ISAAC B. JOHNSON

During the pioneer epoch in the history of Cedar county Isaac B. Johnson took up his abode here, arriving in 1857, after a year’s residence in Scott county, Iowa. The pioneers are fast passing away. The courageous men and women who marked out the paths and established homes where previously the red race had its hunting ground—these men and women are entitled to all the honors that have been awarded them and the record of their achievements will in the years to come be an inspiration to youth and a constant incentive to mature age. Among the early settlers of Cedar county Isaac B. Johnson is numbered and is today one of its valuable citizens, being now in the eighty-second year of his age. He was born in Andover, Massachusetts, December 27, 1828, and was reared upon a farm in that locality. A comparison of the relative advantages of the east and west led him to the determination of trying his fortune beyond the Mississippi, and, making his way to Iowa in 1856, he settled in Scott county. The following year he came to Cedar county and his first purchase of land made him the owner of forty acres near Mechanicsville. This he cleared and improved, developing a farm to which he added from time to time as his financial resources permitted of further purchase.

That he might have a helpmate for the journey of life and a companion in his new home he was married in the spring of 1857 to Miss Frances Elizabeth Shattuck, a native of New Hampshire, who was reared in the old Granite state and in Troy, New York. Her father, Franklin Shattuck, was a native of Massachusetts and represented one of the old families of that state. Following his marriage Mr. Johnson located in Mechanicsville, where he engaged in the ice business, and later entered the service of the Northwestern Railroad Company, settling taxes for the company for many years. He also carried on agricultural pursuits and conducted the ice business and found in these various fields of activity a source of profit that in due time won him place among the men of affluence in the community.

In March, 1906, Mr. Johnson was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife. There were six children of that marriage, but four died in childhood, those still living being C. W., who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume; and Ira Clifford, who is married and resides in Mechanicsville, occupying a part of the Johnson residence. He is employed by the Northwestern Railroad Company, engaging in bridge building and other work. He has one son, Clifford Francis. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac B. Johnson also reared and educated an adopted daughter, Clara M. Hyde, who is a nice of Mrs. Johnson and is now acting as housekeeper for her uncle.

In his political views Mr. Johnson has been a strong republican since the organization of the party. He served on the school board here for a number of years and also was a member of the town council. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is one of the trustees, and he is a patriarch of the Masonic fraternity of Mechanicsville, being the last survivor of the charter members of the lodge at this place. He had previously joined the organization in Massachusetts and after coming to the west he served as lodge treasurer in Mechanicsville for a number of years. For fifty-three years he has lived in Cedar county and its progress and upbuilding are to him matters of history, while with many movements that have been of essential value in the upbuilding of the district he has been closely, influentially and helpfully identified. His life work on the whole has been a beneficial element in the community, and he justly merits the veneration, respect and honor which are accorded him in the evening of life.