Marcus Rinehart Johnson

Marcus Rinehart Johnson


Son of Jonathan Johnson and Frances Peel
both of Kentucky

Born: 17 May 1837 [i]
Independence, Arkansas [ii]


In 1840 Marcus (age 3) was living in Independence County, AR with parents and 2 siblings (a boy under 5 and a girl between 5 – 10. There was also another adult male besides his father between 30 – 40 living in the home. [iii]

About 1846 at the age of 8 or 9 he moved about 392 miles with his family from Ruddall Township [iv] (now Ruddell Hill just west of Batesville, AR) Independence Co., AR to Sherman, Grayson Co., TX. [v] Jonathan did not sell his acreage in Arkansas until 1 July 1850; 1 Mar 1855 and 1 May 1860. [vi]

1850 Mark ("M") was living with father Jonathan and mother Frances in Grayson Co.,TX (Sherman), the oldest of five children (four boys with the youngest being a girl). [vii] There was an additional girl in the family born in 1839 (2 years after Marcus), but she is not present in Grayson County, TX in 1850. Note should also be made that Jonathan and Frances were married in 1829 and Marcus wasn't born until 1837, so it reasonable that there were other children.

































Sometime between 1854 and 1861 alone or with family Marcus moved to Lavaca County, Texas. [viii]

Mustered into Confederate Army Texas 6th Infantry Company A. [ix] 6th Infantry was organized at Camp Henry E. McCulloch near Victoria, Texas on September 27, 1861 (Note that Company H which contained many people from Lavaca Count was not mustered until March 27, 1862). [x]

Marcus fights at the battle of Arkansas Post January 10th and 11th , 1863. On January 11th, after heavy gunboat bombardment Marcus with the Texas 6th Infantry surrendered. January 12th , 1863 prisoners boarded steamboats making their way to the Mississippi River in the snow. The boats took them to St. Louis where the non-officers were sent by train to Camp Butler, near Springfield, IL. [xi]

April 1863 there was a prisoner exchange and the 6th was taken by train east and finally to City Point, Virginia. The 6th then returned to their military responsibilities. [xii]

September 19,1863 the 6th fights in the Battle of Chickamagua. [xiii]

November 25, 1863 Marcus regiment the Texas 6th Infantry fought in the Battle of Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga, TN. [xiv]

May 25-27, 1864 Marcus regiment the Texas 6th Infantry fought in the Battle of New Hope Church northwest of Atlanta, GA. [xv] In this battle Mark's friend from Lavaca County Elijah Wilson was wounded and it is recorded that Mark caught him and carried him off to safety. In Marcus Johnson's words."…I (Marcus) caught him (Elijah) when he was wounded at the Battle of New Hope Church."

(Here are a few pictures of the New Hope Church area we took which includes pictures of trenches still visable from the Civil War period.)

Later when Marcus returned home after the war he married Elijah's sister. Elijah also named his first son Mark. [xvi]


(It is believed that this picture is of Marcus Johnson and is best friend Elijah Wilson)


April 26, 1865 General Johnston's army (which included the 6th Texas Infantry) entered into a cessation of hostilities with General Sherman (after hearing of Robert E. Lee's surrender). This happened near Greensboro, N.C. [xvii]

After the war Marcus was a farmer. [xviii]

Marriage: 15 Dec 1865 age 28 to Mary Jane Amanda Wilson age 20 in Halletsville, Lavaca County, TX. [xix]

(Here is Mark and Mary's Marriage as written in the Lavaca County, TX records.

(Here is the Marcus Johnson family bible entry for their marriage.)

























Daughter Francis born 1867 [xx]

Daughter Mary Alice born 1870 [xxi]

June 30, 1870 Mark and wife Mary J. living with daughter Francis and daughter Alice...farming in Lavaca Co., TX. 2 doors down from father-in-law William Wilson and his family and a few more doors away from William Wilson's third and fourth son's and their families. [xxii]

Son John William born 1872 [xxiii]

Son Rube born 14 Nov 1873 [xxiv]

Daughter Helen born August 1875 [xxv]

Son Benjamin Franklin born 22 Feb 1878 living in Halletsville, Lavaca, TX at the time [xxvi]

1880 Marcus "M.R." is living with family in Lavaca Co., TX with 6 children and Joseph a nephew. [xxvii]

Daughter Tulah born 25 Jul 1880 [xxviii]

Daughter Julia Maude born 8 Dec 1883 [xxix]

February 10, 1885 son John William died at the age of 13. [xxx]

Son David M born 15 Nov 1886 [xxxi]

February 3, 1887 daughter Fannie age 20 married James Berryman Brown. [xxxii]

January16, 1890 daughter Mary Alice age 20 married Ward Holland. [xxxiii]

