My mother had copies of these letters written by her parents to one of her cousins in 1950. I have transcribed them for you. There are some inaccuracies in the letters, which I have tried to notate, but I found them to give new leads that may help me to solve some of my JCT mysteries. Now the writer, my grandpa, James Ahira LINDSEY (1890-1958) was born in Iowa, and is the son of James Alexander LINDSEY (1850-1935) who was about 12 years old when his parents, David LINDSEY (1813-1868) and Barbara JOHNSON (1817-1891) and five young children left Johnson Co. for Alabama. Barbara was the daughter of Thomas H JOHNSON (1787-1865) and Elizabeth LINDSEY (1793-after 1850).

I presumed Civil War was the reason David and Barbara left. They were southern sympathizers. The second letter was written by my grandma Cora Anderson LINDSEY (1888-1963) who was from Minnesota (a Yankee). They refer to a trip they made to Tennessee in 1934 to visit his father's birthplace where he had never been before. Thought this may be of general interest to the list. This is how roots were searched before computers.

JAMES AHIRA LINDSEY LETTER OF JUL 18, 1950 (to his nephew, Bill Scheirman, who was asking about the family history). [My notes are in brackets- KA].

"........Your grandpa Lindsey [James Alexander Lindsey] was born in Bristol Tenn. The main street is the state line between Tenn. and Va. My grandpa David married Barbara Johnson, I think in 1840. Barbara Johnson's father was Tom Johnson [Thomas H. Johnson], a big plantation owner near Elizabethtown, Tenn. We stopped there in 1934 and met a maiden lady named Miss Johnson. I presume she would be about 65 now. Her father was a cousin of my father [James Alexander Lindsey]; the old man wasn't too friendly as he didn't like Yankees very well. We visited and went and he said that there was a very prominent man, Judge Johnson in Knoxville that had a vast amount of information on the Johnsons, but we were going the other way so did not look him up.

"I think it was 1862 when grandpa Lindsey [David Lindsey] and his family left Tennessee in a house boat; they went down the Holston River to the Tennessee River, then down the Mississippi and lived 2 years in Huntsville Alabama [Huntsville is on the Tennessee River]. Then they went up the Mississippi River to Davenport, Iowa, hooking their houseboat on behind a steamboat. Any of the descendants of old man Tom Johnson are related to us".

MRS. JAMES AHIRA (CORA) LINDSEY LETTER OF JUL 15, 1950 (also to nephew Bill Scheirman).

"The judge in Knoxville would be your best bet regarding relatives and we don't even know his name except Johnson. He may be dead, too. Jim [James Ahira Lindsey] ran across an old negro who had been born and was a slave on old Tom Johnson's plantation. He was a house boy there and told Jim quite a little about it. He's over 100 years old and living in Tampa. His son over 70 was on the work there. David (Lindsey) wasn't in too good graces with Tom-- he had gone to Texas and left Barbara to look out for herself -- she moved back in with her folks-- he helped Texas become independent-- guess one or two of Tom's boys went along and settled in Texas. Believe Johnson County, Texas is named for some of them. They took mules, provisions, wagons, etc. from plantation when they left and Barbara was disinherited when they left on the houseboat. Tom had several hundred slaves at one time -- he freed them and gave each householder some land. This negro's folks later sold theirs and bought more land in Georgia, later going to Tampa."

[Katie Angermeyer's notes in 2002: The Johnson land I have found to be in the Pandora area, 7th Civil District of Johnson County. I believe that is where James Alexander Lindsey was born. "Bristol" was just a close big city. I am not sure if the place they visited in 1934 was in Johnson Co. or somewhere closer to Elizabethton, in Carter Co. Pandora is on the road from Elizabethton to Mountain City (Highway 67), in the Doe Creek valley.

I have found no evidence of slave ownership by Thomas H. and his wife Elizabeth Lindsey (Confederate sympathizers). Grandpa may have bragged a bit to Grandma. May have been a different Thomas Johnson, (Sr. or Jr.) with slaves in Carter, Johnson Co. TN or Russell Co. VA. The "work" in Tampa FL, she refers to was probably the Tampa Bay Bridge, which Grandpa worked on as an engineer, and ran into this son of former Johnson (or Carter) County slave on the work site. Wished Grandpa had mentioned the name of the former slave and his son. The bit about Johnson Co. Texas named for Johnson Co. Tennessee boys, is Lindsey hogwash!! I've heard it before so I checked that out, and Johnson Co. Texas is named for someone from Georgia. Made a good story, though. Thanks to cousin Bill for asking the questions in 1950 that prompted the letters, or we never would have had even this information. All the more reason to ask the old folks questions.

The "maiden lady" Miss Johnson was born about 1880-1890. Would like to know her name and anything about where she and her cantakerous rebel father lived (7th district JCT or Carter Co.). They both lived there apparently in 1934. Her father would be a grandson of Thomas H. Johnson.

I will take any suggestions how I can find out about a Judge Johnson from Knoxville, who was around in 1934. If names can be found, obits may help.

Does anybody relate to the story about the former slave in Tampa? Are there any records of land given to former slaves in Johnson County by either of the Thomas Johnsons?

Thomas H. Johnson was probably killed by Stoneman's (Union) troops as they mopped up through the hills and hollers of JCT at the end of the Civil War.

Copyright © 2002 Mary Floy Katzman