Truman Johnson of Viola Township, is
a member of the Lee County Board of Supervisors, and is not only prominent as one
of out most valued ptiblic officials, but he occupies
a leading position among the farmers and stock-raisers of this region. He is of sturdy pioneer
stock, his father, Smith H. Johnson, being an early
settler of Viola Township, and an active promoter of its highest interests, educationally and
morrally, as well as affording material aid in the development of its agricultural resources.
The father of our subject was a native of Vermont, whence he went to New York when a young
man, walking from that place to New York, and
in that State he met and was married to Miss Ziba
K. Tompkins. He bought a tract of land in Allegany County, and resided there until 1836, when
he pushed Westward into the forest wilds of the
Territory of Michigan, going by lake to Detroit,
and thence with a team penetrating into the interior of Van Buren County, of which he became
a pioneer. He bought a tract of timber land, and
made his home there some years. He was a man of
superior intelligence, who knew full well the value
of an education, and to him his fellow-pioneers
owed the chance to give their children some schooling, for he built one of the first schoolhouses in
that section of country, on his own land. There
were but few signs of civilization then in those
parts, and deer, bears, wolves, coons and other wild
animals were freqnenthy seen in the woods near the
settlements or in the clearings made by the pioneers.
In 1843, Mr. Johnson left his pioneer home in
Michigan, to found another in the great Prairie
State, coming hither with his wife and four children, with teams, h
e located at Big Rock, Kane County, buying a tract of Government land at
that point. A few months later, in the fall of the
year, he went back to Michigan, but returned to
his place in Kane County the following spring,
whence he came to Lee County eight years later,
and was one of the early settlers of Viola Township. He bought a traet of wild prairie land on
section 13, upon which he erected suitable buildings, and at the time of his death February 11,
1873, had a well-improved farm. I-us wife also
spent her last years on the old homestead. Viola
Township owes him a debt of gratitude for his generous efforts in establishing educational institutions in her midst, as, soon after settling here, lie
built a schoolhouse on his farm, employed the first
teacher that ever taught here, paying her from his own funds.
A liberal, broad-minded, public-spirited citizen, his name should be honored as that of
one of our most worthy pioneers.
Truman Johnson was born in Allegany County,
N. Y., April 3, 1832, and he was but four years old
when his parents removed to Michigan. His early
education was obtained in the schoolhouse that his
father built on his land, which was a primitive
structure, but answered the purpose as well as a
more ornate building. The seats, which were without backs, were made of slabs, with wooden pins
for legs, and had no desks in front. As soon as
large enough, our subject had to work on the farm
and help his father in clearing his hind, He was
twelve years old when the family came to Illinois,
and at that time the country was very sparsely settled, deer and other kinds of game roaming at will
where are now smiling farms and thriving towns.
There were no railways for some years, and Chicago was the nearest market.
Mr. Johnson continued with his parents until
his marriage, and he then rented land for a year.
At the expiration of that time he settled on the old
homestead in Viola Township, which he now owns
and occupies. It comprises one hundred and twenty
acres of very fertile, highly cultivated laud, abundantly provided with all the improvements of a
well-equipped farm. Mr. Johnson has three hundred and twenty acres of laud besides his home
farm, two hundred and forty of which are in Reynolds Township, and the remainder in Viola Township. He has acquired his property partly by judicious investment, by skillful cultivation of the
soil, and by excellent judgment in carrying out
his plans:
In writing the outline of the life of our subject,
we should be doing him but scant justice if we
omitted his war record. He enlisted in February,
1865, in Company I, Fifteenth Illinois Infantry,
and started from Chicago to join the army in North
Carolina. He was taken sick at New York, which
detained him there about a month, and he was
then sent to Newburn, N. C. In a short time he
was despatched from there to Alexandria, Va.,
where he joined the command and proceeded with
it to Washington, and was in that city at the time
of the Grand Review of the Union troops. He then
started with the troops for the Western frontier,
but was again taken ill at St. Louis, and entered
the hospital, from which he was honorably discharged in July, 1865, and returned home to
resumed the calling that he had abandoned at his
country's call.
Mr. Johnson's assistance has often been sought
in the guidance of public affairs, and he has held
almost all the important local offices. He has served
as School Trustee, School Treasurer and School Director; has been Constable, Collector and Justice
of the Peace; and in 1890 he was elected to represent Viola Township on the County Board of
Supervisors for a period of two years. He was
formerly a Republican in politics, but is now Independent.
Mr. Johnson was married January 29, 1860, to
Miss Mary E. Malugin, a representative of some of
the oldest pioneer families of Illinois. Ten children complete the household of our subject and
his wife, named as follows: Harvey, Addie, Rosa,
George, Walter, Frank, May, Dollie, Maud and
Wilber.
Mrs. Johnson was born at Malugin's Grove in
the pioneer home of her parents, Zachariah and
Mary (Ross) Malugin. Her paternal grandfather, Jonathan Malugin,
was one of the early settlers of
Sangamon County, this State, whither he had come
from Tennessee. He lived there some years, and
then came to Lee County and Spent the remainder
of his life here. His son Zachariah was reared in
Tennessee, and came to this State with his parents
in early manhood. He was living in Sangamon
County at the time of the Black Hawk War, and
as a soldier during that contest with the Indians
came to Northern Illinois with his regiment. He
was attracted by the beauty of the country, and
in 1833 carried out his resolution to settle here by
becoming a pioneer of Lee County.
Mr. Johnson made a claim to the grove which
has since borne his name, and which was then isolated and lonely,
for his nearest neighbor on the
west was Father Dixon, at Dixon Ferry, and the
nearest settlers on the east were the Ross family at
Ross Grove, De Kalb County. He did not find
them too far away to be neighborly with, however, and presumably made good use of his time
in visiting them, as that same year he married one
of the Ross girls, and in the log cabin that he built
on his claim he and his bride commenced housekeeping together. His life was cut short by his untimely
death in that home in December, 1841, and Lee
County was deprived of the services of an active
and valuable pioneer. His wife survived him
many years, and finally died in 1880 at a venerable
age. She was a native of Virginia, and a daughter of Joseph and Jane (Norman) Ross. Further
mention is made of her parents in the sketch of 0.
P. Johnson, which will be found elsewhere in this
Portraits and Biographical Pg. 726-728
