Isaac Johnson (abt. 1844 - 1905)

Born about 1844 in Kentucky, USA

Husband of Theadocia Louisa (Allen) Johnson — married 28 Dec 1875 in Morrisburgh, Williamsburgh, Dundas, Ontario

Descendants

Died 4 Dec 1905 at about age 61 in Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence, New York, USA

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Biography

Isaac Johnson is a part of US Black heritage.

Isaac Johnson was a Kentuckian.

Isaac was born about 1844. He was the son of Richard Yeager and Jane Johnson. He passed away in 1905.

When Isaac was seven years old, his father sold Isaac, his siblings, and his mother into slavery. Isaac never saw his family again.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Isaac escaped and joined a Union Army camp where he was engaged as a cook. He later went to Detroit and became a soldier in Company A, 102nd Division U.S. Colored Troops.

After the war he moved to Canada and became a highly-skilled stone mason. He was the contractor that built several churches and town halls in eastern Ontario and northern New York. Among those are the old Waddington Town Hall in Waddington, St. Lawrence County, New York, and the Catholic Church at Churubusco in Clinton County, New York. Isaac also built a stone-arch bridge near Chamberlain Corners, and likely built the similar stone-arch bridges at Madrid and Louisville, all in St. Lawrence County. (The bridge at Louisville was replaced with a modern bridge several years ago.)

In 1901, after becoming disabled, Isaac wrote the book, Slavery Days in Old Kentucky. A True Story of a Father Who Sold His Wife and Four Children. By One of the Children. - printed by Republican & Journal Print, Ogdensburg, New York. Reprints of this book have been available for many years.

Sources

Johnson, Isaac. Slavery Days in Old Kentucky. Ogdensburg, New York: Republican & Journal Co. Print, 1901 (reprint by Friends of the Owen D. Young Library and the St. Lawrence County Historical Association, Canton, New York, 1994, with introduction by Cornel J. Reinhart)

1860 census (slave schedule): (probable) 16-year-old male listed by John Mattingly - District 1, Nelson County, Kentucky

U.S., Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865, at Ancestry.com

1871 census: (possible) Isaac Johnson - Raleigh, Kent, Ontario

Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1826-1938, at Ancestry.com

Marriage announcement in Dundas County Herald and St. Lawrence Reporter, Morrisburg, Ontario, Thursday, 30 December 1875, page 2, column 8 - https://archive.sdgcounties.ca/uploads/r/dundas-county-archives/b/2/2/b226131d1e45ff3c93400c512a9d629845421a91ae4e2491035636ad66fe6988/1875-12-30.pdf

1881 census: Isac Johnston - Mountain, Dundas, Ontario

Civil War Pension Index

1890 census - veterans schedule: Isaac Johnson - Waddington, St. Lawrence, New York

1905 state census: Isaac Johnson - Ward 2, Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence, New York

New York State Death Index

New York, U.S., Veteran Burial Cards, 1861-1898, at Ancestry.com

Burial at Ogdensburgh Cemetery, Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence, New York - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27409199/isaac-johnson

Obituary in The Ogdensburg Journal, Ogdensburg, New York, Tuesday, 5 December 1905, page 4, column 4 - http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn85054113/1905-12-05/ed-1/seq-4/

https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2018/12/isaac-johnson-former-slave-master-mason.html - article by Richard White

https://www.wwnytv.com/2023/02/24/black-history-slave-sought-after-waddington-stone-cutter/ - article and newscast by Emily Griffin