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| Ezekiel Johnson (1773–1848) |
| Father of sixteen, including Joel
Hills and Benjamin F.; and plural wives of Joseph Smith, Delcena Diadamia
and Almera Woodward. Alcoholic, "opposer" of the church. Wife
sealed to Uncle John Smith. Last year of life stops drinking and desires
baptism. |
| Born |
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January 12, 1773 in
Uxbridge, Worcester County, New York |
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| Died |
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January 13, 1848
Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois |
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| Father |
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Ezekiel Johnson (1750–1808) |
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| Mother |
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Bethia G. Garnsey (1754–1842) |
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| Marries |
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January 12, 1801 on his twenty-eighth birthday,
marries seventeen-year-old Julia Hills in Grafton, Massachusetts. |
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| Children, Massachusetts |
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1802, 1803 their first two children are born
in Worcester County, Massachusetts. |
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See Family below. |
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1805 the third child is born in Royalton, either
Massachusetts or Vermont, sources conflict. |
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| Westford, VT |
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1806–1812 four are born in Westford, Chittenden
County, Vermont. |
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| Pomfret, NY |
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1814–1829 nine are born in Pomfret, Chautauqua
County, New York. |
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| Presbyterian |
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1829 Julia and children attend the Presbyterian church in
Pomfret. |
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| Family baptized |
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Fall 1831 living near Fredonia,
New York, when recently-baptized son visits. Julia, children "who had
attained their majority," and son-in-law Lyman
R. Sherman are baptized, probably by James
Brackenbury [November] 1831. |
|
Show sign, 9. |
| Kirtland |
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Early 1833 Ezekiel and son Seth, daughter Susan, and others
visit Joseph Smith in Kirtland. Ebenezer "appeared
favorably impressed, and to all appearance was becoming confirmed in the
faith", and continues on to Amherst, where B. F. and Joel reside. |
|
B. F. Johnson life, 7 |
Amherst
Seth's mania
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In Amherst, son Seth, experiences an episode of "mania … [a]pparently … because
of his extreme anxiety to see our father converted to the truth and redeemed
from intemperance." Seth leaves the house in the night, returning the
next morning "in a wild and deranged condition" having traveled nearly
a hundred miles. Ebenezer and Seth return to New York, but they return
in the fall, Seth "to all appearance perfectly sound in mind." |
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B. F. Johnson life, 7–8.
on Kirtland Flats. D. P. Hurlbut (recently
of Chautauqua County) boards with them. |
| Ebenezer darkened |
¶ |
But our hopes that father would embrace the gospel were
blighted, for all the light that had been reflected upon his understanding
seemed turned to darkness, and so great was his darkness that at times
it appeared like the buffetings of the Evil One. |
|
B. F. Johnson life, 8. |
| Chicago |
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Fall 1832 sells New York home two farms and in early spring
moves to Chicago, then "a small frontier town," and purchases
a quarter section of land. Letter to family does not reach them. |
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B. F. Johnson life, 8. |
| Kirtland |
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[May] 1832 hearing nothing from Ezekiel,
Julia and children move to Kirtland, trade wagons and teams for a home on
the Flats, near the schoolhouse. Later Ezekiel locates the family and remains
with them in Kirtland "apparently under protest, for his feelings had now
become bitter through his disappointment." |
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B. F. Johnson life, 8. |
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D. P. Hurlbut, who presumably became acquainted with the
Johnsons in Pomfret, boards with them
in Kirtland until he moves to Mentor following the January 13–15 1834 court hearing
in Painesville that binds him over for trial at the next session of the court. |
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B. F. Johnson life, 19.
Geauga County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, Book P, 431–432, Papers
2n1. |
Opposes Mormonism
Integrity
Intemperate but not violent |
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… apparently opposed to the Truth, and had imbibed
habits of, yet he was a man of the highest organization. As a Husband
and a parent, he was by nature the most tender and affectionate; As a
neighbor and friend, most obliging and true, and as a man of truth and
honor among men. Never was a question known to be raised as to his integrity … and
in all things he was a gentleman in the fullest sense, excepting only
in the habit of intemperance, which at times would seem to change his
whole nature … [but] with no other blow than words was he ever
known to strike anything living. …
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B. F. Johnson life, 8–9. |
| Separates, moves to Mentor as an opposer |
¶ |
[1835] Owing to my father’s continued unbelief,
opposition to the truth, and intemperance, it was deemed better that he
should live apart from the family, to which he consented, and so bought
him a place in the adjoining town of Mentor, where one of my sisters would
keep house for him, and where the younger children often went for a time
to stay, and where I spent a part of my time. [In Mentor, Ezekiel was
"regarded as an opposer."]
