Caleb H. Johnson

As printed in 1881

CALEB H. JOHNSON.

Caleb H. Johnson, farmer and stock raiser, Seldon, is the son of William Johnson, who was one of the pioneers of this county, whose biography more fully appears elsewhere in this book. Mr. Johnson is the brother of Thomas G. and Isaac M. Johnson, whose biographies also appear in this work. He was born in Green Township, March 29, 1829, and consequently is in the fifty-third year of his age. He married Nancy Eow, daughter of Andrew and Hester Row, November 16, 1850. Her parents are now dead. They lived two years on a farm after their marriage, when they resolved on a trip to California. In November, 1852, they started on their journey. At the end of thirty days they reached the great Sacramento Valley, where they remained for six years, engaged principally in farming, raising as high as a hundred bushels of barley to the acre; of wheat, sixty bushels per acre. The great valley was but sparsely settled at this early day, mining being the absorbing interest of the country. For months their nearest neighbor was four miles away. All nationalities and classes of people moving over the mountains and valleys, making life and property unsafe; but most heroicly did Mrs. Johnson bear up amid all of these discouragements. She was the first woman who went from this county to California, and so far as known was the first woman who crossed the isthmus on a mule. Their career in California was an eventful one, filled with incidents, many of which are quite thrilling.

After their return to Ohio, they settled on a farm which he purchased from Thomas Mattucks, two miles west of the village of Staunton, on the road leading from Staunton to Sabina and Greenfield pike. They remained on this for twenty-one years, when they sold out and purchased what is known as the Milton Severs farm, containing one hundred and thirty acres, in Concord Township, one-half a mile south of the village of Jasper, on the waters of Sugar Creek. They moved to this farm in March, 1880, where they now reside.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were without children until after their return from California. They now have two, one son and a daughter. John Row the son, is a sprightly boy fifteen years old. Jenny Riggs is a lovely, bright girl, several years younger than her brother.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are genial and kind, having seen much of life in California and elsewhere.

JOB m'cAY.

Job McCay, farmer and stock raiser, is a son of Jesse and Mary McCay, who were natives of Airginia. His father came to this state, in 1803, and remained but a short time when he returned to Virginia. In 1809, he again came to this state and settled on the waters of Lee's Creek. He had four children by his first wife, three daughters and one son: James, married and is dead; Anna, married and lives in Greene County; Eliza, married and lives in Clinton County; Charity, married and is dead; Mrs. McCay is also dead. Mr. McCay married again, and had three sons and two daughters by the second wife: William, unmarried and lives on the old homestead; Sarah, married and died; Jesse, single, has been entirely blind since he was seven years old; Leah, married and lives in Clinton County.

Job, our subject, was born March 24, 1833, and married Ann Marie McKee, in 1856. He came to the farm where he now lives, in 1858. They are the parents of ten children, three sons and seven daughters: John M., their oldest son, is by profession a school teacher, at this time following his profession in Nebraska; Jesse, died in infancy; Mary Jane, Olin A., Martha E., Charlie G., Ada, Malissa, Bell, Almia, Maggie. William, the oldest son, was born in May, 1827. He is also a farmer and stock raiser. His postoffice is Memphis, Clinton County. The two brothers, William and Job, have been engaged together in business all their lives. Their interests are mutual and agreeable, and they are in perfect harmony. The one married has a large family of children; the

750 HtSTOM OF FAYE'tTi: COUlJTY.

other single, yet no discord exists. They own some eight hundred acres of land, and are well to do respectable farmers. Their father served in the war of 1812. Job, with his family, located on a fine farm on the Greenfield and Sabina pike, some four miles south from Sabina. William, some four miles west of this near the county line, on the waters of Loo's Creek.

As printed in History of Fayette County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the State of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all oth (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.