Johnston, John
In 1800 JJ became secretary to the Washington Lodge, Masonic, no. 59 of Free and accepted Masons. On July 1, 1802 John...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Wednesday, July 5, 2017Wednesday, July 5, 2017 post by the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
In 1800 JJ became secretary to the Washington Lodge, Masonic, no. 59 of Free and accepted Masons.
On July 1, 1802 John Johnston was appointed Government Factor in Fort Wayne with pay of $1000 per year and three rations a day, plus $365 for subsistence paid from at the Factory from trade. That same year Little Turtle traveled to Washington to speak with President Jefferson. William Wells traveled with the Turtle and translated for him. The Factory was the place where the goods would be received, stored, and distributed, where trading was carried on and payments made. Johnston was to be the representative of the Government in financial and commercial matters. Johnston was said to be an ‘intimate friend with William Henry Harrison ‘all through his service at Fort Wayne.’ The government was represented by the Indian agency and factory. The Factor ‘transmitted info concerning various Indians and whites and public opinions’ about both.
The intention of the Factory system was actually to put the Indians in debt and take their lands as mentioned in a secret letter from Thomas Jefferson to Wm Henry Harrison. One of Johnston’s first letters written as a Factor shows he had different ideas.
On June 04, 1802 construction was to begin on the Factor’s residence with William Wells overseeing it. Ordered by John Henry Dearborn, the secretary of war, it was to be built in full view of the garrison and have a garden and be made of hewn logs.
Page 177 of The pictorial history of Fort Wayne, Indiana : a review of two centuries of occupation of the region about the head of the Maumee River Volume 1 by Griswold, B. J. (Bert Joseph), 1873-1927; Taylor, Samuel R., Mrs, Publication date: 1917 on Archive.org
John Johnston - Letter from Fort Wayne, September 30, 1804 An account of the buildings belonging to the United States...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Wednesday, September 30, 2015Wednesday, September 30, 2015 post by the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
John Johnston - Letter from Fort Wayne, September 30, 1804
An account of the buildings belonging to the United States Government at Fort Wayne.
The Public Store
Situate on the south side of the Fort, distance from it Forty rocks, one story and a half high, forty feet long, divided into two apartments one end for the retail and the other for the goods that remain in bulk, the upper story is for corn and lumber, the house is built of hewed Logs with a shingled roof, the doors and windows well secured with double-bolts. One sentry walks at night from the south gate of the Fort to the store to prevent robbery or accident by fire.The Agent’s House
Is situate fifteen paces to the west of the store and in a direct line with it, is twenty eight feet long by twenty four wide. Two storys (sic) high with a large Brick Chimney in the west end, and a fireplace in each story. 4 windows of 12 lights to each story, the upper and lower part divided into two apartments, the lower apartment is occupied by the Interpreter, the Cook, the labourer and occasionally by Indians. In the upper story, the Agent and his family reside, under the whole house is a very complete cellar, well walled with stone, in the cellar is kept the furs during the warm weather as they are very apt to be hurt by the worms. The house is also built of hewed logs, has a shingled roof, and is almost situate directly opposite the south gate of the Fort, is on rising ground and commands a handsome view of the River and Priarie (sic).The Indian House
Adjoining the Agent’s House in the rear is the Indian House. Twenty five feet by Twenty, one story high, built of rough logs and a claw board roof, with a cat and clay chimney in the South end. In this House the Indians sleep, cook and live when they come to trade and it is exclusively kept for their use. In this House the Factor has an Iron Mill erected for the purpose of chopping their corn.Behind the Indian House is the Smoke House and the Fowl House.
The Skin House
Only finished during the present month, almost joins the store in the rear, is Twenty six feet by Twenty two, built of rough logs and a claw board roof. In the inside of the house the ground is dug away 2 ½ feet to make it cool in the summer.About twenty paces from the Skin House stand two stables belonging to the Factory, one is for the House belonging to the Factory and the other for the Indian House.
In front of the Skin House is a wooden press for making up the Packs in the Spring previous to their being sent off to Philadelphia.
