LDS Pioneer- Colonizer- Church Leader- Patriarch
A native of Pomfret, New York, Benjamin moved with his family to Kirtland, Ohio. in 1833, although he wasn't baptized into the LDS Church until 1835. He moved with the Kirtland Camp to Missouri in 1838. He settled in Adam-Ondi-Ahman, but was soon driven out and arrested. Later, in Nauvoo, he was chosen as a member of the Council of Fifty. Arrived in Salt Lake Valley October 22, 1848.
Served mission to Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands 1853-55.
Ordained as a Patriarch 1883.
Colonizer of several settlements in Intermountain Region.
Patriarch Benjamin F. Johnson died November 18, 1905 and his funeral was held November 20th in Mesa, Arizona in the Latter-day Saints' Tabernacle with Bishop James M. Horne presiding. The speakers were F. T. Pomeroy, Noah Brimhall and President Isaac Dana, all eulogizing the noble, upright life of the departed. There was a large concourse of people in attendance to do honor to his name and his remains were followed to the Mesa cemetery by a cortege a mile long.
Thanks to Darrell for sponsorship!
Excerpts from his autobiography. I have included just a few to show his early home life and his skill in writing. He wrote many pages which are well worth reading. :
Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review (Independence,
Missouri: Zion's Printing and Publishing Co., 1947), pp. 7-107.
"I was born July 28, 1818, in the town of Pomfret, Chatauqua County, New York. My father, Ezekiel Johnson, was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, January 12, 1776, and my mother, Julia Hills, was born in Upton, Massachusetts, September 26, 1783...
My earliest recollections are of pioneer life, clearing deep forests with great labor for my parents, to obtain but scanty living comforts. While gathering forest nuts, wild fruits and flowers, with the tender care of (to me) a beloved and beautiful mother, loving elder sisters, and companionship of my almost twin brother [Joseph Ellis Johnson] ; these were to me the happy features of my childhood and early youth.
At about 4 years of age, the death of my 8-month-old brother, Elmer Wood, brought to me a deep and lasting sorrow and grief, that through childhood often wet my pillow with tears and saddened my lonely hours. My mother possessed high religious veneration, and early taught me faith in God and the necessity of prayer...
With the deepest sympathies for our father's hard labors all his boys early learned to be helpful, and even at six years of age I was accustomed to follow him in the summertime to the forests and fields, to pile and burn the brush, or in planting time, to drop the seeds, or in haying, open the swaths for drying the hay, and no one then old enough to become in any way a help was left to be idle. All our support and home comforts were produced by our home industry; from the wool all our winter clothing was made for the men and boys, and from the flax all the summer clothing both for women and men; also all the bed and table linen and toweling... Our cheese, butter and honey were home products, as also sugar, thousands of pounds of which we made from maple forests; while soap and candle making, with beer brewing were common, homelike events...
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B. F. Johnson married Flora Clarinda Gleason on 3 Jan 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. They had a daughter, Clarinda Huetta Johnson Winget, born in Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska, on 15 Jan 1847.
BF Johnson and Flora Clarinda were later divorced. Flora Clarinda later married Abraham Washburn.
Another wife was Eliza Perkins Saunders Johnson (1841-1903). Married 3 Mar 1885 in St. George, Washington, Utah. She was actually his brother, Joseph Ellis Johnson's wife, so when Joseph died, Benjamin may have married Eliza in order to help take care of her.
Benjamin Franklin Johnson had another daughter with Sarah Melissa Holman: Cassandra Johnson
Benjamin Franklin Johnson thought of his brother, Joseph Ellis as his "almost twin". He wrote: "My brother, Joseph E., who was just fifteen months older than myself, possessed all the facilities for acquiring education that I lacked. We were constant companions, and he, being capable of taking the first prizes in our school, my pride and anxiety all followed with him, so that if duties at home were likely to interfere with his success, I assumed them, even in staying from school, through fear that he would not obtain the highest prize or honors of our school and class..."
LDS Pioneer- Colonizer- Church Leader- Patriarch
A native of Pomfret, New York, Benjamin moved with his family to Kirtland, Ohio. in 1833, although he wasn't baptized into the LDS Church until 1835. He moved with the Kirtland Camp to Missouri in 1838. He settled in Adam-Ondi-Ahman, but was soon driven out and arrested. Later, in Nauvoo, he was chosen as a member of the Council of Fifty. Arrived in Salt Lake Valley October 22, 1848.
Served mission to Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands 1853-55.
Ordained as a Patriarch 1883.
Colonizer of several settlements in Intermountain Region.
Patriarch Benjamin F. Johnson died November 18, 1905 and his funeral was held November 20th in Mesa, Arizona in the Latter-day Saints' Tabernacle with Bishop James M. Horne presiding. The speakers were F. T. Pomeroy, Noah Brimhall and President Isaac Dana, all eulogizing the noble, upright life of the departed. There was a large concourse of people in attendance to do honor to his name and his remains were followed to the Mesa cemetery by a cortege a mile long.
Thanks to Darrell for sponsorship!
Excerpts from his autobiography. I have included just a few to show his early home life and his skill in writing. He wrote many pages which are well worth reading. :
Benjamin F. Johnson, My Life's Review (Independence,
Missouri: Zion's Printing and Publishing Co., 1947), pp. 7-107.
"I was born July 28, 1818, in the town of Pomfret, Chatauqua County, New York. My father, Ezekiel Johnson, was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, January 12, 1776, and my mother, Julia Hills, was born in Upton, Massachusetts, September 26, 1783...
My earliest recollections are of pioneer life, clearing deep forests with great labor for my parents, to obtain but scanty living comforts. While gathering forest nuts, wild fruits and flowers, with the tender care of (to me) a beloved and beautiful mother, loving elder sisters, and companionship of my almost twin brother [Joseph Ellis Johnson] ; these were to me the happy features of my childhood and early youth.
