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- Texas State Historical Association
(a digital Gateway to Texas History)
JOHNSON, BENJAMIN
JOHNSON, BENJAMIN (1815?1872). Benjamin Johnson, soldier, early settler, and son of Moses Johnson and Mary Ann Roberts was born on June 8, 1815, near Edgerly (in present-day Calcasieu Parish), Louisiana. He moved to Texas in 1832 and settled at Jefferson Municipality (present-day Bridge City in Orange County) on Cow Bayou.
Johnson volunteered to fight in the Texas Revolution and enlisted in the Texas Army on November 12, 1835, under Capt. Willis H. Landrum?s Company. He participated in the Grass Fight and the siege of Bexar later that year. Johnson was given an honorable discharge on January 1, 1836, at the Alamo. After learning of the fall of the Alamo, he re-enlisted in Capt. James Gillaspie?s Company, in the Second Regiment of Texas Volunteers under Col. Sidney Sherman?s command. On April 21, Sherman formed part of the regiment of the left wing and fought in the battle of San Jacinto. On June 30, Johnson served a third enlistment as second sergeant in Capt. John G. W. Pierson?s Company at Washington. He received an honorable discharge on September 30, 1836.
After service, Johnson received a donation of 320 acres of land for having served in the army. He returned to Jefferson, where on January 24, 1838, he received a 1,440-acre headright from the Jefferson County Board of Land Commissioners.
On April 24, 1838, Johnson married Rachel Garner, daughter of Bradley Garner, Sr., and Sarah Rachel Harmon. Rachel was from a family of military service. Her father fought in the Battle of New Orleans, and her brothers David, Isaac, and Jacob Garner fought at the Grass Fight and the Siege of Bexar. Her brother-in-law Claiborne West was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Soon after marriage Johnson and his new wife settled in Sabine Pass on a farm of his sister-in-law Sarah Garner McGaffey. Records show that Benjamin and Rachel Johnson were one of the earliest settlers in Sabine Pass along with John McGaffey, Thomas Courts, and Jacob Garner. Johnson then appeared before the land commissioners and received an additional headright of 3,000 acres, granted to married men. He and Rachel became the parents of at least eight sons and two daughters.
On July 7, 1838, Johnson was granted an additional 640 acres of donation land for having fought at the battle of San Jacinto. That same year, he was certified as one of fifty-seven jurors to serve in the Jefferson County courts. He was elected a county commissioner on December 2, 1852. He and his family were charter members of the second Baptist Church of Jefferson County.
Rachel Johnson died in 1856. On July 4, 1861, Johnson married Matilda Myers, whom he had employed as his housekeeper. Later that year in August, Benjamin Johnson joined his three sons, Bradley, John, and Uriah Johnson, and served under Ben McCulloch in the Confederate Army. In addition to his military and public service, Johnson was a farmer, stockman, and patriarch. Benjamin Johnson died at the age of fifty-seven at Sabine Pass on October 13, 1872, and was buried at the Johnson family plot at the Sabine Pass Cemetery in Jefferson County. A Texas Historical Marker was erected in his honor in 1972.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Herbert C. Banks II, ed., Daughters of the Republic of Texas Patriot Ancestor Album (Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Publishing Company, 2001). W.T. Block, ?Benjamin Johnson: Veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto?
(http;//www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/BenjaminJohnson.htm), accessed July 1, 2010. W. T. Block, A History of Jefferson County, Texas, from Wilderness to Reconstruction (M.A. thesis, Lamar University, 1974; Nederland, Texas: Nederland Publishing, 1976). Historical Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin. Republic of Texas Claims, Archives and Manuscripts Division, Texas State Library and Archives, Austin.
Jimmy Johnson
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.
Jimmy Johnson, "JOHNSON, BENJAMIN," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fjoda), accessed February 07, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fjoda
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Benjamin Johnson - Sabine Pass, Jefferson County, Texas
Address:
Directions: Sabine Pass Cemetery, off SH 870
Marker #: 5245010538
Year Dedicated: 1972
Size, type: 24" x 18"
Last reported condition: Fair
Benjamin Johnson - (1815-1872) Born in Louisiana; settled in Texas in 1832. Fought in victorious Texas Army at Bexar, Dec. 1835; in Capt. James Gillaspie's company, 2nd Regiment, Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Married (1) 1838, Rachel Garner, who died 1856; (2) 1861, Matilda Myers. Esteemed and respected, he was a farmer, stockman, patriarch.
