Amherst, Ohio, located 28 miles west of Cleveland, was settled in 1818. Amherst quarries were a major source of sandstone used for grindstones and for building. When Joel Hills and Anna Pixley Johnson sold their farm and mill in Pomfret New York, they bought a farm in Amherst. Joel's brother, David Johnson, came to visit and stayed with them there. The first elders of the Church of Jesus Christ, going from Kirtland to Missouri, established a branch of the Church there, and Joel, Anna, and David were all baptized. After Joel H. and Almon Babbit went to Pomfret share the gospel with the Johnson family, Benjamin F. returned to Amherst with Joel, who became the presiding elder in the Amherst Branch. Later, his father, Ezekiel, Seth, Susan, and others came there to visit.