William H. Johns is a retired farmer
living at Meridian and is also a veteran of the Civil war,
having fought for the defense cf the Union that this country
might not be divided. He was born in Morgan county. Indiana,
August 9, 1847, and is a son of Shadrach Brown and Nancy
(Wheeler) Johns, who were also natives of the Hoosier state
The father was born in Morgan county, Indiana, and became a
well known farmer and business man. He was married twice, his
first wife being Nancy Wheeler, and following her death he
wedded Minerva Lyon. By the first marriage there were three
children, of whom William H. is the eldest and the only son.
There were also two sons and a daughter born of the father's
second marriage.
William H. Johns accompanied his parents on their removal
from Indiana to Warren county, Iowa, when he was four years of
age, or in 1851. His youth was spent in that state and in
northwestern Missouri, and in the fall of 1860 the family
returned to Warren county, Iowa, while two years later William
H. Johns again went to Indiana. He was then fourteen years of
age. His father had passed away in Iowa in April, 1862, and as
there was some disagreement between Mr. Johns and his
stepmother, he went back to his native state. On the 4th of
October, 1864, when a youth of but seventeen years, he joined
the Union army as a member of Company B, First Indiana Heavy
Artillery, with which he served until the close of the war,
being honorably discharged at Mobile. Alabama, on the 4th of
October, 1865. From that date until 1868 he resided in Owen
county, Indiana, and afterward spent about twelve years in
Nodaway county, Missouri, where he followed farming, teaming
and contracting. Subsequently he was in Denver, Colorado, from
the early '80s until 1890 and then removed to Ogden, Utah,
spending five years in that city and vicinity. In 1900 he came
to Idaho, living upon a ranch near Parma in Canyon county for
three years, at the end of which time he sold the property. He
afterward spent three years on a ranch near Caldwell, Idaho,
and later lived for eight years on a ranch near Cambridge,
Washington county. For his ranch of one hundred and sixty
acres there he paid twenty one hundred dollars and after
occupying and cultivating it for eight years he sold the
property for ten thousand, seven hundred dollars. He then
removed to Meridian in 1911 and has since lived retired from
active business. However, after selling his one hundred and
sixty acre ranch he purchased three hundred and twenty acres
eight miles east of Cambridge, Idaho, but never lived upon it
and afterward sold it but still has a mortgage upon the
property. He is now financially independent, enjoying a good
income from his various investments.
In Nodaway county, Missouri, in 1874, Mr. Johns was first
married and by that marriage there were two sons and two
daughters, namely: Frank, living in Malheur county, Oregon;
Robert Earl, of Parma, Idaho; Ellen, who married a Mr.
Boyenger and afterward became the wife of John Jensen; and
Mrs. Eva Pyle. of Portland, Oregon. It was in Caldwell, Idaho,
on the 29th of December, 1901, that Mr. Johns wedded Hesevie
Jensen, a native of Denmark, and they have two children: Wade
H., born November 14, 1905; and Esther, born March 13, 1912.
Mr. and Mrs. Johns are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church, and fraternally he is an Odd Fellow, having been
initiated into the order at Quitman, Nodaway county, Missouri,
in 1871. His political allegiance is given to the republican
party and he has served as justice of the peace at Meridian.
He is now enjoying a well deserved rest. His former enterprise
and activities brought to him a substantial measure of success
that enables him to live retired without recourse to further
work in order to meet life's demands. In fact he is able to
enjoy all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life,
and his record should serve to inspire and encourage others,
showing what can be accomplished through individual effort. |
