delcena, and six children. Julia herself and younger son, George, were also ill and barely escaped death.
On 13 March 1839, Julia wrote a letter to her sister from near Springfield, Illinois:
Dear Sister, Having an opportunity of sending a few lines to you or rather to send them where we last heard of you, we improve it. It is now six years since we heard from you in any way. We have written several times, but have been moving about so much that we could not have received one even though you had written. You must know we have been very anxious to hear from you as the last news we heard was that you have lost your husband. Oh! My dear sister, how shall I use words to express my feelings when I look back to the time when we saw each other, the last change in our situation and circumstances in life, the change of seasons, places and nations, the commotion of the earth and the disposition of men, deceiving and being deceived—The signs of the last days, the fulfillment of Scriptures, etc.—I will say we are all well who are with us as usual. And though strange it may appear, I am happy to inform you that we have the misfortune (if it may be called one) to belong to that poor deluded (as the world say) despised sect of being called Mormons or Latter-day Saints, who are verily persecuted for righteousness sake. We left the state of New York about six years ago and went to Kirtland, Ohio where the Lord saw fit to afflict us by taking from us four of the elderly members of my family; Nancy, Seth, David and Susan. They were all taken from us within four years. How shall, How can I express my feelings? ―But the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the name of the Lord.‖ We have suffered a great deal of sickness, I was very extremely sick last fall in this place with the fevers almost unto death, but the Lord saw fit to spare my life and measurably restore me to health. Joel is about one hundred miles west of here with his family, Julia and Almera are married, they both did very well, married respected men. Delcena has lost her husband. He died last winter—27th of January. She is in Missouri, we expect her here soon. I have three sons, unmarried men grown up, Joseph, Benjamin and George. Two of them are with me, the other with Delcena. I have two daughters with me, Mary and Esther. I went to Cincinnati last summer and there found Nancy and Rhoda. Rhoda is in Newport across the river from Cincinnati, they are all well. [Nancy would have been Julia‘s full sister, Rhoda, the wife of Joel Hills.]. I have not time to write much more. The gentleman who is expected to bear this is one of those Mormons and as yet has never preached a sermon, but probably will before you receive this. I beg, I pray and entreat you as one who loves you, to search into these things, ―prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good.‖ Study the scriptures the prophecies and then you will learn that the Lord in the last days will bring forth His work, His strange work, His act, His strange act, that truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from Heaven. That Zion will be builded, the Saints gathered and possess the land promised to their fathers and build Jerusalem again, etc. Recollect that the Lord‘s work was always a strange work in the eyes of the people, that he chooses the poor, the weak, the illiterate of this world, to confound the wisdom of the wise and bring to naught the wisdom of the world. Therefore, I will close by begging you to inquire into the truth of these things. Ask the Lord in sincerity to show you the right way. As for persecution, the Lord has said he that liveth Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution also whom the Lord loveth him He chastiseth, etc. Never-the-less these seem not for the present. Joyous but grievous—Look unto the Lord and not to man ―Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his aim‖—Write immediately on the reception of this. Direct your letter to this place, give all our respects to our friends of your acquaintance. I remain in affliction, Your sister. Julia Johnson.9
Leaders of the camp were now seeking a suitable place to settle, and Commerce, a small village at the Mississippi river rapids, was chosen. The Prophet, along with the rest, was attracted by its climate and possibilities, and although much of it was swamp land and unhealthy, the industrious Saints were not long in draining it. Within seven years, this city had been converted into a city of health and beauty, second to none in Illinois. Beautiful solid brick homes had been erected. The mansion house, occupied by the Prophet and his family, where visitors were entertained, was up, and the sacred temple was in the course of construction. The name, too, had been changed to Nauvoo, meaning City Beautiful.
After the Saints settled in Nauvoo, Julia, whose vision was always broad, conceived the idea of taking up land and creating a Johnson family village. Consequently, they settled in Ramus, 20 miles farther east of Nauvoo, and she and her children began to seek out industries and products that they could produce and sell to sustain themselves. The family banded together, supporting each other, each striving to add to the family resources. Later, the name of Ramus was changed to Macedonia and then to Webster. Joel became Macedonia’s first Stake President.
