Tracking the origins of Samuel Johnson and his wife Esther Bryant has been especially difficult, partly because I don't know where they married or where they were born. According to family tradition, Samuel Johnson was an early settler of Pike County, Illinois, and he and Esther were from Kentucky.
Samuel Johnson was mostly likely deceased by 22 March 1848 when Esther married Robert C. Lacy in Pike County, Illinois. In 1850, they were still living in Pike County with four of the Johnson children and their own first child.
It is through the younger Johnson children that I know what I know about Samuel and Esther. One of Nancy (Johnson) Brown's sons-in-law, specifically A. F. Miller was featured in the Portrait and Biographical Album Sangamon County published in 1891 when both John D. and Nancy (Johnson) Brown were still living. That text details that Nancy's father was Samuel Johnson:
"John D. Brown, father of Mrs. Miller, was reared in Pike County, where he married Miss Nancy Johnson, a native of that county, and a daughter of Samuel Johnson, who was born in Kentucky, but is numbered among the early settlers of Pike County."
Nancy's younger brother Richard M Johnson died on 10 September 1923 in Lovington, Moultrie County, Illinois. His death certificate reveals that his parents were Samuel Johnson and Esther Bryant, and that is the source for Esther's maiden name.
That leaves the older two Johnson children to research: Pete Johnson born c 1834 in Illinois and Elizabeth Johnson born c. 1836 in Illinois. They have proven to be more difficult. None of the Johnson children are still with Robert and Esther (Bryant) Lacy in 1860. That leaves limited possibilities for what happened to them. Either they died young, married, or branched out on their own to unknown locations.
My next step is to look for them in the marriages of Pike County, Illinois since I am guessing that they may have married in the years preceding the marriages of their younger Johnson siblings in Pike County and before the Lacys removed to Kansas. That narrows my search for them to 1850 - 1869. The following marital unions in Pike County are possibilities:
1. Miss Eliza Johnson married Isaac Dalbo on 12 February 1852 in Pike County.
The descendants of Isaac Dalbow have identified their ancestress as Eliza Mustard in various death certificates. Certainly, an Eliza Mustard had married an S.S. Johnson in Pike County in 1848. She may very well be the same Eliza who married Isaac Dalbow in 1852. She is tentatively ruled out.
2. Elizabeth Johnson married George W. Burges on 5 January 1857 in Pike County.
Besides being unable to locate this couple on the 1860 census, it looks like George W. Burgess married Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson. This tentatively rules out this Elizabeth because the Elizabeth Johnson I am looking for would be a single woman.
3. Elizabeth E. Johnson married George W. Pine on 4 April 1867 in Pike County.
The Elizabeth Johnson who married George W. Pine may have been a Johnston. Her marriage in 1867 makes her an outlier because I would expect the Elizabeth that I am looking for to have married earlier. Although she was born in Illinois, multiple census years place this Elizabeth's birth in 1845, which would make her nine years younger than the Elizabeth Johnson I am seeking. This Elizabeth's father was born in Virginia instead of Kentucky.
4. Elizabeth Johnston married William R. Curry on 24 May 1860 in Pike County.
The 1860 Pike County census reveals that Lizzie Curry, wife of W. R. Curry, was only 16 years old. She is too young to be the Elizabeth who was the daughter of Samuel Johnson. Samuel's daughter would have been about 24 in 1860.
5. Peter C. Johnson married Nancy Seelock on 24 January 1861 in Pike County.
Nancy Johnson, wife of P. C. Johnson, was born 19 January 1842 and died 3 March 1867. She is buried in Summer Hill Cemetery, Martinsburg Twp. in Pike County, Illinois. That would account for the following marriage of Peter C. Johnson to Amanda Richardson.
6. Peter C. Johnson married Amanda Richardson on 29 November 1868 in Pike County.
On the 1880 Pike County census there is a Peter Johninson married to an Amanda. That Peter was born in 1838 in Illinois, but his parents were both born in New Jersey. If the census is accurate, he is a little too young and his parents were born in the wrong location. He is tentatively ruled out.
My take away at this point is that searching for the low hanging fruit in Pike County did not get me anywhere other than to rule people out. Should I consider that both Peter and Elizabeth went with the Lacys to Kansas in 1869 and found spouses there? Then there is the possibility that they married in Illinois but in a neighboring county. But where? I am not ready to assume that they died young.
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