Historical Events of the Ezekial and Julia Hill Johnson Family in Pomfret and Kirtland

Twenty-seven-year-old Ezekiel Johnson and seventeen-year-old Julia Hills were married in Grafton, Massachusetts on 12 January, 1801. Over the next 28 years, they had sixteen children:

• Joel Hills Johnson, born in Grafton, Massachusetts on 23 March 1802.
• Nancy Maria Johnson, born in Northborough, Massachusetts on 1 August 1803.
• Seth Guernsey Johnson, born in Royalston, Massachusetts on 14 February 1805.
• Delcina Diadamia Johnson, born in Westford, Vermont on 19 November 1806.
• Julia Ann Johnson, born in Westford, Vermont on 9 November 1808.
• David Johnson, born in Westford, Vermont on 10 September 1810.
• Almera Woodward Johnson, born in Westford, Vermont on 12 October 1812.
• Susan Ellen Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York on 1 December 1814.
• Joseph Ellis Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York on 28 April 1817.
• Benjamin Franklin Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York on 28 July 1818.
• Mary Ellen Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York on 7 February 1820.
• Elmer Wood Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York on 26 May 1822.
• George Washington Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York on 19 February 1823.
• William Derby Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York 27 October 1824.
• Esther Melita Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York 12 January 1827.
• Amos Partridge Johnson, born in Pomfret Township, New York 15 January 1829. 

 

Julia was a devout Presbyterian and raised her children on the Bible. Elmer Wood died at 18-months-old and was buried in the Laona Cemetery in Pomfret, but the rest of the children grew to have fond memories of the more than 17 years the family spent in Pomfret. Joel married Anna Pixley Johnson there on 2 November 1826.  Delcena married Lyman Royal Sherman on 16 January 1829, also in Pomfret. During the time in Pomfret, Ezekiel, worn out with the hard work of providing for his family, “sought for a stimulus” and became addicted to ardent spirits, causing disunity between himself and Julia and unhappiness in the family. In Palmyra, New York, 132 miles to the east of Pomfret, events were taking place that would change the course of the Johnson’s lives. 

In the fall of 1830, Joel moved his family to Amherst, Ohio. David went to visit them and stayed until the next season. In January of 1831, Joseph and Emma Smith had moved to Kirtland Ohio and established headquarters for the newly organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there. While David was in Amherst, missionaries sent west by Joseph Smith, arrived and began teaching the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The Johnsons listened, read the Book or Mormon and joined the Church along with about 100 others in Amherst.  Anna Pixley Johnson was the first in the family to be baptized, probably in May 1831.  Joel was baptized 1 June 1831 and later, ordained an elder. The Joel Hills Johnson Papers, 1835-1882 in the Church History Library include Joel’s handwritten Autobiographical sketch and journal, 1835-1872 which gives details of his moving conversion story.  Joel had built a sawmill with a partner in Amherst to support his family, but after his baptism, he sold his share in the sawmill to be ready for whatever assignment he would be given. 

Joel wrote a letter to his brother, Seth, and others in the Pomfret area, telling of their conversion and including a copy of the Book of Mormon.  It was received by the family with concern, but they began reading it. Joel and David, along with a young convert named Almon Babbitt, made the trek to Pomfret in December of 1831 to bear testimony to their family about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They were joined there by Elders Joseph Brackenbury and Edmund Durfey, who were on their way east preaching the gospel. Joel and David’s brother-in-law. Lyman R. Sherman, was the first to ask for baptism, followed by their mother, Julia, who was baptized during the last few days of December, 1831 or the first two or three days of January 1832. (See Appendix C in the 2018 edition of My Life’s Review.) The rest of the Johnson children were also converted, and those who had reached their majority were baptized.  The family faced the hostility of their neighbors in Pomfret and Ezekiel, who was not sympathetic to the Church, would not allow the younger children, including Benjamin, to be baptized.  

Joel returned to his family in Amherst early in the Spring of 1832, where he was called to be the Presiding Elder of the congregation. In May of 1833 he went to Kirtland. He said, “President Smith counseled me to move to Kirtland and buy out certain obnoxious individuals.”  On 23 May 1833, he bought Tract 1, lot 18, sublots B and S from Isaac Chatfield for $350 as shown on the Kirtland map (#1.) sublot S was next to the schoolhouse and had a house where Isaac Chatfield had lived.  Joel moved his family to Kirtland about the last of July.  
 
