BENNETT WILLSON JOHNS

Transcribed By Mari Morrow

 

BENNETT W. JOHNS

 

The pioneer history of Washington is familiar to Bennett W. Johns from

active connection with the experiences of frontier life in this portion of

the state. His history forms a connecting link between the primitive past

and the enterprising present, for as early as 1853 he took up his abode in

Seattle. He was born at Dixon Spring, Smith county, Tennessee, on the 15th

of February, 1838, and is of Welsh and English ancestry. His grandfather,

Elias Johns, nobly served his country in the war of 1812. He was of the

F.F.V., was one of the wealthy planters and slaveowners of Tennessee,

being the owner of an extensive farm and a beautiful home. In his

religious affiliations he was a devout Baptist, and was one of the pillars

of his church. His son, Bennett Lewis Johns, was also a native of the

state of Tennessee, where he was born in the year 1802. For his wife he

chose Miss Elizabeth Suttles, who was born near the birthplace of her

husband, and in 1853 the family, consisting of the!

 parents and ten children, started on the long and tedious journey to the

Pacific coast. Near Soda Springs, Idaho, the wife and mother died of

mountain fever, and the eldest daughter, Frances, who had become the wife

of Alexander Barnes in the east, passed away of the same disease soon

after the death of her mother, and both lie buried near the place of their

death. This was a sad bereavement to the remainder of the family, but such

was the lot of many of the brave pioneers. When they reached the Cascade

mountains the snow became so deep that they were obliged to leave the

wagons and much of their outfit, and later they engaged pack horses and

took over what they could, and later food became so scarce that they would

all have perished had not help reached them by a portion of Seattle's best

citizens, who had been sent out to relieve the weary travelers. The

children who accompanied them on this journey are here named in the order

of their birth: W.F. Johns, who is now a resi!

dent of Ocheltree, Kansas; Elizabeth, who became the wife of T.G. Grow,

and died in the fifty-sixth year of her age in California; Bennett W., the

subject of this review; Sarah, who died in King county, Washington, when

fifteen years of age; Martha T., the deceased wife of W.H. Mitchell, whose

history will be found in another portion of this work; Mary B., who

married R.H. Chase and resides in Everett, Washington; Martin R., of

Olympia; Belle, who became the wife of Martin Gilver and has also passed

away; and Nora, the deceased wife of Captain Hill.

 

The journey to the state of Washington was begun on the 1st of May, 1853,

and they arrived in Seattle on the 4th of November, 1853, the latter part

of the trip having been made in canoes down the White river. On reaching

his destination the father took up a donation claim in King county, nine

miles southeast of Seattle, on the Duwamish river, where he engaged in

farming and stock-raising. Two years after their arrival here the Indian

war broke out, and the family were obliged to seek protection in Seattle.

The father and two older boys were volunteers in the war, serving three

months in the First and six months in the Second Regiment, and were in the

fight at Seattle in 1856 when the Indians attacked the city. While the

family were at breakfast they were driven from their home in the suburbs,

and during that night the house was ransacked of all that the Indians

thought worth taking. But their worst misfortune was the stealing of the

winter's supply of flour. The father and t!

he boys had raised the wheat on their own land, the former sowing in the

morning as much as the boys could dig into the ground and cover during the

rest of the day. Later on this was harvested in the primitive fashion of

the time and was threshed with a flail and winnowed in the wind. Then the

precious grain was taken by Mr. Johns and Mr. John Collins and others, in

a flatbottomed scow to Olympia, where it was ground, and the flour was

then brought to Seattle and placed in A.A. Denny's store, where it

remained until the night of the Indian ravage.

 

With characteristic energy, however, Mr. Johns set about the task of

retrieving his lost possessions, and after residing on his farm for

several years he rented it and removed to Seattle, where he lived until

within a few months of his death, and then went to Olympia, where he made

his home with his daughter, Mrs. William H. Mitchell, until his death, in

1879, when he had reached the seventy-seventh milestone on the journey of

life.

 

Bennett W. Johns, the second son of this worthy pioneer, was but fourteen

years of age when he accompanied the family on the long and perilous

journey to the Evergreen state. He made the trip on horseback and drove

their loose cattle, and, although they were frequently harassed by the

Indians, who drove off their stock, they always succeeded in recapturing

the most of them. The education which he had begun in his native state was

completed in Seattle, Washington, and he remained with his father on the

farm until he was twenty years of age, after which he obtained employment

in a sawmill, having been able in the first three months to send his

father sixty dollars. Going from there to Fort Hope, British Columbia, he

engaged in mining at Puget Sound Bar, on Frazer river, and so well were

his services rewarded that he was soon able to send to his father one

hundred and four dollars in gold dust. After following the varied fortunes

of a miner for some time he turned his attention!

 to the fur trade, in which he also met with success, but in 1869 he

abandoned that vocation and returned to Olympia, where for the following

fourteen years he was engaged in the sawmilling business with W.H.

