Biography

For the family of Daniel H. Johnson and Anna North

DANIEL H. JOHNSON was born in 1776 in Connecticut, according to census records of himself and his children.  According to work of another researcher, he was the son of Caleb Johnson and Mary Harris, and his middle initial "H" stands for Harris, his mother's maiden name.  I have not verified this information yet. 

ANNA NORTH was born in 1785 in Connecticut, according to the census records of himself and his children.   According to the work of another researcher, she was the daughter of David North and Salome Wilcox, although I have not verified this yet.   I am fairly certain her maiden name is North, according to an extremely accurate family history written by her great granddaughter Cynthia Hammond Holmes.

Daniel and Anna were married on 27 May 1806 in Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut, as published in a family history entitled “John North of Farmington, Connecticut and his descendants”.  I have not seen this marriage record yet.

According to a short family history/genealogy that was written by Cynthia Hammond Holmes in the 1960s, she stated that “Daniel and Anna moved from New Hampshire to Ohio in 1809”.  The New Hampshire part doesn’t seem correct.  According to the Portage County Ohio Tax Lists, Daniel is not listed in 1808, but he is listed in 1810 in an area known as Hudson Ohio.  So the 1809 date does seem reasonable.

Then came the War of 1812 and Daniel enlisted, or perhaps was drafted.  I do not have records of his military service yet.  Unfortunately, Daniel Johnson is an extremely common name and difficult to track down his precise records.   We know that he served because in the book “Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve”, it states that Daniel was a soldier in the war of 1812.   Anna’s granddaughter said in this book that during Daniel’s absence, Anna “used to lay the pitchfork at the head of the bed in case the Indians came in the night to disturb her and her little flock.  Such an act as that shows the courage and strength of a women, left alone in the wilds of a new country, with Indians and fierce animals to guard against.”  It also states that at his death, Anna received a land grant from the government for 160 acres of land (for his military service), which she sold for $200.

They apparently lived in the area known as Hudson Township until 1824.  They are listed on the Portage County tax lists during this time and also listed on the 1820 federal population census in this area.  According to one of the local county histories, they moved into the northwest part of Streetsboro in 1825.   This area later became known as “Johnson’s Corners”.

This time frame fits into what we know about the history of how Streetsboro, Ohio was settled.   Titus Street, of Connecticut, was one of the members of the Connecticut Land Company. [Please refer to the Ohio Historical Society’s website about the history of the Connecticut Land Company and how it was settled (http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=873).]  Titus held back his property (about 15,000 acres) for many years after most of the townships in Portage County were organized, in order to get a better price.  Until 1822, he was asking $6 per acre, which was considerably higher than other areas.   Then he did 2 things to get his land sold:  1)  He lowered the price of the land from between $2 and $5 an acre; 2) In 1825, a turnpike was being built from Cleveland to Wellsville.  Street offered to donate sufficient land (840 acres) for the road if the managers would run the road through his property.  This was agreed to and as the road was completed, settlers flocked in from all areas.  This scenario fits exactly into when Daniel & Anna Johnson moved into Streetsboro.

In the spring of 1825, Titus Street offered $50.00 to the person who would put up the first frame house in the township.  Daniel Johnson won the prize.

In 1826, the first school in the township was built.   Daniel Johnson owned a saw mill and lived far from any school.  So he put up  a slab school house.  The teacher was Clarina Case and it opened up for 8 students – five Johnson’s and three Case’s.

The first election was held April 2, 1827.  Daniel H. Johnson was elected to be a township trustee.

In 1830 and 1840, Daniel and his family are listed on the federal population census schedule in Streetsboro, Portage County, Ohio.  In 1836, the Streetsboro school district No. 3 census shows the family of Daniel H. Johnson with 4 children in school.

On 22 October, 1843, Daniel died.  It was too early for death records to be recorded, so we do not know the cause.  But we do know the date from the tombstone in the cemetery at Johnson’s Corners.  After Daniel’s death at some point, Anna was living with her daughter Harriet Trotter and her family, still in Streetsboro.  Anna died on 08 March 1859.  Both are buried in the Trotter Farm Cemetery in Johnson’s Corners in Streetsboro.

They had nine known children, all surnamed JOHNSON: 

An interesting note about daughter Mary -  I cannot find any census records for her after 1840.  She supposedly married in 1843, but I cannot find either of them in the 1850, 1860 or 1870 census records.  It’s also interesting that Mary was not mentioned in the book “Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve”.  It mentioned Anna had 9 children, 7 girls and 2 boys.  It lists all the children by name, including their married name, but Mary is not mentioned.

Also, an interesting fact about Chloe.  She died in 1843 when she was 18.  Interestingly, she died 2 days after her father did.   Could it be possible there was some kind of epidemic going around – typhoid fever or something?

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This web site was last updated on October 06, 2008