Benjamin Samuel Johnson

And the Lord said, And these I will make my rulers (Church Abraham 3:23). He could well have been referring to Benjamin Samuel Johnson and Susan Elvira Martineau Johnson, for true to their convictions and their calling, they lived out their second estate in righteousness, and when the Lord called them home, I know, He must have said, "Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into thy Joy."

Benjamin Samuel Johnson was born in Santaquin, Utah, on 20 April 1853, to Benjamin Franklin Johnson and Mary Ann Hale.

Benjamin Samuel Johnson wrote, I was always a very big boy for my age. People always thought me to be at least three to five years older than I really was, and for that reason, I did not find life so easy, for it was “Sammy, do this,” and Sammy, do that.” If there was a job that was hard to do, or something to be done that no one else wanted to do, it was always, “Sammy is the boy that can do it…he is a big strong fellow, and he won’t mind it a bit.” So it was Sammy who had to do all the dirty work, hard work, and cold, freezing work; and, for that reason, I never got to learn a thing in school, for I had to do all of the feeding of the sheep, cattle, and pigs, which took from three o’clock until nine or eleven at night, so that my mind was not on my school work or books, and I grew up to manhood without learning a thing in the way of books (Johnson 1932).

Susan Elvira Johnson

On 2 November 1874, Benjamin Samuel and Susan Elvira Martineau were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Daniel H. Wells. Susan Elvira Martineau was born 14 August 1856, at Parowan, Utah. She was the daughter of James Henry Martineau and Susan Ellen Johnson. Benjamin Samuel and Susan Elvira were first cousins, once removed.

This story happened shortly after Benjamin Samuel was married: I was getting out ties with my eldest brother, Frank, up in Summit Canyon. We had a contract to get all we could at 75 cents apiece. We worked three days cutting and sliding the logs down in the main canyon. We slid them down over a high ledge of rock and at the end of the three days, we went down to where the ties were. We had skidded down about three hundred ties, but we found them all splintered and worthless. We moved our camp to another place and then went to work again, but this time we slid them right where we could get at them.

It started to snow and blow, but we continued working. I scarred and hued the ties and Frank hauled them down to Summit, about four or five miles. I worked just as hard as I could all day long, never stopping to eat a bit, and the snow was blowing and whirling in my face all the time, sometimes it was so thick that I could not see the tie. There was something urging me on all the time to hurry up and get a load for us both and get out of the canyon. With this feeling with me, I labored away and just about four o’clock, Frank came back and I told him my feelings, saying to him, “Let us pile on what I have made and go, for I do not want to be a minute longer than I can help.” He had the same feeling, too, so we hurried and piled the ties on, threw on our things, and jumped in our wagons. I had a horse team and Frank had a yoke of oxen. I was on lead, and as soon as I took the lines in my hands, my horses struck out on a trot, and the oxen did the same. It was about two or three hundred yards to the bridge across the creek, and we just got across the bridge and started down the main road, when all of a sudden, we heard a roaring, snapping, and crashing. We looked around, and to our horror, the whole side of the mountain was moving and was bringing everything before it. It came clear to the bridge before it stopped, and the snow piled up a hundred feet high, and the outside of the slide came very close to us.

After the slide stopped, the teams seemed to lose their fear and settled down to a walk. We got into town with our ties and just had our teams taken care of and our suppers eaten and had gone to bed when word came that Albert Stickney had been killed in a snow slide and they wanted all the men they could get to go up and hunt for him… The next morning Sam and Frank got up to help and got there just in time to hear Kemo, give his war whoop that he had found Albert (Johnson 1932).

President Brigham Young issued a call for missionaries to go into the state of Arizona, and there, settle the country and preach the gospel. This call came to many of the saints, including Benjamin Samuel Johnson and his wife, Susan Elvira Martineau. This group of colonizers and missionaries left Logan, Utah, on 7 March 1876, and traveled southward.

Susan Elvira reported It was a jolly crowd. For some, it was their first trip away from home, and because baking bread in camp fire coals was a new experience, there was some burned bread and fingers the first few days of the trip (Johnson 1937).

They first stopped in Johnson Utah, where their first daughter, Bertha Elvira, was born 2 March 1877, and died two days later. Their second son, Samuel Joseph Johnson, was born a year later on 17 March 1878, in Skutumpah, Utah.