At about 4 years of age, the death of my 8-month-old brother, Elmer Wood, brought to me a deep and lasting sorrow and grief, that through childhood often wet my pillow with tears and saddened my lonely hours. My mother possessed high religious veneration, and early taught me faith in God and the necessity of prayer...
With the deepest sympathies for our father's hard labors all his boys early learned to be helpful, and even at six years of age I was accustomed to follow him in the summertime to the forests and fields, to pile and burn the brush, or in planting time, to drop the seeds, or in haying, open the swaths for drying the hay, and no one then old enough to become in any way a help was left to be idle. All our support and home comforts were produced by our home industry; from the wool all our winter clothing was made for the men and boys, and from the flax all the summer clothing both for women and men; also all the bed and table linen and toweling... Our cheese, butter and honey were home products, as also sugar, thousands of pounds of which we made from maple forests; while soap and candle making, with beer brewing were common, homelike events...
--------------
B. F. Johnson married Flora Clarinda Gleason on 3 Jan 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. They had a daughter, Clarinda Huetta Johnson Winget, born in Winter Quarters, Douglas, Nebraska, on 15 Jan 1847.
BF Johnson and Flora Clarinda were later divorced. Flora Clarinda later married Abraham Washburn.
Another wife was Eliza Perkins Saunders Johnson (1841-1903). Married 3 Mar 1885 in St. George, Washington, Utah. She was actually his brother, Joseph Ellis Johnson's wife, so when Joseph died, Benjamin may have married Eliza in order to help take care of her.
Benjamin Franklin Johnson had another daughter with Sarah Melissa Holman: Cassandra Johnson
Benjamin Franklin Johnson thought of his brother, Joseph Ellis as his "almost twin". He wrote: "My brother, Joseph E., who was just fifteen months older than myself, possessed all the facilities for acquiring education that I lacked. We were constant companions, and he, being capable of taking the first prizes in our school, my pride and anxiety all followed with him, so that if duties at home were likely to interfere with his success, I assumed them, even in staying from school, through fear that he would not obtain the highest prize or honors of our school and class..."
Family Members
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Melissa Bloomfield LeBaron Johnson
1817–1860 (m. 1841)
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Mary Ann Hale Johnson
1826–1910 (m. 1844)
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Flora Clarinda Gleason Washburn
1819–1900 (m. 1846)
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Harriet Naomi Holman Johnson
1834–1914 (m. 1850)
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Sarah Melissa Holman Johnson
1838–1901 (m. 1856)
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Susan Adelaide Holman Johnson
1841–1919 (m. 1857)
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Eliza Saunders Johnson
1840–1903 (m. 1885)
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Sarah Jane Spooner Johnson
1839–1911
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Joel Hills Johnson
1802–1882
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Nancy Mariah Johnson
1803–1836
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Seth Guernsey Johnson
1805–1835
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Delcena Diademia Johnson Sherman
1806–1854
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Julie Ann Johnson Babbitt
1808–1857
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David Partridge Johnson
1810–1833
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Almera Woodard Johnson Smith Barton
1812–1896
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Susan Ellen Johnson
1814–1836
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Joseph Ellis Johnson
1817–1882
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Mary Ellen Johnson Wilson
1820–1845
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Elmer Wood Johnson
1821–1822
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George Washington Johnson
1823–1900
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William Derby Johnson Sr
1824–1896
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Esther Melita Johnson LeBaron
1828–1876
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Amos Partridge Johnson
1829–1842
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Benjamin Franklin Johnson II
1842–1884
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Melissa Almera Johnson Babbitt
1843–1926
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Julia Didamia Johnson Wilson
1845–1918
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Emma Jane Johnson
1846–1847
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Huetta Clarinda Johnson Winget
1847–1883
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Esther Melita Johnson Openshaw
1847–1926
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Delcena Elvira Johnson Babbitt
1849–1941
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Joseph Ezekiel Johnson
1850–1909
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Benjamin Farland Johnson Sr.
1851–1940
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Benjamin Samuel Johnson
1853–1939
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Mary Ann Johnson Park
1856–1896
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James Francis Johnson
1856–1916
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David Albion Johnson
1856–1940
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Benjamin Julius Johnson
1857–1937
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Seth Jedediah Johnson
1858–1942
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Erastus Elmer Johnson
1859–1859
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Vilate Elizabeth Johnson LeBaron
1859–1939
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Leah Bloomfield Johnson
1860–1861
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Zina Susetta Johnson LeBaron
1860–1949
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Harriet Naomi Johnson LeBaron
1860–1950
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Julia Ann Johnson LeBaron
1860–1959
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Heber Franklin Johnson
1861–1920
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Sarah Jane Johnson LeBaron
1862–1938
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William Sawyer Johnson
1862–1942
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John Angus Johnson
1863–1914
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Sariah Agnes Johnson Stevens
1863–1945
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Emma Geneva Johnson Vance
1865–1939
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Frank Carlton Johnson
1865–1946
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Sarah Melissa "May" Johnson Pomeroy
1866–1940
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Cassandra Johnson Pomeroy
1868–1957
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Winifred Fredricka "Winnie" Johnson Guthrie
1868–1959
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Marquis LeBaron Johnson
1869–1937
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Leofwin Johnson
1870–1937
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Lionel Brand Johnson
1871–1943
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Junius Johnson
1873–1873
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Justus Wanderus Johnson
1873–1946
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Ellis Hills Johnson
1873–1966
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Delightra Victoria Johnson Passey
1875–1961
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Adeline Estelle "Addie" Johnson Ellsworth
1875–1965
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Nancy Lillian Johnson Holland
1878–1969
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George Albert Johnson
1880–1951