All the buildings have been erected under the superintendence of the Factor, are built of good materials, and well calculated for carrying on the trade on an extensive scale - In erecting the Agent’s House it was found necessary to deviate from the plan transmitted by the Secretary of War, as the house would have been too small to have accommodated the Agent’s family, the Interpreter, the Cook and the labourer, besides these the under story is frequently the lodging place of the Indians.
The Factory Garden is situate behind the Agent’s House, contains about an acre, is well fenced and under good cultivation, most of the vegetables raised in good gardens in the Atlantic states is cultivated and the soil is well adapted to their growth. The Factor has twenty five Peach Trees which he expects will bear the ensuing season, the stones from which they grew he brought from Pennsylvania, these are the only surviving ones of a much greater number that was destroyed by the worms and the severe Frosts, he intends next year to procure from the state of Ohio or Detroit a quantity of young trees to consist of as many kinds as can be had, and in a few years he hopes to make the Indians the better of his labours in this way.
During the last spring the Factor distributed among the Indians a considerable quantity of the Garden seeds sent from Philadelphia and took much pains to instruct them in the manner or using them and of saving the seeds themselves for the future, so that they might not have to depend on us for a supply.
The Honorable
The Secretary of War Mr. Johnston
US FactorFort Wayne, Sept. 30, 1804
You can see this copper kettle at the Johnston House. Tradition holds that it belonged to the British army and was...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Monday, January 15, 2018Monday, January 15, 2018 post by the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
You can see this copper kettle at the Johnston House. Tradition holds that it belonged to the British army and was left behind after the Siege of Fort Wayne, which occurred in the fall of 1812. John Johnston returned to the fort after that to see what remained of the papers and goods he had left behind and to remove his deceased child's remains and bring them to Piqua where he now resided.
In an 1852 letter to his daughter, May, John Johnston stated: 'All my loved dead are there now (Note: the Johnston cemetery in Piqua, OH) in one enclosure, except that dear child who died at Fort Wayne 50 years ago, and which I once endeavored in vain to recover, the War of 1812 having obliterated all localities."
Family tradition holds that Johnston found the kettle on that journey and brought it back for his family's use. At his death or a short time before, it passed to his daughter Julia. This photo comes from the time of its use by the Patterson family.
Today we celebrate the 209th anniversary of John and Rachel Johnston's marriage. The couple were married in Lancaster...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Monday, July 15, 2024Monday, July 15, 2024 post by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
Today we celebrate the 209th anniversary of John and Rachel Johnston's marriage. The couple were married in Lancaster PA on July 15th, 1802.
The first portion of John and Rachel Johnston's honeymoon journey from Lancaster PA to Fort Wayne IN was made during July. John Johnston uses the term 'my journey' when speaking of the preparations as the couples' unusual honeymoon came at the end of a carefully planned elopement, and Rachel's part in it was kept secret.
"Left the City of Washington on my journey to Fort Wayne, July 4th, 1802, and arrived at Peck’s Tavern in Baltimore on the same day. Arrived at Philadelphia on the 7th."
Johnston might have been allowed his expenses on his trip to Fort Wayne, at least they are itemized in the memorandum book.The total amount was $528.20
Some of the separate items listed are: ‘From Washington to Philadelphia $16.50, saddle bags and portmanteau, $13; cash paid for two horses, $204; two best saddles and bridles, $76; two whips, $5; paid for keeping my horses in Philadelphia, $18; three blankets, $12, and many others. Traveling expenses to and from Lancaster $40
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The newlyweds' July journey from Philadelphia toward Fort Wayne started on Sunday July 24. Places named in route and mileage, to Lancaster 62, July 30, from Lancaster to Chickeys 9, July 31.
Our next stop in the Johnston Cemetery is the Johnston Family area. We will start with John Johnston himself. John...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Friday, June 5, 2015June 15, 2015 and July 8, 2017 post with photo on Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
Our next stop in the Johnston Cemetery is the Johnston Family area. We will start with John Johnston himself.
