Samuel Leo Johnson was a native of the Buckeye State and was the scion of families, in both the paternal and maternal lines, with long histories extending back to American Colonial times. His father, whose antecedents include several noted Mayflower personages, was a New Jersey native who had grown to adulthood in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and his mother, an heir of an old family of Cape May, New Jersey with deep roots in the Dutch settlements of New York, had been reared from early childhood in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Soon after the fertile lands in the Western Reserve were opened to settlement, Samuel's parents joined the westward migration and became substantial agriculturists in Ashland and Washington Counties, Ohio.
As a lad in Ohio, Samuel took up the plow alongside his father and brothers. Though farming remained his primary occupation throughout his adult life, he also held a preaching certificate from the Baptist church and was active in missionary work for many years. On August 24, 1845, in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa, Samuel began a 39-year marriage with Margaret Frances Stephens, the widow of Benjamin Tucker, a pioneer farmer of Washington County who reportedly had been ambushed and murdered by hostile Indians while enroute to the country school at which he was engaged as an educator on a seasonal basis. The Johnsons had six children, and spent the first 26 years of their marriage on the former Tucker homestead in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa.
In the early 1870's Samuel accepted a missionary assignment as a circuit-riding preacher to the large and widely scattered Baptist community of southwest Washington Territory. In February 1871, after selling their farm in Iowa, the Johnsons set out for the Oregon Country. By one account — not verified — the couple took a railroad route east to New York City, and from there booked passage on a sailing ship bound for the Isthmus of Panama, which they crossed on foot, boarding a ship on the Pacific Ocean side for the remaining sea voyage to Portland. In other places it is recorded that the Johnsons took an overland route that placed them in Portland in the fall of 1871. In any event, once in Portland the family lodged temporarily with Margaret's brother, James B. "Jimmy" Stephens, in his spacious home in East Portland before taking a private residence nearby.
In the spring of 1872 Samuel ferried across the Columbia River to Clark County, Washington Territory, to prepare to assume his ministerial duties. In a letter to Margaret, he observed that the country was mostly forested wilderness, in stark contrast to the cultivated farmland they had known in Iowa. During his early years on the Vancouver missionary circuit, Samuel often was separated from the family for days, and sometimes weeks, at a time.
In June 1874, Margaret Johnson and her minor children departed Portland and traveled to Clark County, where Samuel was preparing to establish a long planned family home. Appearing at the United States Land Office in Vancouver on March 6, 1875, Samuel and Margaret submitted an application for an 80-acre farming parcel they had selected a few miles east of the village of La Center, in the vicinity of a rural community later known as View. Under the liberal terms of the Homestead Act of 1862, Samuel was required to make certain physical improvements to his property such as the construction of a permanent dwelling and the erection of fences. The ground, though heavily timbered, proved exceptionally fertile. Within several years Samuel and his sons had cleared the trees and were harvesting bumper crops of wheat, oats, hay, and potatoes. He also maintained a small fruit orchard of about 50 trees. On February 10, 1882, the Johnsons were granted title to their homestead.
Though in poor health, Samuel resumed his ministerial work in 1883 when he took a pastoral post with a Baptist congregation in Milwaukie, Oregon, five miles south of Portland. A small adjoining parsonage housed the couple during their brief tenure in Milwaukie, which ended late in 1884 when illness forced Samuel's retirement. He succumbed to his ailments in a Portland hospital at age 72, and was buried in Lone Fir Cemetery, at that time Portland's premier burial ground. His grave, unmarked, is a few steps from the plot containing the resting places of Margaret's father, Emmor Jefferson Stephens, and two of her brothers, James B. "Jimmy" Stephens and Thomas Fulton Stephens.