On 9 May 1842, Amos Partridge Johnson, only 13 years of age, became ill and died in Ramus. Benjamin, returning from his mission to Canada had stayed with his sister Julia, and her husband Almond Babbit, in Kirtland. While there, he was married to Melissa Bloomfield LeBaron. The family members remaining in Kirtland made the decision to join the rest of the family in Illinois. Almon Babbit went by water so he could bring merchandise with him. 1 June 1842, Benjamin, his wife, his father, Ezekiel, and his sisters, Julia and Esther, began the journey by land. They arrived in Ramus on 1 July 1842, only a few weeks after the death of Amos Partridge.6
Julia and her family became very close to the Prophet Joseph Smith and his family while living in Nauvoo. On one occasion, the Prophet gave Julia a special blessing in which he promised: "For your faithfulness and acceptance of so unpopular a doctrine, and bringing such a numerous family into the Church, that when the crown should be made for your brow in the Eternal World, everyone of your jewels (children) will be there." Having separated from Ezekiel, Julia was sealed to the Prophet’s uncle, Patriarch John Smith, as a plural wife on 24 January 1846.9
For the Johnsons, the very foundation of the earth was shaken with the martyrdom (27 June 1844) of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Ezekiel, at age 74, had been making his home with his daughter, Esther, and her husband, David LeBaron. With the tragic death of the Prophet, he seemed to become a changed person. Rebellion melted from his soul. He was incensed by the brutality and now defended the Mormons as earnestly and spiritedly as he had heretofore denounced them. The government of the state of Illinois had set the date for the expulsion of the Mormons from the State, but some of the members of the militia had decided to stage a surprise attack on the City of Nauvoo to speed up the expulsion. When word came that the militia was attempting to enter the city of Nauvoo in a treacherous surprise attack, Ezekiel sprang into action and rode furiously through the night to meet the troops on the outskirts of Nauvoo, carrying his trusty gun, Old Bess. Crashing out of the woods in the darkness, he charged into the road ahead of the mounted militia! He poured forth such a tirade of fury and abuse for their treachery that they reined in their startled horses. Ezekiel told them they would have to cross his dead body before they entered further into the city and ordered them to retreat or he would blow the head from the captain. The group was taken completely by surprise. Realizing the deadly earnestness of the man, the company hastily withdrew, but only to attempt a side street entrance into Nauvoo. 9
Ezekiel, anticipating their intentions, was again there ahead of them, every bit as threatening as before. Promising violence and vengeance equal to that of the previous non-Mormon mobs, Ezekiel succeeded, and the militia abandoned their attempt to take control of the city. But Ezekiel had made dangerous enemies, and his name and face were well known. To avoid mob violence, Joel finally persuaded his father to stay with him in Knox County. Joel‘s small cabin was already bursting at the seams with his own family members, so Ezekiel cut short his stay and determined to return to the home of his daughter, Esther and David LeBaron. On his return trip, Ezekiel walked straight into a mob of men who had gathered to do mischief to the Mormon citizens. He was recognized and beaten so badly that he never recovered from the assault. Ezekiel died in Nauvoo on 13 January 1848 at the age of 75 years. But with the family’s grief, there was much consolation, for during the last year of his life, Ezekiel had ceased to use ardent spirits and had realized the wrong done to himself and his family by his opposition. President Wilford Woodruff declared that Ezekiel was one of the first martyrs to the cause of Christ in this dispensation. He was buried in Nauvoo.9
Julia and most of her family did leave Nauvoo with the exodus of the Saints, and for a time, they lived in the camps set up by the Church in Council Bluffs in the Iowa Indian Territory. Julia went back to Nauvoo in 1851 to nurse David and Esther LeBaron’s family through a bought of smallpox, and then returned to Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where she stayed. Julia lived part of the time with her son, Joseph Ellis Johnson, but she had a home of her own. In addition to Joseph, other Johnson children in the vicinity included Almon and Julia Babbitt, Delcena Sherman, William Derby and Jane C. Johnson and Reuben and Almera Barton. Sons Joel Hills, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington had gone on to the Great Salt Lake Valley with their families. When her health began to fail, Julia moved into the home of William Derby and his wife, Jane. She died on 30 May 1853, just four months short of her seventieth birthday. Her son, Benjamin Franklin Johnson, was fulfilling a mission in the Sandwich Isles when he received word that his mother had passed away. He wrote of her, "Such a God-fearing, patient and loving mother, few others ever could have known." 11
Bethiah Garnsey by Paddy Spilsbury
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