John Johnston was born on March 25th, 1775 in County Fermanagh, Ireland. He came to America at age 11 and settled in Pennsylvania, where he remained until the age of 16 when he entered the mercantile trade and began to transport supplies to the various forts on the frontier. During these journeys he first 'laid eyes' on the land known as Upper Piqua, near the Great Miami river in present day Piqua, Ohio. He 'determined' to have it for his own, and kept this promise to himself some 12 years later when, in 1804, he purchased the land. At the time Johnston was serving as an Indian Factor for the US Government, operating a trading post in Fort Wayne in the Indian Territory (now Fort Wayne, IN). Later Johnston became the Federal Indian Agent at the fort. He continued to serve in Indiana until 1811, when he retired to his beloved Upper Piqua farm to become a 'gentleman farmer'.
John Johnston's days of peace and quiet were short. Less than a year after he and his growing family moved into the Upper Piqua farm, in June of 1812, war broke out. The US government needed someone in Ohio with experience with both Indians and soldiers to act as their agent, and Johnston was the perfect candidate. John Johnston became the Indian Agent for the Shawnee in 1812, and for the Wyandot and Seneca tribes in 1816. He also handled the Lenape or Delaware during this time. Johnston's role in Ohio during the War of 1812 was crucial. By the strength of his character he earned the trust of the various Indian tribes, and this trust allowed him to keep the peace during this turbulent time.
After the war ended, the Upper Piqua agency continued until 1829. At that time there was a change of administration in Washington. As Andrew Jackson's Democrats took charge, those - like John Johnston - who were of the Whig party lost their jobs. By 1830 the Upper Piqua Indian Agency had ended, though Native Americans continued for years to come to the farm for aid and the company of their old friend.
John Johnston had many other interests, including farming, education, and the advancement of the state of Ohio, Miami County in particular. In 1825 he became one of Ohio's Canal Commissioners, and was responsible along with the others on the commission for choosing the route the Miami && Erie Canal would take through Ohio. He was on the traveling board of West Point Military Academy, and was one of the founding members of Kenyon College. Johnston was also a president and contributing member of the Cincinnati Historical and Philosophical Society.
John Johnston died in February of 1861, one month before the Civil War broke out. His grave stone is inscribed with these words:
John Johnston b. 3-25-1775, d. 2-18-1861.
Served the U.S. in various
important trusts for a period of forty years.
By his own desire, lies buried here
Close by the side of his beloved wife,
Rachel, hoping to rise together at the
Resurrection of the Just,
Life's labor done, securely laid
In this their last retreat.
Unheeded o'er their silent dust
The storms of life shall beat.
- Their honeymoon consisted of an app. 850 mile, two and a half month trip from Pennsylvania to Fort Wayne where John Johnston was to be a Factor for the government, meaning he would run a store where he handled trade with the Indians. On September 4, 1802 goods were purchased and forwarded for the Factory. They came by way of New York, Albany, Buffalo, Lake Erie, and the Maumee River. Their arrival was delayed until May 4 and 12th of the following year. Very few sales took place that year. Total value of this shipment was $13,320. From July 12, 2017 post on Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook.
- Their first 4 children, of 15, were the first all-white children to be born at Fort Wayne before Indiana became a state in 1816. From John Johnston (Indian agent) on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
- In 1811 he transferred to the new Indian agency at Piqua, Ohio. His Johnston Farm and Indian Agency is a local attraction and posts photos and stories on Facebook.
- July 1, 1802 John Johnston was appointed Government Factor in Fort Wayne with pay of $1000 per year and three rations a day, plus $365 for subsistence paid from at the Factory from trade. That same year Little Turtle traveled to Washington to speak with President Jefferson. William Wells traveled with the Turtle and translated for him. Copied from discussion with drawing and key of locations around the old fort posted July 4, 2017 on Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook.
- September 21, 2017 Facebook post: Johnston 101 lesson post discusses about 3,000 Indians on March 25, 1814 order for necessaries near Fort Wayne. Johnston 101 continued August 10, 2017 William Wells terminated, Johnston 101 continued August 26, 2017.
- October 5, 2014 post discusses Polly (or Mary) Chatalie Native American girl living with the family that likely was living with the Johnston family in Fort Wayne and traveled with the family in 1811 to Ohio.
