Barclay Johnson

There are three generations of the Johnson family whose residence connect them with the State of Indiana of the notes Rich Square Quaker community, they originated in Virginia, and have lived in Indiana almost as long as Indiana has been a State. Barclay Johnson, living retired at Fairmount, first established a home in Grant County forty years ago. As farmers, teachers and loyal adherents of their church, the Johnson folk have lived wholesome, normal lives, of moderate prosperity, of contented lots, and of high usefulness as units in the community.

The grandfather of Barclay Johnson was Laban N. Johnson, born in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, where he lived and died. A hatter by trade, he also owned a grist mill, and his enterprise was a valuable factor in the community. His death occurred in middle life, and he left a widow and six children. Her maiden name was Sarah Cook, who was born in the same part of Virginia. The families on both sides had long been plantation owners and slave holders, but all their slaves were free previous to 1800. In 1817 Mrs. Sarah Johnson, with her four sons and one daughter, left the community of Rich Square -one of the early Quaker Churches of Virginia -and in company with several other families made the journey with wagon and team to Henry County Indiana. it was a trip lasting for some seven or eight weeks, and these immigrants became prominent in the then wilderness of Indiana. The heads of the different families composing the company of immigrants were Samuel B. Binford, Elwood Stanley, Elisha Johnson, a kinsman of Sarah Johnson, James Butler, who became the head of the new Quaker church, known also as Rich Square, in Franklin Township, Henry County. That Henry County Church was one of the first in that vicinity and the building was constructed of logs. The home of Mrs. Sarah Johnson was very near the church building, and she was one of its first members. She was in many ways a remarkable pioneer woman, and many traditions survive among her descendants as to her character and activity. She brought along with her from Virginia, an old Dutch oven and a kettle for her cooking. The different members of the little colony entered from eighty to one hundred and sixty acres of government land for each family, and they all hewed their homes out of the green woods. The influence of that original settlement has remained to this day in Franklin Township of Henry County, and the essential institution is the fine Quaker church, the third building since the founding of the colony, and one that is commodious, comfortable, and of the best type of modern architecture. The Rich Square Quakers were also noteworthy for their efforts in promoting and maintaining educational facilities of a high order, and the little colony in Henry County was the first to establish a high school in that county. Some of the descendants of that colony later moved on to southern Iowa, and there started a third church, also known as the Rich Square Church. All of these Rich Square Churches, located in different sections of the south and middle west, have been prosperous, and in the vicinity of each one and directly supported by the church people will be found institutions of higher education, either public schools or academies. Mrs. Sarah Johnson, with the aid of her children, improved her eight acres of land in Henry County, and some years later moved to Clinton County, in this State, where she entered one hundred and sixty acres on the Indian Reserve. There she again took up the pioneer task of making a home and there she lived until her death, when probably more than eighty years of age. Both she and her husband were birthright Quakers. The following were the children of Laban and Sarah Johnson:

Eliza C., late in life married James Butler, who was the head of the Henry County Church, and who has been previously married. The husband died in Howard County, and Eliza married Allen Middleton. She died at Barclay Johnson's home in Grant County, Indiana.
Joel was the father of Barclay Johnson, and is mentioned in a following paragraph.
Rev. Robert Johnson was for more than twenty-five years, pastor of the Tipton County Reserved Friend Meetings, and died there, le3aving a large family of children. He also owned one hundred and sixty acres of land.
Elijah T. died when past seventy years of age, a bachelor. He was for a number of years a merchant at Russiaville, Indiana. During his younger years he lost his sweetheart by death, and after that led a more or less nomadic existence, working as an Indian trader in northern Michigan for a long time, and also in the far west.
Ansalem became the owner of his mother's old Henry County farm, and there lived and died when well up in hears. He left two sons and a daughter, who still own the old homestead.

Joel Johnson was born in Virginia, in 1804, and was about thirteen years of age when the family migrated to Henry County, Indiana. Some years later he married Elizabeth Davis, who was born in Henry County in 1810, and grew up there. After their marriage, Joe and wife engaged in farming on land they had secured in its raw condition, and there continued to live many years. They owned one hundred and twenty acres of well improved and valuable farm lands, with good building and both comfortable and profitable surroundings. The father died there in 1872, and the old estate still remains in the family possession. His widow died December 2, 1878. She was a daughter of Nathan Davis, at one time a very prominent citizen of Spiceland Township in Henry County. Joel Johnson was a Trustee of White's Institute in Wabash County, Indiana. The children of Joel and Elizabeth Johnson are mentioned as follows:

