By Staff
Johnson, George family in area
By LYDIA GRIMES - Features Writer
I am going back to a family that I may have covered before. You see, when you get old, you can't remember what you have talked about already. I blame it on that anyway.
In the early 1830s, there was a family by the name of Johnson, who left South Carolina and made its way into Southeast Alabama – Jesse Johnson (1790s-1830s) and his wife, Sarah (abt 1795-1850s). Jesse was born in North Carolina and Sarah was born in North Carolina and they made their way from South Carolina into Dale County, Alabama. (By the way, I know you probably get tired to hearing about Dale County, but that is where I have done most of my research.) W.L. Andrews wrote in 1899 that Jesse was the first one buried at Old Claybank Church near Ozark. The church still stands today and is almost run over by the stores that are coming nearer and nearer. When I was a child, the church stood in the woods and was not noticed too much. Time changes.
Jesse and Sarah Johnson had four known children: Daniel Webster Johnson (1815-1866), Martha Elizabeth Johnson (1825-1896), Samuel Johnson (1828), and Mary Johnson (1832-1913). My ancestor is Martha E. Johnson who was the third wife of David Carroll (1800-1864). The one I want to tell you about today is Daniel Webster Johnson. He married David Carroll's sister, Rebecca Carroll (1822-1888). They settled down a few miles form Ozark and built a large home on top of a hill that still stands today and is still in the Johnson family. They had at least 10 children. I want to center of the third child and third son, James C. Johnson (1843-1910). James was married two times, the first being to Susan Dunson (1849-1884). They had eight children:Louie Elizabeth Johnson (1869-1889), James David Johnson (1870-1938), Walker Lee Johnson (1872-1940), Susan Petis Johnson (1874-1962), William Daniel Johnson (1877-1935), George Homer Johnson (1879-1880), Pearl Forest Johnson (1880-1901), and Rebecca Douzier Johnson (1883-1884). James married the second time to Frances Stallings and had three children: Flynn Johnson (1891-1933), Jesse Oates Johnson (1893-1964), and Kate Johnson (1895-1983).
I want to tell you about the daughter, Susan Petis Johnson who married Moses George. She is listed as a widow on the census of 1920 for Covington County. She died in 1962 and is buried with him in Florala. They had five children listed with them on the census: Frankie Moses George (1904-1986) who married Ralph Floyd Goolsby, Lena Pearl George (1906) who married Blondell Everett, Albert George (1908-1982) who married Alice Cabler, Alva Jean George (1908) who married Milden Cosby, and James Carlos George (1911) who married first Montyne Cobb and married second Frances Ballard. These people have descendants in Escambia, Covington and Baldwin Counties, and if you are one of them, let me know.
Listed next to Susan Johnson George in the 1920 census is the family of the widow of James C. Johnson. Frances Stallings Johnson (1853 in Oaky Streak-1932 in Florala). The children still living with her were Flynn Johnson Howell (1891-1933) who was already a widow, Jesse Oates Johnson (1893-1964) who had just returned from WW I, and Kate Johnson (1895-1983) who never married. I will stop for now, but will continue next week with the rest of the Johnson family and tell you a little more about the George family.
Happy hunting!