Apparently she lived 'in' the Johnston family, not as a servant but as more of an 'adopted' member of it. Polly was the daughter of Neebosh (see image below), a minor Pottawatomie chief. Her mother was Keeshwa. She later went on to marry a man by the name of Parent and eventually came into her own with money given to her in lieu of land by the government. Polly was in her 50s when she died.- Lots of posts by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook that mention Fort Wayne .
- Lots of Facebook post about the Johnson Cemetery on Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook.
- John Johnston on Find A Grave.
- John Johnston and the Friends: A Midwestern Indian Agent's Relationship with Quakers in the Early 1800s Max L. Carter, Quaker History, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Spring 1989), pp. 37-47 (11 pages), Published By: Friends Historical Association at jstor.org
John Johnston carried on a fairly regular correspondence with Dr. Drake, the foremost physician in the western frontier...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Monday, April 8, 2024Monday, April 8, 2024 post by the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
John Johnston carried on a fairly regular correspondence with Dr. Drake, the foremost physician in the western frontier for a number of years. Dr. Drake is mostly remembered for founding the Medical College of Ohio in 1819. The school merged with the University of Cincinnati and today is the UC College of Medicine. Drake was also the first Cincinnati historian.
We thought a mention of the sun from one of Mr. Johnston's letters would be appropriate for 2024's eclipse day. Apparently, Mr. Johnston was trying to keep out of the sun, though we are sure he would have been watching today! [ see 2024 total eclipse ]
John Johnston to Dr. DC Drake December 3 1811 Fort Wayne "My thermometer at the Piqua stands in the shade in a large open Porch attached to my House. I had two boarded roofs between the thermometer and the sun."
Image: Johann Christian Schoeller painted this scene depicting crowds of people viewing the July 8, 1842, total solar eclipse over Vienna, Austria. Johann Christian Schoeller (Artist), Sonnenfinsternis, 8. Juli 1842, 1842, Wien Museum
We are beginning to work on restoring the front garden at the Johnston House. Not only did this require physical labor...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Thursday, May 9, 2024Thursday, May 9, 2024 post by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
We are beginning to work on restoring the front garden at the Johnston House. Not only did this require physical labor to reveal the garden that was abandoned over a decade ago, a great deal of research is going into what sort of plants and vegetables, etc. belong in the garden. Mr. Johnston stated that his garden had all of the things common to a good garden common to the Atlantic states. Contrary to many beliefs, this meant a garden rich with items that could be dried or preserved in another way to get an Ohio family through the long, cold winter.
Some of these foods can be gleaned through a search of John Johnston's letters.
#piquaohio #Piqua #historichouses #19thcenturyhistory #historichouse #19thcenturyhistorynerd #miamicoutyohio #historicgarden #historicgardens #historicgardening
June of 1835 was a difficult month in the life of the Johnston's. Due to the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815, a great...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Saturday, June 1, 2024Saturday, June 1, 2024 post by the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
June of 1835 was a difficult month in the life of the Johnston's. Due to the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815, a great ash cloud settled over the northwestern hemisphere causing famine, illness and unnaturally low temperatures. This continued for decades.
You can find more information on Mount Tambora, considered by some to be the largest in history, and its eruption here:
Mount Tambora volcano, Indonesia
In June of 1824 John Johnston wrote:
"Near continuous rain for a month. Water very high. No farming. Corn suffering from want of work. Plenty of apples, some pears, few or no peaches. About ½ of the usual quantity of wheat, very good oats and grain....Many parts of the frontier are suffering for food. Everything for man and beast is scarce and beyond comparison.”
A February letter in two parts, written from John Johnston to Lyman Draper. From the Draper Manuscripts. John...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Monday, February 13, 2017Monday, February 13, 2017 post by the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
A February letter in two parts, written from John Johnston to Lyman Draper. From the Draper Manuscripts.