Meanwhile, Ezekial’s antagonism to the Church had increased to the point that he decided to get his family away from the influence of the “Mormons.”  He sold his properties in Pomfret in the fall of 1832, the buyer to take possession the following June, and “sailed up the lakes” early in the following Spring to buy land at Fort Dearborn, which would later become Chicago. He told his family he would send word before June about where they were to come. Julia, however, wished to gather with the Saints in Kirtland, and left with her family to make the 140-mile trek to Ohio in the spring of 1833, before a letter arrived.  Joel’s trip to Kirtland in May may have been the result of correspondence with his family. 
Benjamin reports that when they arrived in Kirtland in early June,1833, “Some of our wagons and teams were traded for a home on what was then called ‘Kirtland Flat’ close to the schoolhouse.”  Kirtland land records show that Tract 1, Lot 18, sublots D and J were sold to Seth Johnson on 14 Sept. 1833 by Selah J. Griffin.  (# 15) Those parcels are immediately to the north of the parcels which Joel had purchased.  There is no indication on the Briggs land map or in the map legend of a house on Seth’s parcels, so perhaps the family shared the house on Joel’s property at first. 

Lyman and Delcena Johnson Sherman also made the move from Pomfret to Kirtland and purchased sublot H on Lot 4 of Tract 1 from Edmund Durfey, one of the missionaries who taught the Johnsons in Pomfret.  No date is shown for that transaction. (#14 ) 

When Ezekiel reached Fort Dearborn, he purchased a quarter-section of land, sent for his family and worked to clear the property. But when his family did not arrive, he went back to Pomfret to find them. Deeply hurt to learn that they had gone to Kirtland, he followed them, and when Julia refused to leave, decided, under protest, to remain there with the family. Joseph Ellis wrote that he “bought some property which he improved,” (the Briggs maps and legends do not show this transaction, because Ezekiel was not a member of the Church,) “besides doing considerable at his trade, carpentering.” He took a job where Brigham Young was employed “working at the same bench together.”  

The Lord had commanded the Saints to build a House of the Lord and work began on it in June of 1833,  just as the Johnsons arrived in Kirtland. The initial plan was to build it with brick, and Joel was appointed to get the brickmaking underway. He secured the use of a brickyard belonging to Joseph Smith and Thomas Hancock and began making brick for the temple. (#5.) Seth and David worked with him and Joseph and Benjamin also helped. David took on the task of providing the wood to keep the fires burning and worked long and hard, until he developed quick tuberculosis and his lungs began hemorrhaging.  A stone quarry was opened near Kirtland (#6), and Church leaders decided to use stone instead of brick to build the House of the Lord. Joel recorded that the brickmaking operation shut down on 25th September 1833. David died 30 October 1833, at 23 years of age. 

Joel also developed a “bilious fever” toward the end of October 1833 and was confined to his house for several weeks. He says, “After my recovery, I was under the necessity of building a house and laboring for the benefit of my family.”  This may have been the house next to the Visitor’s center currently used to house missionaries. Much of the house has been rebuilt, but the original floor joists are still in place. 

Joel wrote that at that time, “I also built a Saw Mill to cut lumber for the Lord’s House, on a Small stream [Stoney Brook] near Kirtland Village.”  Joseph Ellis and Benjamin worked there with him.  A reconstruction of this sawmill is by the Ashery in Kirtland Village. (#9)

The winter of 1833-34, Benjamin, and probably the other Johnson children, attended district school in Kirtland. (#2) 

Responding to reports of mob violence against the Saints in Missouri, Joseph Smith led Zions Camp out of Kirtland to march to Missouri on the 5th of May 1834.  Seth, Lyman R. Sherman, and Almon Babbitt, now engaged to marry Julia Johnson, marched with it. On the march, Seth nearly died of cholera.  

On the 15th of May, 1834, Joel bought Lot 33 of Tract 1 in Kirtland.  (16) Benjamin called it “wild land” and indicated that he and Joseph Ellis tapped trees for maple syrup, cleared land and hauled logs to the sawmill. Joel may have built a house for his own wife and children on this property because on the 27th of August, 1834, ownership of Tract 1, lot 18, parcels B and S was transferred to Seth.  (#1) Joel divided Lot 33 into 5 sublots, A through E, and sold at least 2 of them by October of that year and two more by 1836. He kept sublot C, presumably for his family, until the 24th of July 1837. 

In 1834 Benjamin engaged himself to Brother Uriah B. Powell to learn the saddlery business for $24 a year with board. He worked for him for a few months until Bro. Powell broke up business in 1835. (#7) 

Nancy had been thrown from a horse in Pomfret in 1830, and her thigh bone broken close to the hip socket. The doctors said she would remain crippled for life.  Benjamin wrote that “in the course of the summer [1834], Elder Jared Carter, a man then of mighty faith, came with other elders to our house and seeing sister Nancy upon her crutches, commanded her in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to leave her crutches and walk, which she at once did, and never again did she use them, although for years she had borne no weight upon her broken joint.”  

