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The Johns Family History Association
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Biography
Transcribed by
Mari Morrow.
Prosser, William F. History of the Puget Sound Country. Volume 2. Lewis
Publishing Co. 1903. pp. 128-30.
BENNETT W. JOHNS
The pioneer history of Washington is familiar to Bennett W. Johns from active
connection with the experiences of frontier life in this portion of the state.
His history forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the
enterprising present, for as early as 1853 he took up his abode in Seattle. He
was born at Dixon Spring, Smith county, Tennessee, on the 15th of February,
1838, and is of Welsh and English ancestry. His grandfather, Elias Johns, nobly
served his country in the war of 1812. He was of the F.F.V., was one of the
wealthy planters and slaveowners of Tennessee, being the owner of an extensive
farm and a beautiful home. In his religious affiliations he was a devout
Baptist, and was one of the pillars of his church. His son, Bennett Lewis Johns,
was also a native of the state of Tennessee, where he was born in the year 1802.
For his wife he chose Miss Elizabeth Suttles, who was born near the birthplace
of her husband, and in 1853 the family, consisting of the! parents and ten
children, started on the long and tedious journey to the Pacific coast. Near
Soda Springs, Idaho, the wife and mother died of mountain fever, and the eldest
daughter, Frances, who had become the wife of Alexander Barnes in the east,
passed away of the same disease soon after the death of her mother, and both lie
buried near the place of their death. This was a sad bereavement to the
remainder of the family, but such was the lot of many of the brave pioneers.
When they reached the Cascade mountains the snow became so deep that they were
obliged to leave the wagons and much of their outfit, and later they engaged
pack horses and took over what they could, and later food became so scarce that
they would all have perished had not help reached them by a portion of Seattle's
best citizens, who had been sent out to relieve the weary travelers. The
children who accompanied them on this journey are here named in the order of
their birth: W.F. Johns, who is now a resident of Ocheltree, Kansas; Elizabeth,
who became the wife of T.G. Grow, and died in the fifty-sixth year of her age in
California; Bennett W., the subject of this review; Sarah, who died in King
county, Washington, when fifteen years of age; Martha T., the deceased wife of
W.H. Mitchell, whose history will be found in another portion of this work; Mary
B., who married R.H. Chase and resides in Everett, Washington; Martin R., of
Olympia; Belle, who became the wife of Martin Gilver and has also passed away;
and Nora, the deceased wife of Captain Hill.
The journey to the state of Washington was begun on the 1st of May, 1853, and
they arrived in Seattle on the 4th of November, 1853, the latter part of the
trip having been made in canoes down the White river. On reaching his
destination the father took up a donation claim in King county, nine miles
southeast of Seattle, on the Duwamish river, where he engaged in farming and
stock-raising. Two years after their arrival here the Indian war broke out, and
the family were obliged to seek protection in Seattle. The father and two older
boys were volunteers in the war, serving three months in the First and six
months in the Second Regiment, and were in the fight at Seattle in 1856 when the
Indians attacked the city. While the family were at breakfast they were driven
from their home in the suburbs, and during that night the house was ransacked of
all that the Indians thought worth taking. But their worst misfortune was the
stealing of the winter's supply of flour. The father and the boys had raised the
wheat on their own land, the former sowing in the morning as much as the boys
could dig into the ground and cover during the rest of the day. Later on this
was harvested in the primitive fashion of the time and was threshed with a flail
and winnowed in the wind. Then the precious grain was taken by Mr. Johns and Mr.
John Collins and others, in a flatbottomed scow to Olympia, where it was ground,
and the flour was then brought to Seattle and placed in A.A. Denny's store,
where it remained until the night of the Indian ravage.
With characteristic energy, however, Mr. Johns set about the task of retrieving
his lost possessions, and after residing on his farm for several years he rented
it and removed to Seattle, where he lived until within a few months of his
death, and then went to Olympia, where he made his home with his daughter, Mrs.
William H. Mitchell, until his death, in 1879, when he had reached the
seventy-seventh milestone on the journey of life.
Bennett W. Johns, the second son of this worthy pioneer, was but fourteen years
of age when he accompanied the family on the long and perilous journey to the
Evergreen state. He made the trip on horseback and drove their loose cattle,
and, although they were frequently harassed by the Indians, who drove off their
stock, they always succeeded in recapturing the most of them. The education
which he had begun in his native state was completed in Seattle, Washington, and
he remained with his father on the farm until he was twenty years of age, after
which he obtained employment in a sawmill, having been able in the first three
months to send his father sixty dollars. Going from there to Fort Hope, British
Columbia, he engaged in mining at Puget Sound Bar, on Frazer river, and so well
were his services rewarded that he was soon able to send to his father one
hundred and four dollars in gold dust. After following the varied fortunes of a
miner for some time he turned his attention to the fur trade, in which he also
met with success, but in 1869 he abandoned that vocation and returned to
Olympia, where for the following fourteen years he was engaged in the sawmilling
business with W.H. Mitchell. In 1876 Mr. Johns purchased a farm of six hundred
and forty acres on Bush Prairie, since which his time has been given to the
stock business. In addition to this tract he also owns two hundred and forty
acres three miles from Olympia and a good residence in the city.