Decimal degrees: N 29.717963 W -93.904609
Degrees, minutes: N 29 43.078 W 093 54.277
UTM: Zone 15, Easting 412505, Northing 3287876
http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5245010538#
Sabine Pass Cemetery - The oldest continually used cemetery in Jefferson County, This graveyard has served the citizens of the Sabine Pass area since the 1840s. The earliest documented grave is that of a 12-year-old John A. Dashiell, son of William V.C. and Mary Dashiell, who died on August 27, 1847. The large site now known as Sabine Pass Cemetery represents a combination of five formerly distinct burial grounds. Included in what was once called "The Colored Peoples Cemetery" is the unmarked grave of 108-year-old Louis Williams. Born a slave in Mississippi in 1813, Williams died on June 23, 1921. Among the burials in this historic graveyard are those of many distinguished military veterans. Able Coffin (1792-1862) and Burwell Jackson (1783-1864) fought in the War of 1812. Jacob Harmon Garner (1814-1887), Benjamin Johnson (1815-1872) and Niles F. Smith (1800-1858) were Texas Revolution veterans. Soldiers and sailors from both the Union and Confederate forces of the Civil War also are interred here. The two Union sailors Patrick Ferlin and Albert W. Marshall, died of wounds sustained during the offshore naval encounter on January 21, 1863, while serving on the ship Morning Light. A number of Confederate veterans rest in the cemetery, as does Kate Dorman, dubbed "the heroine of Sabine Pass" for her assistance of the southern troops. A number of graves have been specially marked with military or state historical markers. Maintained by Jefferson County and cared for by local volunteer organizations, the Sabine Pass Cemetery remains in use by citizens of the area. Its historic gravestones and monuments provide a unique component of the cultural history of Jefferson County. (1999)
http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5245011949
- First Settlers of Jefferson Co, Texas by Gifford White
Land Grants in Texas: 45th Applicant: Benjamin Johnson took and Subscribed to the oath required by the 12th Secretary of Land Law that he emigrated to Texas in 1832. It was proven that he was a citizen of Texas at the date of the Declaration of Independence by the oath of Bradley Garner and Jacob Garner.
166th Applicant: (returns for more since he married 24 Apr 1838, which increased his entitlement)
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Texas Revolution Page 9 p 16
Jefferson County Heroes of San Jacinto
Johnson, Benjamin: Benjamin Johnson enlisted as a private in Captain James Gillaspie's Company, Second Regiment. Texas Volunteers, Sixth Company, Infantry.
Benjamin Johnson, born June 8, 1815, died October 13, 1872, is buried in Sabine Pass Cemetery, Jefferson County. He has received a Texas Historical Commission marker. (see also Yellowed Pages, Vol II, No. 6-10 for biographical data by W.Tck - MSW)"
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1850 Census, also living in his household were John Hill, 23 (b 1827) a carpenter from England; and William Harris 36 (b 1814), a cabinet maker, also from England, and RACHEL COURT, age 13 (b 1837). Rachel's father THOMAS COURT had recently drowned.
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The 1860 Sabine Pass census listed Benjamin Johnson with his 8 children.
Also listed in the household was MATILDA MYERS 28 House Keeper
and George White 25 Laborer LA.
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1870 Census - Sabine Pass, also living in his household was E. Gibson age 78 born MS (brother)
(this is prob Uriah Gibson, bro-in law)
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Listed: Sabine Pass Cemetery, page 4
Johnson, Benjamin, Historical marker erected Oct 14, 1972, original stone stolen "1815-1872 Born in Louisiana; settled in Texas in 1832. Fought in victorious Texas Army at Bexar, Dec. 1835; In Capt. James Gillaspie's Company, 2nd Regiment, Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Married (1) 1838, Rachel Garner, who died 1856; (2) 1861, Matilda Myers. Esteemed and respected, he was a farmer, stockman, Patriarch. recorded - 1972."
Matilda applied for as a widow for Benjamin's Confederate Pension.
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