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B. F. Johnson life, 13, 19. |
| Julia provides for family |
¶ |
At this period upon my mother rested the responsibility of
providing for the family, consisting of three boys and two girls younger
than me, and my sisters, Nancy, Almera and Susan, who were older. |
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| Nauvoo |
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June 1, 1842 leaves Kirtland for Nauvoo with the rest of
the family. Family settles in Macedonia. |
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B. F. Johnson life, 78. |
Macedonia royal family
Joseph promises eventual kingdom |
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In Macedonia the Johnsons were quite numerous and influential
and the envious dubbed us the "Royal Family." When Joseph heard of this
honor … he said the [name] was and should be a reality; that
we were a royal family; and he knowing the intemperance of my father
said that he should yet be a great man and stand at the head of a kingdom. |
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B. F. Johnson life, 83. |
Separates from Julia
Julia sealed to John Smith |
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[1843] … my mother having finally separated from my
father, by the sug-[89]gestion or counsel of the Prophet she accepted of
and was sealed by him to father John Smith. In this I felt not a little
sorrow, for I loved my father and knew him to be naturally a kind and loving
parent, a just and noble spirited man. But he had not obeyed the Gospel,
had fought it with his words; and as I knew a stream must have a fountain
and does not rise above it, so I consoled myself, assured by the Prophet's
words that a better day would come to my father. |
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B. F. Johnson life, 89. |
| Final year conversion |
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January 20, 1848 Brother Babbitt reports to B. F. Johnson
that his father has died. "But with this great grief there was much consolation,
for during the last year of his life he had ceased to use ardent spirits,
and realized the great wrong he had done himself and family b his opposition;
he knew the Gospel was true and had asked for baptism of which his sudden
death deprived him, leaving al his work for his children." |
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B. F. Johnson life, 108. |
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Family |
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| Wife |
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Julia Hills, b. Sept. 26, 1783 in Upton, Worcester,
MA
md. Jan. 12, 1801 in Grafton, Worcester, MA (16 children)
d. May 30, 1853 in
Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, IA |
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¶ Ancestry.com |
| Children |
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Joel Hills (b. Mar. 23, 1802 in Grafton, Worcester,
MA
md. Anna Pixley Johnson (1800–1840) Nov. 2, 1826 in Pomfret, Chautauqua,
NY (6 children)
md. Susan Bryant (1812–1896) Oct. 20, 1840 in Nauvoo (2 children)
md. Lucina Alzina Bascon (1815–1885) Oct. 25, 1845 in Grafton, Worcester,
MA (no children)
md. Janet Fife (1828–1911) Oct. 25, 1845 in Kirtland (4 children)
md. Margaret Threlkeld (1840–1914) Oct. 11, 1860 in Salt Lake City (5
children)
d. Sept. 24, 1882 in
Johnson, Kane, UT) |
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¶ Ancestry.com
Unlikely Joel married two women on the same day (Oct. 25, 1845) in two
states. |
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Nancy Mariah, b. Aug. 1, 1803 in Northborough, Worcester,
MA
md. Joseph J. Clark, (b. 1803) Feb. 10, 1827 in Grafton, Worcester,
MA (no known children)
d. Oct. 30, 1836 in
Kirtland |
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Seth Garnzey, b. Feb. 14, 1805 in Royalston (also spelled
Royalton), Worcester, MA
md. Sophia Stone (b. 1805)
d. Feb. 19, 1835 in
Kirtland |
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B. F. Johnson life, 1 and Joel Hills Johnson's journal, though ¶ Ancestry.com has Royalton, Windsor,
VT. |
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Delcina Diademia, b. Nov. 19, 1806 in Westford, Chittenden,
VT
md. Lyman Royal Sherman (1804–1839)
Jan. 16, 1829 in Pomfret, Chautauqua, NY (4 children)
md. Joseph Smith (1805–1844)
by July 1842
md. Almon Whiting Babbitt (1813–1856)
Jan, 24, 1846 in Nauvoo (no children)
d.