Mitchell. In 1876 Mr. Johns purchased a farm of six hundred and forty

acres on Bush Prairie, since which his time has been given to the stock

business. In addition to this tract he also owns two hundred and forty

acres three miles from Olympia and a good residence in the city.

 

The marriage of Mr. Johns was celebrated in 1872, when Miss Mary J.

Vertrees became his wife. She was born in Illinois and is a daughter of

Charles M. Vertrees, also of that commonwealth. One daughter, Ruth, was

born to brighten and bless their home, and she is now the wife of A.S.

Kerfoot and a resident of Franklin county, Washington. Mr. Johns is a

member of the Baptist church, in which he has been an officer since the

organization of the church in this city. Mrs. Johns joined the church a

few months after its organization. In his political affiliations he has

been a life-long Republican, and has served as a school director, as a

member of the city council of Tumwater, this state, and is active in every

movement and measure intended to benefit the county of his adoption. In

his fraternal relations he is a past noble grand of the Independent Order

of Odd Fellows, being also a member of its auxiliary, the Rebekahs, and is

a past master workman of the Ancient Order of United !

Workmen. His long residence in Washington classes him among the honored

pioneers of the state, and he has aided in laying the foundation for the

present prosperity and progress of this portion of the commonwealth.

 

Prosser, William F. History of the Puget Sound Country. Volume 2. Lewis

Publishing Co. 1903. pp. 128-30.

 

 

***

 

BENNETT WILLSON JOHNS

 

The distinction of having been the youngest soldier in the volunteer

company enlisted to defend Seattle in the Indian war of 1855-56, belongs

to the subject of this sketch, Bennett Willson Johns, who, with his

father, brothers and sisters, arrived in Seattle in 1853. Early in the

spring of that year the elder Johns, Bennett Lewis, with his wife,

Elizabeth Tuttles Johns, and their large family of children, started from

their old home in Tennessee, for the West.

 

When the emigrants reached Soda Springs, in Idaho, the wife and mother,

with her two weeks' old babe, were taken down with mountain fever, and

died after a few days' illness. The eldest daughter, Frances, who had

become the wife of Alexander Barnes in the East, but who, with her

husband, was also among the emigrants, was also stricken with the same

disease and followed her mother within a few days. Mother and daughter

sleep side by side in lonely graves in the wilderness.

 

The emigrants resumed their Western march after these bereavements, sad

and discouraged, but with no alternative but to push onward.

 

Owing to the delays from sickness and fatigue of the cattle, snow began to

fall by the time the train reached the Cascades, and before many days'

travel through the mountains were accomplished, it became necessary to

abandon the wagons and much of the outfit, and take pack horses with which

to continue their journey. Food became so scarce that a messenger was

dispatched ahead of the weary emigrants with a prayer for assistance, to

the settlers of Seattle. With characteristic Western generosity, the

appeal was responded to and food and comforts sent back along the trail to

relieve the distress of the emigrants. On reaching Puget Sound, the father

took up a donation claim in what is now King County, on the Duwamish

River, nine miles from Seattle, where he engaged in farming and stock

raising.

 

[Remainder of sketch omitted.]

 

Blankenship, Mrs. George E. Early History of Thurston County Washington.

Olympia, Washington, 1914. pp. 237-40.

 

***

 

BENNETT W. JOHNS, SEATTLE PIONEER -- Came to Sound in November, 1853 --

Will Be Buried Saturday

 

Special to the Post-Intelligencer.

 

OLYMPIA, Dec. 28 -- Bennett W. Johns, who died here Wednesday and whose

funeral will take place here Saturday, was one of the first settlers at

Seattle.

 

He was born in Smith county, Tennessee, in 1838, the son of Bennett L. and

Elizabeth (Suttle) Johns. In 1844 the family moved to Kentucky and a year

later to Scott county, Missouri, whence, in 1853, they started overland

for Washington territory by ox team.

 

The party included Mr. and Mrs. B.L. Johns, nine unmarried children and

one married daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Barnes. Mrs. Johns

and Mrs. Barnes died en route. The rest of the family reached Walla Walla

in October and started for the Sound. They were caught in the snow in the

Cascades and had to kill one of their oxen for food. They finally reached

Seattle November 4, 1853. There they passed the winter.

 

Fought in the Indian War

 

Next year the father located a donation claim nine miles from Seattle. In

1855 they sowed a few acres of wheat and when it was harvested it was

placed

 

[Photo of Bennett W. Johns here]

 

 

in a primitive scow and taken to the only flour mill in the territory at

Tumwater to be ground.

 

During the Indian war of 1855-6 the family moved to Seattle, while the

father engaged in military service for nine months. Bennett W. Johns

served a year during the war, the youngest man in the regiment. He was in

the Companies of Capt. C.C. Hewitt and Capt. A.A. Denny.

 

[Remainder of obituary omitted.]

 

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 28, 1905.

 

 

Go To 1857 Census: King County, Washington

 

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