Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 608
MRS. ANN JOHNSON

Mrs. Ann JOHNSON, wife of the late John JOHNSON, will form the subject of this biographical notice. Her home is on section 28, of Jackson Township. She came to Harrison County September 12, 1858, in company with her husband. They located on the place she now occupies. They bought forty acres for which they paid $6.25 per acre. Mr. JOHNSON made substantial improvements upon this place. His farmhouse which was a 16x24 feet structure, was the first frame house built in Jackson Township; the lumber being sawed by horsepower. In this rudely-constructed house the family lived for twenty-four years. After the death of Mr. JOHNSON the widow built a new house. They had added to the land, until at the time of his death he possessed one hundred and ninety-six acres, seventy of which are under the plow, and the balance in pasture, meadow and timber land. The place has been provided with good outbuildings, orchard and shade trees. The family saw many hardships at an early day, including the grasshopper raids, when the little winged pests devastated much of the farm products.

Mr. and Mrs. JOHNSON were born in England. The husband was a son of Hugh and Martha JOHNSON, who had twelve children--Sarah, Mary A., Jane, Martha, Hannah, John, Joel, Thomas, James, Henry and Isaac, and one who died in infancy. They are all deceased but three. Mr. and Mrs. JOHNSON were united in marriage December 19, 1834. Mrs. JOHNSON's maiden name was Ann HOPE, the daughter of William and Nancy A. HOPE, natives of England, who also reared a family of twelve children--Elizabeth, James, Mary, Thomas, Charlotte, Hannah, William, Ann, Francis, Jane, and two who died in infancy. Of Mr. JOHNSON it may be said that he remained with his parents until he was twenty-four years of age, at which time he was married and started in life for himself. He worked out for others before he came to this country. He landed in Boston, Mass., and went from there to Fall River, where he worked in a cotton factory for six months, and the next two years were spent as a teamster in New Jersey. We next find Mr. JOHNSON in Council Bluffs, Iowa, near where he rented land for two years, and then spent six months near Preparation, Monona County, and then came to this county.

Mr. and Mrs. JOHNSON were the parents of six children--Salena, born April 4, 1836, Emily, deceased, born November 21, 1838; Henry, January 4, 1842; Emily, deceased, born December 4, 1845; Maroni, August 25, 1850; and Florence M., December 21, 1854. Mr. JOHNSON was a member of the Foresters in England. They were both members of the Latter Day Saints Church, to which she still belongs.

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