John Johnston to Henry Howe, Piqua, Ohio February 18, 1847
Dear sir, Piqua, Ohio
Feb’y 18, 1847On the 29th day of the last month I was favoured (sic) with your letter of the 22nd of same. I have been engaged at intervals during the winter in writing materials for a history of Ohio about to be published by Mr. Henry Howe esqr the person who has recently given the public a very interesting work on Virginia. [ Volume 1, Volume 2 ], Mr. H has spent the past years in Ohio and will be ready for the press about the close of this year. The work is to be interesting and valuable, to be embellished with views of the principal Cities and Towns of Ohio, together with many of the localities noted in our early annals. Mr. H is aided by many of the old pioneers like myself, and from his established reputation in such matters, we shall I trust have a work alike creditable to himself and this young giant buckeye state. I am not yet done with Mr. Howe. My health is far from good. Am now 72 years, and cannot write ore than 2 or 3 hours out of the 24. beside all this during the war of 1812 – the destruction by the enemy of the buildings of the Indian department at Fort Wayne. I lost nearly all my books and papers so that much of what I have to say is derived from memory, and like many old men there I find myself often at a loss and the labour (sic) of mind consequently encreased (sic)
I cannot answer you in detail until I get thro’ with Mr. Howe which will be in May. After that I shall take great pleasure in affording you replies to all your inquiries. During a part of the two last years I published in Cost’s advertiser at Cincinnati 14 nos, but by some oversight only the first 10 nos are found in it. I have no duplicate or I would supply you if the 14 papers could be had a Cincinnati. They would supply you with many facts. I am physically incompetent to copy them. It was my intention to continue those communications and I may yet do it if life and health permits. About the close of the 14 nos Mr. Howe discontinued his paper and formed a connexion (sic) with the Cincinnati Enquirer, a violent and intemperate party sheet. I could not appear or in my proper name in its columns, and this was one of the principal reasons of my stopping. Mr. Howe has lately informed me that Mr. Cist is about resuming the publication of his old journal. If he does, I shall have no objections to renewing my acquaintance with his columns. He is of the democratic party, but a very kind and worthy man.
Continued....
Portrait of Lyman Draper from the collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society, dated 1854. John Johnston's portrait can be seen at the Johnston Farm & Indian Agency's Johnston House where it hangs in the Drawing Room.
The welfare of their growing town was important to the Johnstons as shown in this excerpt from an 1847 letter where he...
Posted by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Sunday, July 14, 2024Sunday, July 14, 2024 post by Johnston Farm & Indian Agency on Facebook:
The welfare of their growing town was important to the Johnstons as shown in this excerpt from an 1847 letter where he speaks of the progress made within his lifetime. Information courtesy of Cathie Schoppenhurst.
John Johnston to Henry Howe, Piqua OH, May 30
30 years ago it would require a whole month for a letter to travel by the mails from New Haven, Conn., to Piqua, O. 46 years ago it took 27 days hard riding on horseback from Fort Wayne Indiana to Washington City and in the fall of 1794 I was with a party going from Gen’l Wayne’s army from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh by water, one month ascending the Ohio in what was called a periouge (sic) a boat made out of a long poplar tree and propelled by poles and thirty-five years afterwards I passed over the same route in the steam boat Experiment in 48 hours and against a high current. Such are the changes wrought by the enterprise talent and skill of our Country men in the short space of the life of one individual.
When I look back upon the commencement rise and progress of this great and growing commonwealth, the reflection seems more like romance than reality and if a man was to fall from the clouds into the Miami without knowing where he was, he would at once suppose himself in a county settled 500 years by civilized men from the style, character cost and extent of the improvements which would at every step meet his eye.
Here in the adjacent Town of Piqua on the site of which I have hundreds of times lodged with the Indians sleeping on the ground, and long before there was a white man settled in the Country, is already a population 3200 inhabitants rapidly increasing. 10 churches with all the corresponding improvements shewing (sic) an enterprising industrious intelligent, moral and refined people, and this is only a sample of the whole State. The revenue from the publick works of Ohio this year will amount to $700,000. She is honest and pays from her debts. ... Such is our position.George Town and Federal City, or City of Washington. An 1801 view of Georgetown and Analostan (or Mason’s) Island. The new capital city of Washington is on the second hill in the distance. Aquatint engraving by T. Cartwright after George Beck. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress). Copied from A Place to Lay Their Heads: Housing in Early Washington City Merry Ellen Scofield | March 08, 2024 at Jefferson Papers Princeton.edu.