Following Samuel's death, Margaret Johnson sold her La Center farm and moved into the home of her granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Ellen and Tom Combest, in the remote timber town of Yacolt Prairie, now known simply as Yacolt, in northeast Clark County. She died from liver disease in the fall of 1888, and was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, a bucolic graveyard on the outskirts of La Center. In 1980 her granddaughter, Nora (Gallagher) Newquist, bequeathed funds for the erection of an elaborate monument at the grave site, which had remained unmarked for 92 years.
As a lad in Ohio, Samuel took up the plow alongside his father and brothers. Though farming remained his primary occupation throughout his adult life, he also held a preaching certificate from the Baptist church and was active in missionary work for many years. On August 24, 1845, in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa, Samuel began a 39-year marriage with Margaret Frances Stephens, the widow of Benjamin Tucker, a pioneer farmer of Washington County who reportedly had been ambushed and murdered by hostile Indians while enroute to the country school at which he was engaged as an educator on a seasonal basis. The Johnsons had six children, and spent the first 26 years of their marriage on the former Tucker homestead in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa.
In the early 1870's Samuel accepted a missionary assignment as a circuit-riding preacher to the large and widely scattered Baptist community of southwest Washington Territory. In February 1871, after selling their farm in Iowa, the Johnsons set out for the Oregon Country. By one account — not verified — the couple took a railroad route east to New York City, and from there booked passage on a sailing ship bound for the Isthmus of Panama, which they crossed on foot, boarding a ship on the Pacific Ocean side for the remaining sea voyage to Portland. In other places it is recorded that the Johnsons took an overland route that placed them in Portland in the fall of 1871. In any event, once in Portland the family lodged temporarily with Margaret's brother, James B. "Jimmy" Stephens, in his spacious home in East Portland before taking a private residence nearby.
In the spring of 1872 Samuel ferried across the Columbia River to Clark County, Washington Territory, to prepare to assume his ministerial duties. In a letter to Margaret, he observed that the country was mostly forested wilderness, in stark contrast to the cultivated farmland they had known in Iowa. During his early years on the Vancouver missionary circuit, Samuel often was separated from the family for days, and sometimes weeks, at a time.
In June 1874, Margaret Johnson and her minor children departed Portland and traveled to Clark County, where Samuel was preparing to establish a long planned family home. Appearing at the United States Land Office in Vancouver on March 6, 1875, Samuel and Margaret submitted an application for an 80-acre farming parcel they had selected a few miles east of the village of La Center, in the vicinity of a rural community later known as View. Under the liberal terms of the Homestead Act of 1862, Samuel was required to make certain physical improvements to his property such as the construction of a permanent dwelling and the erection of fences. The ground, though heavily timbered, proved exceptionally fertile. Within several years Samuel and his sons had cleared the trees and were harvesting bumper crops of wheat, oats, hay, and potatoes. He also maintained a small fruit orchard of about 50 trees. On February 10, 1882, the Johnsons were granted title to their homestead.
Though in poor health, Samuel resumed his ministerial work in 1883 when he took a pastoral post with a Baptist congregation in Milwaukie, Oregon, five miles south of Portland. A small adjoining parsonage housed the couple during their brief tenure in Milwaukie, which ended late in 1884 when illness forced Samuel's retirement. He succumbed to his ailments in a Portland hospital at age 72, and was buried in Lone Fir Cemetery, at that time Portland's premier burial ground. His grave, unmarked, is a few steps from the plot containing the resting places of Margaret's father, Emmor Jefferson Stephens, and two of her brothers, James B. "Jimmy" Stephens and Thomas Fulton Stephens.
Following Samuel's death, Margaret Johnson sold her La Center farm and moved into the home of her granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Ellen and Tom Combest, in the remote timber town of Yacolt Prairie, now known simply as Yacolt, in northeast Clark County. She died from liver disease in the fall of 1888, and was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, a bucolic graveyard on the outskirts of La Center. In 1980 her granddaughter, Nora (Gallagher) Newquist, bequeathed funds for the erection of an elaborate monument at the grave site, which had remained unmarked for 92 years.