Soon after the birth of their second child, they traveled for about three months, arriving at Tuba City, or Moencoppy as it was then called. Here many of the group stayed while others traveled on. Ben and Elvira, as they were known, made their first home in Moencoppy. Here, Ben was put in charge of all farming activities, and Elvira was in charge of the kitchen. Here in Moencoppy they did much work among the Indians and became very efficient in the speaking of the Indian language. While in this little community, Ben S. Johnson planted many fruit trees he had brought with him from Utah. His son, Samuel Joseph Johnson, recalled that just prior to Father's death, he took him back to Moencoppy to see his trees loaded with fruit. The Indians gave them a basket full of apples from these same trees that Benjamin Samuel Johnson had planted.

Benjamin Samuel received four Patriarchal Blessings. His first blessing was given on 11 December 1869, at Spring Lake by Patriarch John Smith, one not dated but probably about 1885, from his father, 25 October 1920, by his father-in-law, James Henry Martineau, and received his last blessing on 10 January 1932, in Mesa by John F. Nash.

While living and doing missionary work among the Hopi, Father had many exciting and dangerous experiences with the Indians. Once, a band of Hopi Indians with painted faces came into our camp, they brought a young Indian man and said they wished to see the leader of the settlement. Bishop Brown came forward. The Indians said, "This young man has stolen and killed some of your cattle. He is no good. Kill him, stone him or skin him just as you wish." Bishop Brown stated, "We wish to do nothing to the boy. If he has stolen our cattle, just return to us the number killed and that is all we ask." Then the chief spoke, "No, this boy did not kill your cattle, but your boys killed two of our cattle, so you give us two beef and we will go away peacefully." Father often remarked how disappointed the warriors were that Brother Brown had not imposed a stiffer sentence on the Indian boy who was supposed to have done the killing (Johnson 1932).

A few years later, Father moved to Lone Pine. This trip took them along the Little Colorado River, through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. At Lone Pine, he set up a shingle mill and built a log house to live in. Here they farmed, raising potatoes and corn. Their third child, Susan Wilmirth, was born in Lone Pine on 22 September 1880.

As Indian trouble was always to be guarded against, it was the duty of Luellen [Llewellyn] Harris to ride the ridges and guard against raids.

Father and this group of saints had a wonderful time, with corn roasts, baked potato roasts and barbeques. One day, the joy and silence that had prevailed throughout the community was broken. About 4:00 a.m., the camp was aroused by the milling and sniffing of the animals. This was an obvious sign that the cattle were smelling buckskin. Father awoke the camp; the oxen were hitched, and away they went for the nearest community. Before leaving, all the calves, cows, horses and chickens were turned out as they did not know when they would again be able to return home. As they went down the canyon, they looked back as the Indian warriors broke open the doors, rifled the houses, ruined the bedding, stole what they wanted, killed the animals and took only the hindquarters, leaving the rest to waste. Bennie stated “we wasted no time as we knew that once they had completely devastated our homes, they would head for the next ranch. Penrods was the next ranch; we had sent a runner to warn them of the impending danger. The Penrods also fled their home, but in their haste they forgot to turn out the calves. Mr. Penrod sent Eaf Penrod back to do this chore. After turning out the calves, Eaf passed the milk house and thought that this was surely an opportunity to drink all the cream that he wanted, so he went in and drank his fill. As he came out, he could see the Indians swooping down the hills by the house, so he began to run. Bullets pierced his clothing several places, but he was uninjured. His father asked him, why at a crucial time as this, he would delay to drink cream. His only answer was that if he was to be killed, he wanted to die will a full belly.”

At the Penrod Ranch, the Indians did the same thing: killed hogs, chickens, cattle, and then went on their way. At the next ranch, they found a lone man, killed him, looted his home, took his horse and saddle and went on. The next day they killed Nathan Robinson. When he was found, he had three bullet holes in him. They stole all his belongings (that they wanted). They stripped his body except his garments and threw him in the river. That evening they came to the settlement where the people had all gathered. Here the Indians surrounded the town, built fires and whooped and hollered all night. The next morning as people began to stir, it was a funny sight. Some were in their nightgowns, petticoats and underwear. Some hadn't had time to gather up clothing before their hurried flight, while others had lost it on the way. The people all immediately went to Taylor for protection, and they never returned to their homes because they had been so thoroughly destroyed.