Oct. 21, 1854 in
Salt Lake City, UT
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¶ Ancestry.com Westford
is 74 miles northwest of Royalton, VT and ten miles from Lake Champlain.
I knew the prophets, 45; Sacred loneliness, 295. |
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Julia Ann, b. Nov. 9, 1808 in Westford, Chittenden, VT
md. Almon Whiting Babbitt (1813–1856) Nov. 23, 1833 in Kirtland,
Geauga, OH (5 children)
d. Oct. 23, 1857
in Crescent City, Pottawattamie, IA |
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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David, b. Sept. 10, 1810 in Westford, Chittenden, VT
d. Oct. 30, 1833
in Kirtland |
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Almera Woodward, b. Oct. 12, 1812 in Westford, Chittenden,
VT
md. Joseph Smith (1805–1844) Aug. 1, 1843 in Nauvoo
(no children)
md. Reuben Barton (1812–1891) Nov. 16,
1845 in Nauvoo (6 children)
d. Mar. 4, 1896 in
Parowan, Iron, UT |
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¶ Ancestry.com
Sacred loneliness, 297.
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Susan Ellen, b. Dec. 16, 1814 in Pomfret, Chautauqua,
NY
d. Mar. 16, 1836 in
Kirtland |
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Joseph Ellis, b. Apr, 28, 1817 in Pomfret, Chautauqua
, NY
md. Harriet Snyder (1823–1905) Oct. 6, 1840 in Nauvoo, Hancock,
IL (9 children)
md. Hannah Maria Goddard (1828–1919) Dec. 1850 in Council
Bluffs, Pottawattamie, IA (7 children)
md. Eliza Saunders (1840–1903)
1856 in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, IA (11 children)
d. Dec. 17,
1882 in Tempe, Maricopa, AZ
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Benjamin Franklin, b. July 28, 1818 in Pomfret, Chautauqua,
NY
md. Melissa Bloomfield Lebaron (1817–1860) Dec. 25, 1841 in
Kirtland (8 children)
md. Mary Ann Hale (1827–1910) Nov.
14, 1844 in Macedonia, Hancock, IL (one child)
md. Flora Clarinda Gleason
(1819–1900)
Feb. 3, 1846 in Nauvoo (no children)
md.
Harriet Naomi Holman
(1834–1834)
Mar. 17, 1850 in Salt Lake City (6 children)
md. Sarah
Melissa Holman (1838–1901) Feb. 3, 1856 in Salt Lake City, Salt
Lake, UT (4 children)
md. Susan Adaline Holman (1841–1919) Feb.
8, 1857 in Salt Lake City (6 children)
md. Sarah Jane
Spooner (1839–1911)
Apr. 5, 1857 in Salt Lake City (1 child)
d. Nov. 18, 1905 in
Mesa, Maricopa, AZ
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Mary Ellen, b. Feb. 7, 1820 in Pomfret, Chautauqua,
NY
md. George Deliverance Wilson (1807–1887) Feb. 7, 1842 in Macedonia,
Hamilton, IL (1 child)
d. June 11, 1845
Nauvoo
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Elmer Wood, b. May 26, 1821 in Pomfret, Chautauqua,
NY
d. Sept. 14, 1822 in
Pomfret, Chautauqua, NY |
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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George Washington, b. Feb. 19, 1823 in Pomfret, Chautauqua,
NY
md. Maria Jane Johnston (1824–1911) Apr. 14, 1844 in Macedonia, Hancock,
IL (10 children)
md. Eveline Burdick (1832–1911) Sept. 18, 1851 in Salt Lake City
(11 children)
d. Jan, 22, 1900 in
Moab, Grand, UT
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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William Derby, b. Oct. 27, 1824 in Pomfret, Chautauqua,
NY
Jane Cadwallader Brown (1832–1908) Nov. 2, 1848 in Nauvoo (13 children)
d. Apr. 13, 1896 in
Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Esther Melita, b. Jan. 12, 1828 in Pomfret, Chautauqua,
NY
md. David Tulley Lebaron (1822–1905) Mar. 28, 1844 in Macedonia, Hancock,
IL (12 children)
d. Mar. 15, 1876 in
Salt Lake City
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Amos Partridge, b. Jan. 15, 1829 in Pomfret,
Chautauqua, NY
d. May 9, 1842 in
Macedonia, Hamilton, IL |
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¶ Ancestry.com |
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Biographies
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