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Johnson
Family










      Thomas H. Johnson, Sr., was an early pioneer of Eastern Tennessee, although he lived most of his early life in Russell, Lee and Washington Counties, Virginia. Tradition tells us that he served in the Revolutionary War as an interpreter. He spoke fluent German, and came to Virginia from Maryland. The early records show him as a land speculator, owning considerable land in both Virginia and Tennessee.

      Research has failed to reveal Thomas' birthplace or birthdate. Records show that he had a brother named Benjamin. These brothers, along with Henry Dickinson and Archibald Scott, were active in acquiring land through grants and purchases. Before he moved with his family to Tennessee in 1803, land deeds show that Thomas owned more than 6,000 acres in Washington and Russell Counties, Virginia. Land deeds even show considerable ownership of land by Thomas H. Johnson, in Carter County, Tennessee, in the late 1780s.

      The name of Thomas Johnson's first wife is not known. We believe that William Johnson was the child of his first wife. Thomas married Frances (Dickenson) Scott, his second wife, about 1787, in Russell County, Virginia. Frances was the widow of Archibald Scott, whose death, along with their four children, will be told below. To this union were born four children: Mary (Johnson) Sewell, Elizabeth (Johnson) Johnson, Henry D., and Thomas H., Jr.. We have information that is fairly complete on only two of these children: Elizabeth, and Thomas H., Jr.

      Frances died on 9 May 1796, and is laid to rest in what was then Russell County, Virginia. I have visited her gravesite, which is close by her home, near the base of the Clinch Mountain, at Hoyer's Gap, in Russell County. There is a monument erected in her memory.

      Thomas married a third time, to Susannah Wright, on 23 March 1797, in Washington County, Virginia. They moved to Carter County, Tennessee, in 1803. They had one child, Nancy R. (Johnson( Crosswhite. They settled on the Little Doe Branch of Roan's Creek, near the present Doe School. There was one or more iron forges on his farm, which was owned by George Lowe, in 1988.

      Thomas was a leader in the community, and was instrumental in gaining the recognition of a need for a more closely located county seat, than crossing the mountains to Elizabethton, the county seat of Carter County. So, in 1835, a petition by several of the citizens of Carter County, "praying a division of the Said Carter County." This bill, which was passed in 1836, called for the creation of a separate and distinct county from the eastern part of Carter County. This new county would be known as Johnson County, in honor of Thomas Johnson, a resident of that section for about thirty years. Thomas died in 1835, without knowing the honor which had been bestowed upon him. Before the county seat was named, various courts were held at the home of Thomas Johnson until permanent quarters could be established. Efforts have failed to disclose the gravesite of Thomas H. Johnson, Sr.

      The earliest version of the story surrounding Frances Dickensen Scott and her family, was a letter written only six days after the massacre. Colonel Arthur Campbell, who had been living in southwest Virginia, for over fifteen years and was very familiar with the region, wrote to the Governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry, that he had been informed that on the night of the 29th of June, 1785, Mr. Archibald Scott (who lived on the road leading to Kentucky, in Powell's Valley) and all of his children, four in number, together with another young man, was murdered by the Indians, and his wife was taken prisoner.

      The scene of the massacre is now known to have been on the head of Wallen's Creek, which was then in the territory of Washington County, Virginia. (In 1786, a year later, the Wallen's Creek territory was deeded to Russell County, which formed in that year. And in 1792, on the establishment of Lee County, which passed from Russell County, into the area making up Lee County.)

      The second version of the massacre was published six months after Mrs. Scott regained her freedom, in the Freeman's Journal in Philadelphia. It was evidently written down by some person from a personal recital made by Mrs. Scott, after her escape and return to the Clinch Settlements. The story follows: A door of the Scott home was left open on the fateful evening, the ordinary caution observed on the frontier being relaxed, as a large company of armed men enroute to Kentucky, were known to be encamped within two miles. The four Scott children were asleep. Mr. Scott had retired and Mrs. Scott was almost ready for bed, when through the open door rushed "painted savages raising a hideous shriek." Mr. Scott jumped from the bed and charged through the middle of the enemy, out the door, "but fell a few paces later, a tomahawk in his back."