While living in Taylor, another child, James Henry Johnson, was born on 4 September 1882. After leaving Taylor, they moved to Amity on the head of the Little Colorado. Here, they became intimately acquainted with Jacob Hamblin, the Great Indian Missionary. I recall he used to tell of his missionary experiences. They next moved to Eagerville where father built a home, the fourth house to be built in the village. Their next home was in St. Johns. Here, father made a living by hauling coal from east of St. Johns, and salt from New Mexico. They found the Mexicans to be as treacherous as the Indians. Every man had to carry a gun and at every camp one must stand guard. Not withstanding every precaution taken, many wagons were looted and burned.

While living along the Colorado River in the small community of Meadows, times were hard, and they felt very fortunate that they had barley bread, corndodger, hominy, parched corn penoli, and molasses for sugar. The children gleaned wheat from the fields after the reapers, and gathered straw from which Elvira braided hats for the family and neighbors.

Once Bennie made a bargain with a butcher in St. Johns to take all the rabbits they could kill. The butcher hadn't reckoned on the fact that Bennie was an expert shot. The first day he went out he killed over 100. They delivered them to the butcher, and that completed their rabbit business. They had killed more in one day than he had supposed they could do in a week.

Bennie was an excellent sawmill hand, and also a champion cradler,[1] having held that title many years in Arizona.

Sarah Elizabeth Johnson was born 3 June 1884, and died 19 July 1885, while the family was living in Eagar, Arizona.

Benjamin Samuel and Susan Elvira Johnson family. Back: Benjamin Samuel, Susan Wilmirth, Samuel Joseph. Front: James Henry and Susan Elvira Johnson.

The next family move was into the Greer Valley, where Benjamin fenced and farmed the land over a two-mile square. This area later became the town of Young; it is still standing on the same area that Benjamin Samuel Johnson owned and farmed. At this time Bennie’s father, BFJ and his family, consisting of his five wives, Mary Ann Hale, Harriet Naomi Holman, Sarah Melissa Holman, Susan Adeline Holman, Sarah Jane Spooner, and their children, moved to Tempe, Arizona.

Bennie received letters from his mother begging him to come and see her and see how well all of the brothers were doing and how they wanted to see him. Don C. Babbitt came to see him with word from BFJ that President Brigham Young had called him and all of his sons and daughters, and sons-in-laws, to colonize all together. Bennie moved to be with them in 1886 and their son, Benjamin Franklin Johnson, was born in Tempe on 7 November 1886.

The Church authorities advised the saints to sell their land in Tempe and move to Mesa. Many did, and others stopped three miles west of Mesa at a place called Nephi. Here again they were pioneers, the land was cleared and irrigated in preparation for planting. Bennie also built a home in each of the places they lived. The children had to haul water from the canal at Nephi, so Bennie cut a willow and water witched a well near the house. It was wonderful water, cool and clear, and we never did draw the well dry. While at Nephi, he again set out fruit trees and orchards.

In Nephi, their family grew by four more children: Annie Gertrude, Emma Vilate, Margueritta and Seth Guernsey.

In 1899, Bennie took his family and moved to the San Pedro Valley, where he again cleared the land, dug canals, planted trees, dug artesian wells and did truck gardening for a living. They moved into Pomerene—three miles south of Benson. Here he engaged in dairy farming and for many years shipped milk into Phoenix.

Their last child, Don Charles was born 24 April 1901, in St. David, Arizona. By this time, the older children were all married and Bennie moved back to Mesa with his wife and built a little home surrounded with citrus trees. Here he hoped to spend the rest of his life, working in the temple with his wife and sweetheart Elvira. This he did faithfully for the last thirteen years of his life.

One day after enjoying the work in the temple, he was coming down the stairs when he fell and broke his hip. This was the end of his earthly mission; he died a few days later, ending the career of a noble Latter-day Saint and ending his missionary labors—which had lasted for 63 years. Benjamin Samuel Johnson died 4 May 1939, having lived 86 years, 5 months.

Susan Elvira (Martineau) Johnson died 15 October 1942, in Prescott, Arizona. They are buried together in the Prescott Odd Fellows Cemetery.

[1] A cradle is an implement with rod like fingers attached to a scythe and used for harvesting grain.