William Johnson - A Clue to Johnson Ancestry

  ©  Kathy Duncan, 2021

William Johnson, who went to visit his cousin Mrs. J. D. Brown in Weldon, Illinois in December 1894, is probably my best clue for figuring out anything more about Samuel Johnson, the father of Nancy (Johnson) Brown aka Mrs. J. D. Brown and sometimes Mrs. John D. Brown. A social notice in the Daily Review stated that he was from Burr Oak, Kansas, so it is with crossed figures that he was a first cousin, that I embark on researching William Johnson of Burr Oak, Kansas.

Burr Oak, Kansas is in Jewell County. Since William Johnson was living in 1894, I first checked the 1900 census in hopes that he was still living there. In 1900, there was one William A. Johnson living in Burr Oak, Kansas. He was 52 years old, having been born in February 1848. Plus, he was born in Illinois, and both of his parents were born in Kentucky. He seems like a very good fit for a cousin to Nancy (Johnson) Brown who was also born in Illinois while both of her parents were born in Kentucky. Significantly, William was divorced and had one son living with him: Edward C. Johnson who was 22 years old and was born in Illinois in November 1877. Edward's father was born in Illinois and his mother in Ohio. In looking at this, I realize that I should be able to find Edward, age two, living with his parents in 1880. Before I did that, however, I checked for other Johnsons in Jewell County, Kansas. Were any more of them born in Illinois or a likely prospect for William's ex-wife? This would help me be able to pinpoint the family on the 1880 census. 

The most interesting household to emerge was that of Mary E. Johnson in White Mound township of Jewell County, Kansas. Like William Johnson, she was divorced, and like the mother of Edward C. Johnson, she was born in Ohio. All of her children were born in Kansas, and all of them had a father born in Illinois and a mother born in Ohio. She became my best candidate for the ex-wife of William A. Johnson. The children with Mary Johnson were Manwell Johnson, age 8, born October 1891; Bertha R. Johnson, age 19, born November 1880; John O. Johnson, age 17, born January 1883; Pearl L. Johnson, age 16, born May 1884; David R. Johnson, age 13, born January 1887; and Maude A. Johnson, age 10, born 1889.

Next, I went forward to the 1910 census, looking for William A. Johnson, but he was nowhere to be found. I wanted to see if a later census might link him to Mary E. Johnson or her children. I also did not find a memorial for him on Findagrave. Next, I looked for an obituary or death notice in the newspapers. I did not find either, but I did find a murder in Jewell County, Kansas: 

The death of W. A. Johnson at the hands of Roy Wilson suggested that I could not find William A. Johnson in 1910 because he was, in fact, deceased by then. This still did not help me determine if there was a connection between William A. Johnson and Mary E. Johnson, so I kept looking for more information about this murder. 

This article helped me determine that W. A. Johnson was William A. Johnson and that William A. Johnson was the father of Pearl Johnson who appeared in Mary E. Johnson's household in 1900. 

You would think that murdering her father would have soured Pearl Johnson on Roy Wilson's affection, but apparently not.

But I digress.

Armed with a family unit, I was ready to go back to the 1880 census. They turned up again in Burr Oak, Jewell County, Kansas with an additional elder daughter. William Johnson, a mail carrier was age 30 and born in Illinois. No parents' births were provided for him, which suggests to me that he did not supply the information on the census. His wife was Mary E. Johnson, age 29, born in Ohio. Her father was born in Ohio and her mother in Iowa. With them was a daughter Ettie May Johnson, age eight born in Illinois, and a son Eddie C. Johnson, age two, born in Illinois. The births of these children in Illinois suggested to me that William and Mary married in Illinois. 

A social security application for Manuel Sims Johnson, born in Burr Oak, Kansas on 22 October 1891, revealed that his parents were William Johnson and Mary E. Hill. 

A marriage record for William A. Johnson and Mary E. Hill turned up in Macon County, Illinois, dated 17 September 1872. 

I have seen trees that link this William A. Johson to parents Lawson Johnson and Sarah Anthony. There is just one problem with that. Their son William Johnson, born 9 November 1846 in Scott County, Illinois was two years older than the William A. Johnson I am seeking. More importantly, the other William Johnson died 30 October 1932 in Aurora, Kane County, Illinois, leaving a death certificate that names his parents as Lawson and Sarah Johnson, so he is ruled out.

At this point, I have been unable to locate William A. Johnson in Illinois on the 1870 and 1860 census. However, a William A. Johnston, aged two and born in Illinois turned up in the household of John A. Johnston in Pike County, Illinois. This suggests that John A. Johnson, who witnessed a deed for Samuel Johnson, in 1834 was his brother. 

On the 1850 Pike County, Illinois, census, John A. Johnston was 33, born about 1817 in Kentucky. He would have been seventeen in 1834, just old enough to witness a deed but maybe not old enough to be living on his own. Two brothers, Samuel and John, could have come to Illinois on their own, or they might have been with their parents. So I still need to do some digging on that. 

John A. Johnston's wife was Elizabeth, age 22, and also born in Kentucky. They would have fit the profile of William A. Johnson's parents. Two-year-old William A. Johnston born in Illinois was in their household along with sibling John R. Johnston who was under a year old. Also in this household was Cenia Johnston, age 35 and born in Kentucky. She is either an unmarried elder sister or a widowed sister-in-law. Since the 1850 census did not have a martial code, I am left hanging. However, I should factor her in when looking for census records that might include her as a child. I am hampered by having no idea when Samuel Johnson was born. I have not been able to identify John A. Johnson or John A. Johnston's household in 1860 or 1870. Yet.

One thing to keep in mind is that in order for Nancy (Johnson) Brown to have a cousin who would travel from Kansas to Illinois to visit her suggests a relationship between them. They would have at least known each other as children, which is a strong argument for William A. Johnson of Jewell County, Kansas to be the same person as William A. Johnston of Pike County, Illinois, where the children and widow of Samuel Johnson lived until the 1860s. 

On the one hand, I am glad to have something that suggests more strongly that John A. Johnson and Samuel Johnson were related to each other. On the other hand, I had hoped to find another Johnson brother with a more distinctive name and maybe an easier path back to the area of Kentucky they were from.