History of Hamilton County Ohio
Portraits of (with biography), of
Cary Johnson and wife
between pages 372 and 373
transcribed by Linda Boorom

Cary Benson JOHNSON resides at the ancestral home, three-quarters of a mile west of Mount Pleasant. He is the fourth son of Cary JOHNSON, born March 28, 1781, in Somerset county, New Jersey, and died at his home farm near Mount Pleasant February 15, 1866, and buried at Burlington cemetery. Cary was the oldest son of Abner JOHNSON, who died January 14, 1832, in Colerain township, and who was the son of Samuel, who died May 14, 1808, and was buried in Basking Ridge cemetery. They were all of Scotch ancestry, and all at some time residents of Basking Ridge, Somerset county, New Jersey; and they were all brought up as members of the old Presbyterian church, whose building (of 1839) still stands at Basking Ridge, upon the site of the log church put up for the society near the beginning of the seventeenth century. Cary JOHNSON was the first of the family to come to Hamilton county. He immigrated on horseback in 1804, a young carpenter of twenty-three, making his beginnings in the world. His father (grandfather of Cary Benson JOHNSON) had been a wagoner in Washington's army near Morristown, where it spent two winters and lost many men from small-pox and other causes. He received his pay in land warrants covering a half-section of land, which he sent out by Colonel LUDLOW, with instructions to locate them favorably within eight or ten miles of Cincinnati. The colonel located with them the west half of section thirty-two, adjoining the present village of Mount Pleasant. Mr. JOHNSON sent his son Cary to view the tract and improve it; and he, after staying for a short time in Cincinnati, pushed his way through the woods to the site of the property, where he built a log cabin, about one hundred and fifty yards northwest of the present homestead. It stood until 1880, when it was torn down. Its appearance, however, is preserved quite faithfully in the engraving accompanying this notice. An old well, still used, marks the hallowed spot where it stood. Mr. JOHNSON pursued with energy the clearing and improvement of the place, which was deeded some time afterwards by the father to him and his brothers Samuel and Andrew, who also came out in 1807 and settled their places. When the elder JOHNSON came, in 1813, he settled at the former site of Dunlap's station, in Colerain township, near the famous ancient work in the bend of the river, which contains the old cemetery in which Abner JOHNSON lies buried.

Cary JOHNSON, his son, married Rachel, daughter of John JESSUP, of Mill Creek township, September 12, 1805. Mrs. JOHNSON was an aunt of Mrs. Robert CARY, mother of the famous CARY sisters. Her grandfather, Stephen JESSUP, was a weaver's apprentice in England, but ran away from a hard master and came to the new world in the early part of the eighteenth century. He lived a long time in a log cabin on Long Island, and moved thence to Cumberland, Deerfield township, New Jersey, where he accumulated property and made his will February 17, 1757 - a curious old document, now in possession of his great-grandson, Cary B. JOHNSON. He had three sons, John, Isaac, and Daniel; and two daughters, Sarah and Abigail. John was grandfather of C. B. JOHNSON. Daniel was father of Daniel JESSUP, jr., who became known as "Indian Daniel," from the fact of his capture by the Indians. Isaac went south, and from him was reputed to, be descended General JESSUP, of the United States army. Abigail came to this county, where she married a Mr. GALLAGHER, and became the mother of the celebrated poet and magazinist, W. D. GALLAGHER, thus confirming the notion of the poetic strain in the blood suggested. by the talent of the Cary sisters, who were also, on their mother's side, of the Jessup stock.

Cary and Rachel JOHNSON had children as follows:

Drusilla, born February 14, 1807; married Samuel WESTON October 25, 1828; died September 16, 1849.

Jemima Hampton, born August 16, 1810; married Isaac WESTON (brother of Samuel) in May, 1829; died July 11, 1831.

Jane, born August 26, 1813; married George W. RICE September 26, 1833; died March 19, 1849.

John, born April 29, 1815; died July 1st of the same year.

Abner, born September 6, 1816; was married November 16, 1843, to Mary C. MORAN, of Livingston county, Missouri, where he died December 8, 1846.

Sarah A., born November 8, 1819; married Joseph E. MUNGER October 27, 1841 and residing at Maquoketa, Iowa.

Hampton, born March 21, 1824; married Harriet FREEMAN May 22, 1850; died September 17, 1869.

Augusta L., born November 1, 1828; died August 4, 1831.

Cary Benson, born at the homestead near Mount Pleasant July 10, 1832; married Sarah L. JACKSON, daughter of Joseph and Nancy (RIDDLE) JACKSON, September 21, 1859, and residing still at his birth-place.

Mrs. Rachel Jessup JOHNSON was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, September 7, 1787, and came to the Miami country with her parents about six years afterwards, She remained united in wedlock to Mr. JOHNSON through the long period of nearly fifty-eight years, when, January 15, 1863, she departed this life in hope of a blessed immortality. Her husband died February 15, 1866. He, as also his wife, was a member of the Universalist church. In the year 1813 he made a notable improvement in the building of a large barn upon his place, which was then one of the most capacious in the county, and is still used, with additions, by his son. Seven years afterwards he built the mansion occupied by Cary Benson JOHNSON, from brick burned by him upon his farm, in the identical shape and interior arrangement in which it now appears, in an excellent state of preservation in every respect. Some of the more difficult portions of the work, as the sash of the windows, were executed by Mr. JOHNSON himself.

Their youngest child, Cary B. JOHNSON, came into the possession of the paternal homestead upon the death of his father and that of his brother Hampton (in 1869), who was co-heir with him under the will. His uncle Andrew's former homestead has also come into his possession by purchase. He has remained from childhood at the old home, engaged in the peaceful pursuits of the farm, unvexed by political or official life. He took an active part in the extension of the College Hill Narrow Gauge railroad to Mount Pleasant, and was mainly instrumental in securing it. For this purpose he gave the right of way through a mile of his landed possessions and a thousand dollars in cash.

He, although of Democratic stock, turned to Republicanism during the early part of the war of the Rebellion, and has since voted steadily with the party of that faith. About 1871 his health was permanently affected by falling from a load of lumber upon his head, which came near costing him his life, and paralyzed him for some time. His general health is otherwise excellent, His married life has been childless.