February 1, 1891 daughter Mary Alice died age 21 (assumed she died in childbirth). [xxxiv]

January 3, 1899 son Rube age 26 married Drucillie Miller. [xxxv]

Marcus applied for Confederate Pension: July 24, 1899 and received pension #02538 shortly thereafter. [xxxvi]

June 12, 1900 Mark R and wife Mary J living in Lavaca County, TX JP #4 Farming with children Ruben, Helen, Benjamin F., Tula, Julia M., David M. and daughter-in-law Drucilla and grandson Barney. [xxxvii]

November 21, 1900 daughter Tulah age 20 married Willie Chambers. [xxxviii]

March 1901 son Rube's wife Drucillia died (two years after marriage). [xxxix]

December 17, (1902) son Rube married second time…this marriage to Elen Smith. [xl]

June 3, 1903 daughter Helen age 28 married Joe Parr. [xli]

September 12, 1905 son Benjamin Franklin age 27 married Lizzie Smith (our ancestor). [xlii]

April 18, 1910 Marcus R and Mary J living with daughter Julia M and son David M and living next door to son William (with his family) [xliii]

Marcus and family could read and write. [xliv]

January 15, 1913 daughter Maud age 30 married Joe Persons. [xlv]

Marcus Death: 26 February 1913 [xlvi]
Ezell, Lavaca County, TX [xlvii]


Marcus and Mary are buried: Salem Cemetery, Lavaca, Texas [xlviii]

July 13, 1913 son David age 27 married Lucy Einkauff. [xlix]


FOOTNOTES:

[i] Mark Johnson tombstone in Salem Cemetery Lavaca Co., TX.
[ii] Assumption since they were there in 1830 and 1840 census.
[iii] 1840 census of Independence County, AR.
[iv] 1830 AR Census Index of Johnsons in AR. Shows C. William Johnson Independence Co, Ruddall Twp.
[v] Determined by 1850 Grayson Co., TX census where first child born in Texas was 4 years old.
[vi] Ancestry.com Arkansas Land Records. Bureau of Land Management
[vii] 1850 Grayson Co., TX census
[viii] 1854 tax records in Grayson Co, TX assume he was with them as in 1854 he was only 17. Moved to Lavaca County in 1861 per his Confederate Pension Application.
[ix] Confederate pension application completed by Marcus 24 July 1899. And 6th Texas Confederate Infantry Regiment website at www.cba.uh.edu/~parks/tex/irg0060.html And Pension Application Card #02538
[x] Webite of 6th Texas Infantry www.6thtx.org/history.htm
[xi] The Civil War Diary of Charles A. Leuschner, edited by Charles D. Spurlin, Eakin Press, 1992, pgs. 11-15 & 64.
[xii] The Civil War Diary of Charles A. Leuschner, edited by Charles D. Spurlin, Eakin Press, 1992, pgs. 11-15 &64
[xiii] 6th Texas Confederate Infantry Regiment website, www.bauer.uh.edu/parks/tex/irg0060.html
[xiv] http://www.civilwarhome.com/missionaryridge.htm
[xv] http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/ga010.htm
[xvi] E-mail from Ed Antonette eddidbob@mindspring.com referring to Elijah Wilson's pension application.
[xvii] The Civil War Diary of Charles A. Leuschner, edited by Charles D. Spurlin, Eakin Press, 1992, pg. 58.
[xviii] Confederate pension application completed by Marcus 24 July 1899.
[xix] Marriage certificate Lavaca Co., TX
[xx] Approximate date from the 1880 census for Lavaca Co., TX
[xxi] Approximate date from the 1880 census for Lavaca Co., TX
[xxii] 1870 Lavaca Co., TX census
[xxiii] Approximate dates from the 1880 census for Lavaca Co., TX
[xxiv] Approximate dates from the 1880 census for Lavaca Co., TX
[xxv] 1900 Lavaca Co., TX census.
[xxvi] Birth certificate of Benjamin Franklin Johnson Lavaca Co., TX
[xxvii] 1880 Lavaca Co., TX census.
[xxviii] Tombstone of Tulah Johnson Chambers.
[xxix] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xxx] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xxxi] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xxxii] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xxxiii] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xxxiv] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xxxv] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xxxvi] Confederate pension application completed by Marcus 24 July 1899.
[xxxvii] 1900 Census Lavaca, TX
[xxxviii] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xxxix] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xl] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xli] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xlii] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xliii] 1910 Census Lavaca, TX
[xliv] 1910 Census Lavaca, TX
[xlv] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.
[xlvi] Mark Johnson tombstone in Salem Cemetery Lavaca Co., TX.
[xlvii] Death certificate Marcus Johnson. (Ezell from family records).
[xlviii] Mark Johnson tombstone in Salem Cemetery Lavaca Co., TX.
[xlix] Johnson Family Bible in my possession.