      "An Indian seized Mrs. Scott and ordered her to a particular spot, as other Indians stabbed and cut the throats of the three youngest children in their bed. Afterwards, they lifted them up and dashed them on the floor, near the mother; the oldest, beautiful girl of eight, ran to her mother calling on her to save her, but was tomahawked in her mother's arms. In the Scott house were four rifles, well loaded, and a good deal of clothing and furniture, part of which belonged to people that had left it on their way to Kentucky."

      The same night, another home nearby, by the name of Ball, was attacked, but all doors were barred. The Indians fired between the logs, killing a young man, but were driven off when their fire was returned. The Indians loaded themselves with plunder, being 13 in number, then speedily made off, and continued travelling all night. The next morning their chief allotted to each man his share of the plunder and detached nine of the party to steal horses from the inhabitants of the Clinch Settlements.

      For ten days, Mrs. Scott was forced to travel with four members of the Indian band that had her in charge. They finally stopped at a place fixed upon for the rendezvous with the remaining members, and to hunt, being now in great want of provisions. On the eleventh day, three of the Indians went out hunting. Mrs. Scott was left in the care of an old chief, who busied himself in "graining a deer skin." She "asked for liberty to go a small distance to a stream of water, to wash the blood from her apron that had remained besmeared since the fatal night of the murder of her little daughter." This was granted. As soon as she was out of sight, she set out rapidly to run away from the camp. After getting to the water, she proceeded on without delay, made to a high barren mountain, and travelled until late in the evening, when she came down into the valley in search of the track she had been taken along; hoping hereby to find the way back, without the risk of being lost, and perishing with hunger in uninhabited parts.

      On coming across the valley to the riverside, supposed to be the easterly branch of the Kentucky River, she observed in the sand, tracks of two men that had gone up the river, and had just returned. She concluded these to have been her pursuers, which excited emotions of gratitude and thankfulness to Divine Providence for so timeous a deliverance. Being without any provisions, having no kind of weapon or tool to assist her in getting any, and being almost destitute of clothing, also knowing that a vast tract of rugged high mountains intervened, between where she was and the inhabitants eastward, and the distance of the Kentucky settlement unknown, and she almost as ignorant as a child of the method of steering through the woods, excited painful sensations. But certain death, either by hunger or wild beasts, seemed preferable rather than to be in the power of Indians, who had excited in her mind such horror. She addressed heaven for protection, and taking courage, proceeded onward.

      After travelling three days, she had nearly met with the Indians, as she supposed, that had been sent to Clinch to steal horses, but providentially hearing their approach, concealed herself among the cane, until the enemy had passed. This giving a fresh alarm, and her mind being filled with consternation, she got lost, proceeding backwards and forwards for several days. She finally "came to a river that seemed to come from the east; concluding it was Sandy River, she accordingly, resolved to trace it to its source, which is adjacent to the Clinch Settlements."

      After days of travel she came to what is now known as the "breaks of the Cumberland," a place of very rugged terrain. But to quote further--"She came to where the river runs through the great Laurel Mountain, where there is a prodigious waterfall, and numerous high craggy cliffs along the the water's edge; that way seemed impassable, as the mountain was very steep and difficult to climb. She ascended till she came to a range of unpassable rocks, and then turning her course downwards she came to a rock that hung over the bank about 15 to 20 feet high."

      She returned to the edge of the precipice and viewed the bottom of it, as the certain spot to end all her troubles, or remain on the top, to pine away with hunger, or be devoured by wild beasts. After serious thought, and devout meditation, she was determined to leap from the height, and accordingly jumped off. She lay stunned by the fall for some time, but thirst caused her to pull herself to the edge of the river. At that point she was bitten by a venomous snake. "She had strength to kill it, and knowing its kind, concluded that death must soon overtake her. By this time, Mrs. Scott was reduced to a mere skeleton, with fatigue, hunger and grief; probably this state of her body was the means of preserving her from the effects of the poison." Her food during her entire travels had consisted of berries, roots and leaves.

