JOHNSTON/JOHNSON FAMILY

Excerpts from

JAMES JOHNSTON (ca. 1662-1747)

James Johnston is the first known male ancestor of our line. He was born about 1662 and died in the Isle of Wight County of Virginia in the first half of 1747 at about 85 years of age. It is assumed that he is a descendant of the ancient Annadale stock of Dumfresshire, Scotland. He was known as "James Johnston of Currowaugh" as he lived on Currowaugh, a large plantation which extended into the Virginia counties of Nansemond and Isle of Wight. James Johnston married Mary Johnson, daughter of Robert and Katherine Johnson of Isle of Wight County. Mary was born about 1667 and died sometime after 1747. James made his will in the Isle of Wight County on 30 January 1745. It was probated on 11 June 1747. His beneficiaries were his wife, children and grandchildren.

JOHN JOHNSTON (ca. 1699-1783)

John Johnston of Black Creek, was the son of James Johnston, the first known male ancestor of our family. It is assumed that he lived for some time in Nansemond County, Virginia before settling in Southampton County, Virginia, where he was found to be living in 1752. He died there in 1783 at the age of about eighty-four. Although he was married twice, the name of his first wife has not been ascertained but evidently she was the mother of his two sons: John and James as well as his daughters: Patience and Mary. John’s second wife, Peninah, was the mother of Jacob, our ancestor as well as seven other children. John had extensive land holdings. He made his will in Nottaway Parish, Southampton County on 30 January 1783 and was probated on 8 May 1783. The beneficiaries were his wife, Peninah and his children by both marriages.

JACOB JOHNSON (ca. 1858-1814)

Jacob was the son of John Johnston (sic) and presumably his second wife, Peninah. He was found living in Halifax County, North Carolina in 1782. He died there in 1814 at the age of about 56. He married Jane Doles, the daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Doles and the grand daughter of Joseph and Olive Doles of Southampton County, Virginia. Jane was born about 1760 and died in 1840. Jacob died in testate in 1814. Jane made her will on 16 August 1837. It was probated in the August court 1840.

DEMPSEY JOHNSON (ca. 1783-1836)

Dempsey Johnson was the son of Jacob and Jane (Doles) Johnson. He was born in Halifax County, North Carolina about 1783. He was the first of our family to make the journey from Virginia and North Carolina to Georgia, Alabama and states west of the Mississippi.

Dempsey was married two times. The name of his first wife has not been ascertained. However, it is assumed that she was from Scotland, as it is tradition that she made a trip alone back to Scotland to help settle a family estate. She was the mother of three of Dempsey’s older children: Rebecca, Henry and John.

Dempsey’s second wife was a twenty-five year-old widow with three children by the name of Elizabeth (Pritchett) Moore. Elizabeth was born in 1795. She was the daughter of Jeptha and Keziah Pritchett. Elizabeth’s first husband was John Moore. Dempsey and Elizabeth were married about 1820, probably in Halifax County. Elizabeth’s paternal grandparents were Christopher and Pricilla Pritchett of Surry County, Virginia and later of Halifax County. The Pritchetts were of Welch descent and were very early settlers of Virginia. They, like the Johnsons, spelled their name in different ways: Pritchett, Pritchard, etc. Regardless of how the name is spelled, it means son of Richard.

In the summer of 1824, Dempsey left Halifax County and traveled alone to Georgia to establish a home for his family. However, before he left North Carolina, Dempsey sold his land holdings but not the crops growing on them. After the crops had been gathered, the rest of the family joined Dempsey at their new home in Coweta County, Georgia.

Dempsey died in late 1835 or early 1836, probably in Coweta County. Elizabeth was the administrator of his estate, which she settled in 1836. We do not know where Dempsey was buried. Elizabeth re-married five years later at the age of forty-six to Silas Reynolds. They were married on 7 June 1841 in Coweta County. It is thought that Silas died sometime prior to 1860 as Elizabeth is found living with her son, Willis M. Johnson in the 1860 Randolph County census. She died there at her son’s home in 1886 and is buried in the old Graham Cemetery.

WILLIS MONROE JOHNSON (1823-1900)

Willis Monroe Johnson was the oldest child of Dempsey Johnson (ca. 1783-1836) and his second wife, Elizabeth Pritchett (ca. 1795-1885). He was born in Halifax County, North Carolina on 12 December 1823 and died at Graham, Randolph County, Alabama on 7 June 1900. Willis married Sarah Elizabeth Cheeves, a daughter of Thomas J. and Sarah (Weaver) Cheeves in Coweta County, Georgia on 3 December 1848. Sarah Elizabeth was born 30 September 1831 and died 30 December 1917.

We do not know when Willis and Sarah moved to Randolph County but it was sometime between 1848 and 1860. The courthouse in Wedowee was completely destroyed by fire in 1895 and unfortunately much of our family’s history was destroyed along with it. In the County’s early days, there was a village known as Carter’s Store, which was located about one and a half miles west of the present city of Graham.

Willis and Sarah lived near Graham where they raised a large family. Both are buried in well-marked graves in the old Graham Cemetery near where they lived. Willis was a Mason. While living in Carroll County, Georgia, Willis was raised to the degree of Master Mason in 1852. He was member of the Masons at Graham, Alabama Lodge No. 354 for twenty-five years and a member of the local M.E. Church, South.

Before the Civil War, Willis and his neighbors, the Herrens, Heatons, Cheeves, Saxons and others, were prosperous and lived well in accordance with the living standards of the time. Then came the war, which caused near starvation. An example of just how bad things were is reflected in a story about Willis and his family. According to the story, in order to have salt for what little food they had, they dug up the dirt in their smoke house where brine had dripped from curing meat and soaked it with water to leach out the brine, like they did to get lye for making soap. After the war, most of our Johnson family remained to start all over again but several left to pioneer in the West.

Willis M. and Sarah E. Johnson had seventeen children; fifteen lived to be grown and married. Their children are as follows:  Mary Jane (Johnson) Cosper; John Thomas Johnson; Ellen Louise (Johnson) Cosper; William Andrew "Bill" Johnson; Benjamin D. Johnson; Peyton Johnson; Herrod L. Johnson; James M. Johnson; Dempsey Johnson; Zora Jackson (Johnson) Cole; Susan "Sudie" (Johnson) Cosper; Willis M. Johnson, Jr.; Elizabeth (Johnson) Daniel; Ada Mary (Johnson) Stallings; Franklin Hood Johnson; Hattie (Johnson) Cook and Lovie C. Johnson.

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