My Genealogy Hound

Pitts Johnson, a farmer of Black township, Posey county, Indiana, was born on the same farm where he now lives, December 23, 1849. He traces his ancestry back to Capt. Edward Johnson, who came from England with Governor Winthrop in 1630, and the genealogy of the family from this ancestor to our subject has been published and is very highly prized by him. His parents were D. F. and Dorcus (Duckworth) Johnson. D. F. Johnson was a native of New York State, having been born in Cayuga county June 16, 1804, was married June 16, 1825, to Dorcus Duckworth, who was born May 8, 1810, and who died January 23, 1879. He died in 1884. The founder of the family in Posey county was Rufus Johnson, grandfather of Pitts, who brought his family here in 1822. The father of our subject, with Dr. Phillips, went to Vincennes to enter land, making the trip by “riding and tying.” Later D. F. Johnson became so homesick that he and Frank Allyn walked back to New York State. When the Johnsons first came here all the land was wild and very little of it had been taken by settlers. Farming was done in the old fashioned way, the wheat being threshed by treading it out. D. C. Johnson, Mr. Allyn and another man were the first to bring a farm machine of any kind to this section of the country. It was a reaper and a man had to stand on it and rake the grain with a pitchfork. When the first frame house was built at Mt. Vernon people came for miles to see it. The building caused as much excitement as did the battleship which later came up the river. Mr. Johnson was married in 1869 and began farming for himself on the home place, where he had been working with his parents since finishing school. He has always been on the home place with the exception of three years, when he went to the bottoms to farm. Mr. Johnson’s wife was Miss Louisa Combs, daughter of John and Elizabeth Combs, natives of Posey county, Indiana, where Louisa was born June 28, 1853. She was reared in Black township and attended the common schools. They had two children: Sylvanus, born January 29, 1870, and Victor, born October 3, 1871, and died October 9, 1873. Sylvanus is a teacher in the Farmersville school, and has taught all over the country. He married Miss Emma Smith, daughter of James and Alice Smith, the wedding occurring August 31, 1892. She was born in Union county, Kentucky, and was raised in Posey county, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Sylvanus Johnson have five children: William, Harold, Dorothy, Virginia and Keith.