      The dry season caused the river to be shallow--so she travelled in it, and where she could, by its edge, until she got through the mountains, which she concluded was several miles. Leaving the river, she came to where the valley parted in two, each leading to a different course. Here a painful suspense again took place: a forlorn creature, almost exhausted, and certain, if she was to follow the wrong path, it would lead her out of her way; and she would never see another human creature.

      During this soliloquy, a beautiful bird passed close by her, fluttering along the ground, and went out of sight, up one of the valleys. This drew her attention, and, whilst considering what it might mean, another bird of the same appearance, in like manner, fluttered past her, and took the same valley the other bird had done. This determined her choice of the way; and, in two days, which was the 11th day of August, 1785, (or thirty -one days later) she reached the home of the George Musick's, in the Clinch Settlement.

      Another story tells us that she, at first, started up the valley that would have taken her back to Ohio. But a bird came and flew ahead of her, then back and up the other valley. It repeated this a number of times, until she turned and followed it the right way. Still, another version says the bird alighted on her shoulder and then flew up the valley toward her home and she followed it.

      Colorful details are told and believed of the escape story which may or may not have foundation in fact. One is that as she was trying to elude the Indians sent to recapture her, when she first left the camp, she hid in a hollow log. While she heard them prowling around her, she found a rattlesnake was in the log. She gathered the snake in her apron and held it to save herself. Finally, an Indian came to the log and started to look in, but a spider had built its web over the end of the log. The savage concluded that for this reason, the log must be unoccupied and went away.

      Still another story has to do with her emaciated condition when she got to the Musick's home. She was so near starved that they dared not feed her properly at first, but gave her only a tablespoon of milk at time intervals, gradually adding other foods to it.

      She later married Thomas H. Johnson, and went with him to Tennessee. To this union were born five children. She died on 9 May 1796, at the old Johnson home in Elk Garden, Lee County, Virginia.

      We are especially interested in obtaining these later generation "cousins" for inclusion in this listing.


      1. William Johnson was born circa 1785 and was the son of Thomas H. Johnson by a wife of whom we have no record. William married Sarah Davis on 20 January 1813 in Rowan County, North Carolina. We have no idea why William would we back in Rowan County, North Carolina, with the rest of the family some distance away in Russell county, Virginia. To this marriage was born one son, Henry H. Johnson, but we have no further information on this family.

      2. Mary Johnson was born in 1788 to Thomas and Fanny. She married Benjamin Sewell of Russell County, Virginia, which is now Lee County, Virginia. This family moved to Claiborne County, Tennessee some time during their marriage, where eight children were born. We understand this marriage ended in divorce.

      3. Elizabeth Johnson was born 22 May 1792, and was the second born child to Thomas and Fanny. We believe she was born in Russell County, Virginia, but have no documentation. Her husband, George W. Johnson, was a nephew of Thomas H. Johnson's, being the son of Benjamin Johnson, Thomas' brother. They married in 1814 in Russell County, Virginia, and to this union six children were born. Elizabeth died 22 Jun 1880.

      4. Henry Dickenson Johnson was born in 1792, and was the third born of Thomas and Fanny. Henry married twice, first to Dicey wilson on 4 August 1817 in Carter County, Tennessee. They had three children. After the death of Dicey, Henry married Lavina Peoples on 24 August 1825, in Carter County. We are unaware of any children born of this marriage. We suspect Henry and Lavina went to Virginia, but do not when or where.

      5. Thomas H. Johnson, Jr. was born in July, 1794, probably in Russell County, Virginia, and was the fourth born of Thomas and Fanny. He married Delilah Wilson on 16 October 1817, in Carter County, Tennessee. Thomas and Delilah settled in the Mountain City, Tennessee, area, on the Laurel, where his father and his third wife were living. Thomas and Delilah had ten children, three of whom died young.

      6. Nancy R. Johnson was born in 1807, and was the daughter of Thomas and Susannah. Nancy married Jesse Crosswhite about 1825/1826 in Carter County, Tennessee. This family settled in the Shady Valley area of what is now Johnson County, Tennssee. Nancy and Jesse had nine children.


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