GRIFFITH JOHNSON (1791-1864) – The History Tree

Griffith Johnson was born on September 15, 1791 in Allegany County, Maryland to John Johnson and Elizabeth (Perrin) Johnson. He was a private in the 3rd Regiment of Ohio in the War of 1812. On April 22, 1813, he was married to Harriet Drake in Ohio. The couple resided in Washington, Holmes, Ohio, through at least the 1840s. The original Washington Township Land Entries have Griffith and Harriet living in Section 9, Ne160. They had seven children: Cynthia (b. 1815), Maranda (b. 1819), Matilda (b. 1819), Paul Wetherly (b. 1820), Silas (b. 1822), Timothy (b. 1824), and Elza D (b. 1826).

Burning of the White House, War of 1812

He spent his boyhood in Maryland and moved with his father to Harrison County, Ohio in about 1810. During the War of 1812, he was drafted into the Ohio Militia in Tuscarawas County, but at that time Tuscarawas included what later became Harrison County. He was discharged on February 8, 1812, at Fort Meigs, Ohio. About this time he went to Holmes County, where he taught school. From Stiffler’s Standard Atlas of Holmes County, page 10, an article entitled “Western Holmes County” by Joshua Crawford, we quote:

“The first school in western Holmes County was kept by Griffith Johnson in Drake’s Valley. He reisded in one end of the part log building and kept school in the other.”

Griffith taught school in Ohio for over forty years before coming out to Iowa. He was a very religious man and practiced his religion in his everyday living as well as in the schoolroom. Instead of punishing a pupil for misbehavior, he would kneel down and pray for him. He was related to the Johnson boys, John and Henry (probably cousins), who in October 1788, in Jefferson County, Ohio, were captured by the Indians and escaped by killing them.

John Johnson, thirteen years old, and Henry Johnson, eleven, were captured in 1788 near their home at Beach Bottom in Monroe County. They were cracking nuts in the woods, and when the Indians came upon them the boys thought that they were two of their neighbors. They were seized and hurried away, one Indian going before and one following the boys, who told them their father treated them badly, and tried to make their captors believe they were glad to be leaving home. The Indians spent the day in a vain attempt to steal horses, and stopped to pass the night only four miles from the place where they had taken the boys. After supper they lay down with the prisoners between them, and when they supposed the boys were asleep one of the Indians went and stretched himself on the other side of the fire. Presently he began snoring, and John rose, cocked one of the guns, and left it with Henry aimed at this Indian’s head, while he took his station with a tomahawk held over the head of the other. Henry fired and John struck at the same time; neither Indian was killed at once, but both were too badly hurt to prevent the boys’ escape, and the brothers found their way to the settlement by daybreak. The neighbors who returned to their camp with them found the body of the Indian who had been tomahawked, but the other had vanished. Years afterwards a skeleton with a gun was discovered in the woods, where he must have crept after he was shot. A more complete account of this story can be found in the Jefferson-Belmont County History.

On April 22, 1813, Griffith married Harriet Drake, daughter of David and Margaret (Hinkle) Drake, who were some of the earliest settlers in Drake’s Valley, Holmes County, Ohio, having also removed there from Maryland in 1810.

In 1824, when Holmes County was organized, Griffith Johnson was chosen as one of the first commissioners for a term of three years.

In the family Bible which he brought with him to Cedar County and which was later in the possession of another Griffith Johnson, a great-great-grandson, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Griffith made the following notations:

“Mother, Elizabeth Johnson, died August, 1800. Father, John Johnson, died January, 1831. My house burned February 2, 1831.”

In 1834, he was one of the subscribers to the First Church (Methodist) in Nashville. “It was to be paid in wheat delivered in Nashville, October 15, 1834. It was not for the building but for finishing the meeting house.” Griffith Johnson subscribed $3.50.

Nashville, Ohio

On August 4, 1851, Griffith made an affadavit in Mansfield, Richland County, for the purpose of obtaining bounty land from the government. He stated in his affadavit that he was a resident of Holmes County, Ohio; that he served as a private in the company commanded by Capt. Joseph Johnson, in the regiment of the Ohio Militia commanded by Col. Charles Miller. He continued by saying that his original discharge had been destroyed in the burning of his dwelling house.

Tax lists show he owned 160 acres of land in Washington Township, Holmes County, Ohio, in 1855. In 1856, Griffith sold his farm in Ohio and with his wife Harriet and probably some of their married children and their families came to Cedar County, Iowa. Paul Johnson, their eldest son had preceded them to Cedar County in 1852.

Early Cedar County deed records indicate that Griffith purchased a farm a short distance northwest of Lowden, which was then called “Loudon” after Loudonville, Ohio. This farm was later owned by his son, Timothy E. Johnson, and later Martin Licht of Lowden.

School teachers in this new territory were scare at that time and it was not long until Griffith’s services as a teacher were enlisted by the people of the Lowden community. We quote from the Cedar County History of 1878, Page 505, as follows:

“The first school was taught by Miss Hulda Monroe, afterward by Mrs. W. S. Holton, in a building rented for that purpose in 1859. She was followed by Griffith Johnson, a veteran teacher of Ohio.”

Harriet, Griffith’s wife, died at Lowden in 1859, and this was one of the first burials in the Lowden Cemetery. The following record was copied from the February 23, 1859 issue of the Western Christian Advocate:

“Harriet Johnson, died 8, Jan. 1859, at Loudon, Cedar County, Iowa. She was born 25, Dec. 1793, in Allegany County, Md., a daughter of David and Margaret (Hinkle) Drake, who were early settlers in Drake’s Valley, Holmes County, Ohio. She married Griffith Johnson 22, Apr. 1813, and in 1856 moved to Iowa.”

The 1860 Iowa Census records show Griffith Johnson, then 68 years of age, living in the home of his son, Timothy H. Johnson, in Massillon Twp., Cedar County.

On November 13, 1864, Griffith died and is also buried in the Lowden Cemetery beside his wife. With the assistance of interested members of the Lowden American Legion Post, who were able to prove his service in the War of 1812, and secure a government headstone to be placed on his grave. This stone of white Vermont marble which measured five feet was cut in half and by using the lower half, we were able to match the lettering and place a similar stone on Harriet’s grave. This was made possible by contributions from thirty-five interested descendants. If there were headstones there at one time, they had been destroyed.

The following is a copy of Griffith’s obituary found in an issue of the Tipton Advertiser dated December 22, 1864:

“Griffith Johnson fell asleep in Jesus on Sabbath morning, November 13, 1864, at Loudon, Cedar County, Iowa, aged 73 years, 1 mo., 28 days. He was born in Maryland, September 15, 1791. At an early age he removed to Harrison, thence Holmes County, Ohio, at which place he remained until he removed to Iowa in 1856. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, joining the American Army in that year. He also professed religion the same year and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church of which he continued a consistent, active member until the time of his death, 52 years. He was indeed a pillar in the church, filling faithfully its most responsible positions, and ever exhorting, laboring and giving for the object of love. He declared ‘he would as soon as expect to get to Heaven without praying as without giving.’ He enjoyed the confidence and esteem of the entire community and was mourned by a large circle of friends. His end was perfect peace. ‘Rest, sweet Rest,’ and ‘Precious Savior’ were among his last words.

His wife Harriet preceded him in death in 1859, and a son Silas Drake Johnson was killed in the Battle of Champion’s Hill, Miss., May 16, 1863. Pastor.”