John Johnston (Indian agent)
John Johnston | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Ballyshannon, Ireland | 25 March 1775
Died | 18 February 1861 Washington, D.C. | (aged 85)
Resting place | Piqua, Ohio |
Spouse | Rachel Robinson |
Children | fifteen |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Battles/wars | |
John Johnston (1775–1861) was an
Johnston's career with Native Americans started as a wagoner for General Anthony Wayne's Legion of the United States.[2] He returned to Pennsylvania after the campaign and worked as a law clerk. At age 27, Johnston met Rachel Robinson, who was 16. They eloped to Lancaster, Ohio and were married on 15 July 1802. They had 15 children - the first 4 were the first all-white children to be born at Ft. Wayne (now Fort Wayne, Indiana). 14 of their 15 children lived into adulthood.[3]
In 1802, President
That same year, an Indian agency was established at Piqua, Ohio, and Johnston asked to be transferred to the new agency. He was at this agency during the War of 1812, and organized a Shawnee party under Captain Logan to rescue women and children during the Siege of Fort Wayne, where his brother, Stephen, was killed.[6] He had much better relations with the local Shawnee and Wyandot than he had with the Indians at Fort Wayne, and served as Indian Agent until 1829. He helped negotiate the Treaty of Upper Sandusky in 1842, which removed the Wyandot from Ohio to the West.[7] It was reported that he earned a $1200.00 salary per year as an agent, and he retained that position until let go by President Jackson - a total of thirty-one years.[1]
Johnston was a Whig, and in 1844 was one of Ohio's delegates to the Whig Party's national convention. After the convention, he travelled to campaign for Henry Clay.
Besides his duties as an Indian agent, he also contributed to many other facets of Ohio. He was a canal commissioner with Ohio for eleven years, president of the historical and philosophical societies in Ohio, and founder of the first Sunday school in
John and Rachel Johnston were married for 38 years before his wife died on 24 July 1840, after eleven days of illness. The bereavement after the death of his wife in the family home, caused him to leave and move to Cincinnati with a daughter, and then later to Dayton, where he died in 1861 at the age of 86.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e History of Miami County Ohio - Col. John Johnston. Piqua Public Library (3 Files)
- ^ a b Thornbrough, 12
- ^ Johnston Farm Ohio
- ^ Burnhart, pp. 375–378
- ^ Burnhart, p. 391, fn 38
- ^ Shelby County History, link below
- ^ Ohio Historical Society Archived 3 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ohio History Central, link below
- ^ Hill, 1957
References
- Barnhart, John D. and Dorothy L. Riker (1971). Indiana to 1816: The Colonial Period. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-109-6.
- Hill, Leonard. Col. John Johnson and the Indians in the Land of the Three Miamis. Columbus, Ohio: Stoneman Press, 1957.
- History of Miami County Ohio - Col. John Johnston. Piqua Public Library (3 files).
- Horsman, Reginald. "John Johnston: Indian Agent and Ohio Citizen." Timeline, Ohio Historical Society, July–September 2013. Volume 30, Number 3.
- Thornbrough, Gayle, ed. (1961). Letter Book of the Indian Agency at Fort Wayne, 1809–1815. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society.