Harriet Jerusha Drake was born on Christmas Day, 1793 in Allegany County, Maryland to David Drake and Maria Margaret (Hinkle) Drake. She was married to Griffith Johnson on April 22, 1813 in Belmont County, Ohio. They had seven children: Cynthia (b. October 19, 1815), Maranda (b. January 23, 1819), Matilda (b. December 20, 1819), Paul Wetherly (b. November 28, 1820), Silas Drake (b. November 20, 1822), Timothy Ruark (b. November 23, 1824), and Elza D (b. September 27, 1826).
Hills in Belmont County
The Ashland County Ohio Genealogy Web Project has a brief biography of Harriet:
2. Harriet Jerusha Drake Johnston, b. 25 December 1793, Allegany County, Maryland (LDS Film# 452863, Reference # 22320; film#458460) who married Griffith Johnson (as shown in the above reference deed) Moreover, it is reported that this marriage took place in 1813 and that the couple had 7 children and that Harried died on January 8, 1859, in Lowden, Cedar County, Iowa. According to a typewritten History of Nashville in the Holmes County Library, ‘the Drakes built the first Nashville community school west of Nashville with Griffith Johnson as the first teacher.“ Griffith Johnson had Land Entries in the Washington Township in 1817 and 1818.
Harriet is buried next to Griffith in Lowden Cemetery. With the assistance of interested members of the Lowden American Legion Post, who were able to prove his service in the War of 1812, secured 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.
Lowden, Iowa