Samuel Leo Johnson was a native of the Buckeye State and was the scion of families, in both the paternal and maternal lines, with long histories extending back to American Colonial times. His father, whose antecedents include several noted Mayflower personages, was a New Jersey native who had grown to adulthood in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and his mother, an heir of an old family of Cape May, New Jersey with deep roots in the Dutch settlements of New York, had been reared from early childhood in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Soon after the fertile lands in the Western Reserve were opened to settlement, Samuel's parents joined the westward migration and became substantial agriculturists in Ashland and Washington Counties, Ohio.
As a lad in Ohio, Samuel took up the plow alongside his father and brothers. Though farming remained his primary occupation throughout his adult life, he also held a preaching certificate from the Baptist church and was active in missionary work for many years. On August 24, 1845, in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa, Samuel began a 39-year marriage with Margaret Frances Stephens, the widow of Benjamin Tucker, a pioneer farmer of Washington County who reportedly had been ambushed and murdered by hostile Indians while enroute to the country school at which he was engaged as an educator on a seasonal basis. The Johnsons had six children, and spent the first 26 years of their marriage on the former Tucker homestead in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa.
In the early 1870's Samuel accepted a missionary assignment as a circuit-riding preacher to the large and widely scattered Baptist community of southwest Washington Territory. In February 1871, after selling their farm in Iowa, the Johnsons set out for the Oregon Country. By one account — not verified — the couple took a railroad route east to New York City, and from there booked passage on a sailing ship bound for the Isthmus of Panama, which they crossed on foot, boarding a ship on the Pacific Ocean side for the remaining sea voyage to Portland. In other places it is recorded that the Johnsons took an overland route that placed them in Portland in the fall of 1871. In any event, once in Portland the family lodged temporarily with Margaret's brother, James B. "Jimmy" Stephens, in his spacious home in East Portland before taking a private residence nearby.
In the spring of 1872 Samuel ferried across the Columbia River to Clark County, Washington Territory, to prepare to assume his ministerial duties. In a letter to Margaret, he observed that the country was mostly forested wilderness, in stark contrast to the cultivated farmland they had known in Iowa. During his early years on the Vancouver missionary circuit, Samuel often was separated from the family for days, and sometimes weeks, at a time.
In June 1874, Margaret Johnson and her minor children departed Portland and traveled to Clark County, where Samuel was preparing to establish a long planned family home. Appearing at the United States Land Office in Vancouver on March 6, 1875, Samuel and Margaret submitted an application for an 80-acre farming parcel they had selected a few miles east of the village of La Center, in the vicinity of a rural community later known as View. Under the liberal terms of the Homestead Act of 1862, Samuel was required to make certain physical improvements to his property such as the construction of a permanent dwelling and the erection of fences. The ground, though heavily timbered, proved exceptionally fertile. Within several years Samuel and his sons had cleared the trees and were harvesting bumper crops of wheat, oats, hay, and potatoes. He also maintained a small fruit orchard of about 50 trees. On February 10, 1882, the Johnsons were granted title to their homestead.
Though in poor health, Samuel resumed his ministerial work in 1883 when he took a pastoral post with a Baptist congregation in Milwaukie, Oregon, five miles south of Portland. A small adjoining parsonage housed the couple during their brief tenure in Milwaukie, which ended late in 1884 when illness forced Samuel's retirement. He succumbed to his ailments in a Portland hospital at age 72, and was buried in Lone Fir Cemetery, at that time Portland's premier burial ground. His grave, unmarked, is a few steps from the plot containing the resting places of Margaret's father, Emmor Jefferson Stephens, and two of her brothers, James B. "Jimmy" Stephens and Thomas Fulton Stephens.
