LEROY JOHNSON
SURNAMES: JOHNSON, ARNOLD, HARLAN, PICKNEY, PINCKNEY, WRIGHT, JACKSON, GRIFFITH, YELVERTON, KILLEBREW, BASQUEZ
Leroy Johnson, b May 2, 1827 in Laurens District, South Carolina, d September
21, 1872 at Blue Ridge in Falls County, Texas and buried there - was married "by the town squire in the
town square in Laurens" ca 1846 to Louisa Eliza Arnold, b July 28, 1827 near the
Cherokee Reservation in South Carolina, d March 13, 1903 at Blue Ridge in Falls
County, they are both buried in the Blue Ridge Cemetery. Leroy was a black-
smith who "fixed shoe and made bullets during the Civil War."
Leroy and Louisa moved to Alabama ca 1848, thence to Arkansas in 1856. By 1872, the family had come through Nemo, Glen Rose, and Cleburne in Parker and Johnson Counties and then followed in their "ox drawn covered wagon" the Thomas D. Harlan family to Blue Ridge, where they settled across the road from the Blue Ridge Baptist Church in Falls County, Texas. That first winter was harsh as there were epidemics of pneumonia, jaundice, and measles - causing the deaths of Leroy Johnson and three of their sons. Leroy and Louisa (Arnold) Johnson had nine children:
Albert
John Pickney (sic
"Pinckney") Johnson, b February 14, 1847 in Laurens District, South
Carolina, d January 11, 1886 at Blue Ridge - married August 1, 1875 by Reverend
Johnson V. Wright to Lydia Ann Clementine Jackson.
Ruben
Dixon Johnson, b January 20,1849 in Alabama, d November 23, 1872 at Blue Ridge
and buried there.
Evander
Simpson Johnson, b December 14, 1851, d March 7, 1873 at Blue Ridge and buried
there.
Josier
(sic "Josiah") Johnson, b October 12,1854, d 1861.
Jesse
Warren Johnson, b July 17, 1857, d February 1, 1873 at Blue Ridge and buried
there.
Albaney
Martin Johnson, b November 30, 1861, d January 1, 1880 at Blue Ridge and buried
there.
Carolyn
Frances Johnson, b October 12, 1863, d October 6, 1940 - married James Griffith
and moved to Johnson County, Texas.
John
Thomas Johnson, b August 16, 1865, d November 15, 1911- married in 1896 to Eula
Yelverton of Bremond, Robertson County, Texas, and had Leroy, Hill, Earl, and
Vivian Johnson. They lived at Blue Ridge in Falls County until 1908, when they
moved to Kerrville, Texas - returning to Marlin, Texas in 1912.
Josephine Johnson, b July 28, 1869, d October 1900 - married a Mr. Killebrew.
In 1882,
Louisa Johnson signed Albert John Pickney (sic Pinckney) Johnson's note
to buy 1,109.5 acres: of land in the Gregoria Basquez survey at Hog Island; in
Falls County, for four dollars and fifty cents an acre.
When Albert
died four years later his widow, Clementine, deeded 300 acres back to her mother-in-law,
Louisa
(Arnold) Johnson, who then deeded it in equal shares of 100 acres each to her three other
children, Thomas, Frances, and Josephine.
Copyright Permission granted to Theresa Carhart for printing the
biographies of these Falls County Families to this Web page.
"Families of Falls County", Compiled and Edited by the Falls County
Historical Commission, page 251 column
2 and page 252 column 1 and 2.
Member of Falls County Historical Commission.