The marriage of Mr. Johns was celebrated in 1872, when Miss Mary J. Vertrees
became his wife. She was born in Illinois and is a daughter of Charles M.
Vertrees, also of that commonwealth. One daughter, Ruth, was born to brighten
and bless their home, and she is now the wife of A.S. Kerfoot and a resident of
Franklin county, Washington. Mr. Johns is a member of the Baptist church, in
which he has been an officer since the organization of the church in this city.
Mrs. Johns joined the church a few months after its organization. In his
political affiliations he has been a life-long Republican, and has served as a
school director, as a member of the city council of Tumwater, this state, and is
active in every movement and measure intended to benefit the county of his
adoption. In his fraternal relations he is a past noble grand of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, being also a member of its auxiliary, the Rebekahs, and is
a past master workman of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His long residence
in Washington classes him among the honored pioneers of the state, and he has
aided in laying the foundation for the present prosperity and progress of this
portion of the commonwealth.
***
Transcribed by
Mari Morrow.
Blankenship,
Mrs. George E. Early History of Thurston County Washington. Olympia, Washington,
1914. pp. 237-40.
BENNETT
WILLSON JOHNS
The
distinction of having been the youngest soldier in the volunteer company
enlisted to defend Seattle in the Indian war of 1855-56, belongs to the subject
of this sketch, Bennett Willson Johns, who, with his father, brothers and
sisters, arrived in Seattle in 1853. Early in the spring of that year the elder
Johns, Bennett Lewis, with his wife, Elizabeth Tuttles Johns, and their large
family of children, started from their old home in Tennessee, for the West.
When the
emigrants reached Soda Springs, in Idaho, the wife and mother, with her two
weeks' old babe, were taken down with mountain fever, and died after a few days'
illness. The eldest daughter, Frances, who had become the wife of Alexander
Barnes in the East, but who, with her husband, was also among the emigrants, was
also stricken with the same disease and followed her mother within a few days.
Mother and daughter sleep side by side in lonely graves in the wilderness.
The emigrants
resumed their Western march after these bereavements, sad and discouraged, but
with no alternative but to push onward.
Owing to the
delays from sickness and fatigue of the cattle, snow began to fall by the time
the train reached the Cascades, and before many days' travel through the
mountains were accomplished, it became necessary to abandon the wagons and much
of the outfit, and take pack horses with which to continue their journey. Food
became so scarce that a messenger was dispatched ahead of the weary emigrants
with a prayer for assistance, to the settlers of Seattle. With characteristic
Western generosity, the appeal was responded to and food and comforts sent back
along the trail to relieve the distress of the emigrants. On reaching Puget
Sound, the father took up a donation claim in what is now King County, on the
Duwamish River, nine miles from Seattle, where he engaged in farming and stock
raising.
[Remainder of
sketch omitted.]
***
Transcribed by
Mari Morrow.
Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, December 28, 1905.
BENNETT W. JOHNS, SEATTLE PIONEER -- Came to Sound in November, 1853 -- Will Be
Buried Saturday
Special to the
Post-Intelligencer.
OLYMPIA, Dec.
28 -- Bennett W. Johns, who died here Wednesday and whose funeral will take
place here Saturday, was one of the first settlers at Seattle.
He was born in Smith county, Tennessee, in 1838, the son of Bennett L. and
Elizabeth (Suttle) Johns. In 1844 the family moved to Kentucky and a year later
to Scott county, Missouri, whence, in 1853, they started overland for Washington
territory by ox team.
The party
included Mr. and Mrs. B.L. Johns, nine unmarried children and one married
daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Barnes. Mrs. Johns and Mrs. Barnes
died en route. The rest of the family reached Walla Walla in October and started
for the Sound. They were caught in the snow in the Cascades and had to kill one
of their oxen for food. They finally reached Seattle November 4, 1853. There
they passed the winter.
Fought in the
Indian War
Next year the
father located a donation claim nine miles from Seattle. In 1855 they sowed a
few acres of wheat and when it was harvested it was placed
[Photo of
Bennett W. Johns here]
in a primitive
scow and taken to the only flour mill in the territory at Tumwater to be ground.
During the
Indian war of 1855-6 the family moved to Seattle, while the father engaged in
military service for nine months. Bennett W. Johns served a year during the war,
the youngest man in the regiment. He was in the Companies of Capt. C.C. Hewitt
and Capt. A.A. Denny.
[Remainder of obituary omitted.]
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