Following Samuel's death, Margaret Johnson sold her La Center farm and moved into the home of her granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Ellen and Tom Combest, in the remote timber town of Yacolt Prairie, now known simply as Yacolt, in northeast Clark County. She died from liver disease in the fall of 1888, and was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, a bucolic graveyard on the outskirts of La Center. In 1980 her granddaughter, Nora (Gallagher) Newquist, bequeathed funds for the erection of an elaborate monument at the grave site, which had remained unmarked for 92 years.
As a lad in Ohio, Samuel took up the plow alongside his father and brothers. Though farming remained his primary occupation throughout his adult life, he also held a preaching certificate from the Baptist church and was active in missionary work for many years. On August 24, 1845, in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa, Samuel began a 39-year marriage with Margaret Frances Stephens, the widow of Benjamin Tucker, a pioneer farmer of Washington County who reportedly had been ambushed and murdered by hostile Indians while enroute to the country school at which he was engaged as an educator on a seasonal basis. The Johnsons had six children, and spent the first 26 years of their marriage on the former Tucker homestead in Crawford Township, Washington County, Iowa.
In the early 1870's Samuel accepted a missionary assignment as a circuit-riding preacher to the large and widely scattered Baptist community of southwest Washington Territory. In February 1871, after selling their farm in Iowa, the Johnsons set out for the Oregon Country. By one account — not verified — the couple took a railroad route east to New York City, and from there booked passage on a sailing ship bound for the Isthmus of Panama, which they crossed on foot, boarding a ship on the Pacific Ocean side for the remaining sea voyage to Portland. In other places it is recorded that the Johnsons took an overland route that placed them in Portland in the fall of 1871. In any event, once in Portland the family lodged temporarily with Margaret's brother, James B. "Jimmy" Stephens, in his spacious home in East Portland before taking a private residence nearby.
In the spring of 1872 Samuel ferried across the Columbia River to Clark County, Washington Territory, to prepare to assume his ministerial duties. In a letter to Margaret, he observed that the country was mostly forested wilderness, in stark contrast to the cultivated farmland they had known in Iowa. During his early years on the Vancouver missionary circuit, Samuel often was separated from the family for days, and sometimes weeks, at a time.
In June 1874, Margaret Johnson and her minor children departed Portland and traveled to Clark County, where Samuel was preparing to establish a long planned family home. Appearing at the United States Land Office in Vancouver on March 6, 1875, Samuel and Margaret submitted an application for an 80-acre farming parcel they had selected a few miles east of the village of La Center, in the vicinity of a rural community later known as View. Under the liberal terms of the Homestead Act of 1862, Samuel was required to make certain physical improvements to his property such as the construction of a permanent dwelling and the erection of fences. The ground, though heavily timbered, proved exceptionally fertile. Within several years Samuel and his sons had cleared the trees and were harvesting bumper crops of wheat, oats, hay, and potatoes. He also maintained a small fruit orchard of about 50 trees. On February 10, 1882, the Johnsons were granted title to their homestead.
Though in poor health, Samuel resumed his ministerial work in 1883 when he took a pastoral post with a Baptist congregation in Milwaukie, Oregon, five miles south of Portland. A small adjoining parsonage housed the couple during their brief tenure in Milwaukie, which ended late in 1884 when illness forced Samuel's retirement. He succumbed to his ailments in a Portland hospital at age 72, and was buried in Lone Fir Cemetery, at that time Portland's premier burial ground. His grave, unmarked, is a few steps from the plot containing the resting places of Margaret's father, Emmor Jefferson Stephens, and two of her brothers, James B. "Jimmy" Stephens and Thomas Fulton Stephens.
Following Samuel's death, Margaret Johnson sold her La Center farm and moved into the home of her granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Ellen and Tom Combest, in the remote timber town of Yacolt Prairie, now known simply as Yacolt, in northeast Clark County. She died from liver disease in the fall of 1888, and was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, a bucolic graveyard on the outskirts of La Center. In 1980 her granddaughter, Nora (Gallagher) Newquist, bequeathed funds for the erection of an elaborate monument at the grave site, which had remained unmarked for 92 years.
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