Lydia A. Johnson, the first born child, went to Earlham College one year, then taught two years. She later married Benjamin H. Binford, of Hancock County, Indiana, a very successful man financially, but who was killed by a fast train while on his way home from a Directors meeting of the Morristown, Indiana Bank, of which he was a Director. His widow still resides on the large Hancock County, Indiana farm.
Sarah died at the age of sixteen.
Barclay Johnson is next in order.
Martia died at the age of twelve years.
John lives on and owns his father's old Henry County homestead, is a widower and has one son, Myrton L., who is married and has two children.
Mary died at the age of eleven years.
Elijah is living on a farm in Henry County, is married and has six living children.
Alice is the wife of Samuel C. Cogill, the most prominent tile manufacturer of Indiana, and also noted for his sugar plantation holdings in Texas. Her first husband was T. J. Nixon, by whom she had one daughter, Inez.
Emily married Gurney Lindley, and left two children.

Mr. Barclay Johnson was born in Henry County, Indiana, on his father's farm, September 12, 1843. He was educated at the Rich Square Seminary, and when seventeen years of age, qualified and began a long career as a teacher. He spent about fifteen years in educational work, and made a success of that as he has of practically everything else to which he has put his hand. In 1874, he moved to Grant County, seven years his marriage and first lived on a farm in Franklin Township, and then bought one hundred and eighty acres of fine land, with excellent improvements in buildings and other facilities, which improvements he and his wife made. He conducted that place very successfully until 1899, and in that year gave up farming in order to accept a commission to become President of Southland College, in Arkansas, an institution maintained for the education of colored people. In 1903 he returned to his farm in Grant County, and in 1906 went west to Palo Alto, California, where his children were then in school. Since 1908 he has lived retired in Fairmount, his home being at 410 N. Vine Street.

In Franklin Township of Henry County, in 1871, Mr. Johnson married Miss Sylvia A. Lindley. She was born in Howard County, Indiana, April 10, 1854, a daughter of Osmond and Achsa (Wilson) Lindley, both natives of Randolph County, North Carolina, and of Quaker stock. Both her father and mother had come when young with their respective families to Indiana, and they first became acquainted while attending Earlham College in Richmond, that acquaintance ripening into love and matrimony. They were married in the Quaker Church. The widow of Osmond Lindley is still living, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Wood, in Fairmount, being seventy-seven years of age, of a strong mind, though feeble in body, and zealous in church membership. No one in the vicinity has a clearer mind and is better informed over a long course of years through which she has observed and participated in life. She is the mother of E. C. Lindley, solicitor for the Great Northern Railway Company. Of her twelve children the majority have been prominent in business and the professions.

To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born ten children. Three of these died young, mentioned as follows:

Ernest V., who was educated at Fairmount Academy, and was a teacher. He died at the age of twenty-six years. He had previously married Bertha Coggshall, and left two children, Zora and Yavon.
Earl, who died as an infant.
Myra, who died at the age of four years.

The living children are mentioned as follows:

Elizabeth, who was educated at the Fairmount Academy, is the wife of Walter W. Rush, a farmer in Fairmount Township, they have three children, Loreta Olive, Isadore Alice and Dorothy Elizabeth.
Clayton B., a graduate of the Fairmount Academy, and also trained in a business school, is now Bookkeeper with the Fairmount Glass Company of Indianapolis. He married Emma Rau and their children are Lucile, Walter L. and Ruth A.
M. Alice was educated in the Fairmount Academy, University of Illinois at Champaign, and is the wife of Charles Weeks, the noted poultry man of Palo Alto, California. They are the parents of one son, Thomas Barclay Weeks.
Annette J. graduated from the Fairmount Academy and Earlham College, where she won the scholarship to Bryn Mawr College and spent one year at Bryn Mawr; she is the wife of Dr. Calvin C. Rush, of Portage, Pennsylvania, and has one daughter, Sylvia Louise, and one son, Norman J.
Alfred lives in California, is in the produce, feed and nursery business. He married Edna M. Winslow, who died July 3, 1913, and left two children, Helen Jean and Joe Webster.
Professor William Johnson was for three years prior to the fall of 1913, Professor of Science at the Pacific College at Newburg, Oregon. He is now attending the University of California to gain his Master's degree. He graduated from the Fairmount Academy, and Earlham College and married Ethel Henderson, they being without children.
Geneva graduated form the Academy and is in the junior year at Earlham College, being also well trained in music.

Ernest V. and Elizabeth Johnson, two oldest children of Mr. and Mrs. Barclay Johnson, started to school the same day, graduated from Fairmount Academy the same day, and both began to teach in Grant County Schools the same day. Both taught school three years an both were married about the same time, Ernest being married the evening before the day on which his sister Elizabeth was married. Clayton, Alice, Annette and William were all teachers. The Johnson family are all closely identified with the activities of the Friends Church, and Mrs. Johnson is an Elder in her meeting.

Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914, page 703.

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