Zion’s Camp was disbanded in Missouri on July 3rd, 1834, and returned to Kirtland. On the 23rd of July 1834, the cornerstone of the Kirtland Temple was laid.  The Johnson family attended, and Joel, Seth and Lyman Sherman participated in the ceremony.  (#10)   

On the 23rd of November, 1834, Almon Whiting Babbitt and Julia Ann Johnson were married in Kirtland.  

Seth was still very weak but he took a job teaching school in Willoughby, a few miles from Kirtland. Benjamin again attended school in Kirtland during the winter of 1834-35. In February, Seth became so ill that he returned home and died the 19th of February 1835.  While he was ill, a personage appeared to him and told him there was a work for him to do on earth, but there was a greater work awaiting him, and another would do his earthly work. Benjamin grieved over this. 

The property Tract 1, Lot 18, sublots D and J (# 15) that was purchased in Seth’s name when the Johnson’s arrived was sold to Samuel H. Smith on the 5th of January, 1835. Tract 1, Lot 18, sublots S and B (#1), which Seth had received from Joel the previous year, were transferred back to Joel on the 11th of February, 1835, 8 days before Seth’s death. That property was transferred to Julia Hills Johnson’s name on the 8th of May, 1837. 

Ezekiel’s unhappiness led to increased drinking, and he and Julia eventually agreed to separate.  He would “live apart from the family,” buying a home in Mentor (#11) where his daughters took turns keeping house for him, and his younger children visited. Julia, with the help of Nancy, Almera and Susan, started a business making men’s stocks (neckwear), and palm leaf hats and fans to provide for the family. 

In the spring of 1835, Julia and her children gathered at the home of Lyman and Delcina Johnson Sherman (#14). to receive their Patriarchal Blessings from Joseph Smith Sr. In Benjamin’s blessing, he was blessed to do the work that had been assigned to Seth, and he rejoiced in that.  

On the 24th of June 1835, Benjamin “overstepped my father’s objections and was baptized by Elder Lyman Johnson.” (#4)

Benjamin again attended school in Kirtland the winter of 1835-36. (#2)

Susan developed quick consumption, and died March 16, 1836. Nancy, who had been healed only two years before, also succumbed to it and died the 30th of October, 1836. Joseph Ellis wrote that David, Seth, Susan and Nancy were all buried close to each other “in the little orchard on the hill above the house we then owned.”  (#3)

Work continued on the temple. (#12) There was so much animosity from others in the area that it was necessary to set guards at night and the workers had guns close to hand. Rufus Johnson says, “Gunsmithing was an important activity during these troubled times, and one of the gunsmiths, M. C. Davis, occupied the lower floor of Julia’s house “Joseph Ellis and Benjamin learned something of the art by working with Mr. Davis, but whether they worked for pay or merely for the general good of the community we cannot say.”  

The dedication of the Kirtland temple took place March 27, 1836.”  Benjamin wrote about standing in the foyer of the Kirtland Temple the night before the dedication and watching the prophet Joseph Smith give blessings to those that helped to build it. Joel had not only worked on the lower part of the temple but had used his patented shingle cutter to cut all the shingles for the roof. When the prophet noticed Benjamin in the back, he was the last to receive a blessing, because he had donated a new gun, possibly made under the direction of M. C. Davis. The family attended the dedication and learned of the ministering of angels at the time of their appearance in the Temple.  (#12)

In 1836, Joel was ordained to the Second Quorum of the Seventies.  

In the winter of 1836-37, Benjamin attended the School of the Prophets, which was held in the upper room of the Whitney Store. They studied the Lectures on Faith, grammar, and geography which gave him “a great hunger for history and other reading”. 

1836 -37 saw a period of speculation in Kirtland, with land prices increasing rapidly and people buying upon credit. The Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Company was organized as a joint stock company on the 2nd of January, 1837 by Joseph Smith and other Church leaders to serve the banking needs of the community. Such quasi-banks were common in Ohio at the time. The bank assets were in land, which was not as liquid as silver. There was a national bank failure in 1837, and the Kirtland Safety Society was unable to stay solvent. This led to the disaffection of many members of the Church who lost money in the crash. 

Julia was unable to maintain her business in town after the death of her two daughters. She sold sublots B and S of Lot 18, Tract 1 (#1.) with the house to Samuel and Mary Parker on the 28th of December 1836 for $400. Joseph Ellis Johnson wrote that after the failure of the Kirtland Anti-banking Company, “I purchased a farm and with my younger brothers and sisters and my mother and did the best I could to support them”  The Kirtland land records show that he bought sublot B. of Tract 1, Lot 33, (#17) from Edson Barney for $300. This four-acre lot was part of the 105 acres Joel Hills had purchased in May, 1834, then divided and sold. Conflict in Kirtland became so intense that Church leaders, and other faithful members who had the means moved west to Missouri. The apostates laid claim to Church property, and Lyman Sherman burned the printing office to keep it from falling into the hands of opposers.  The Johnsons and other poorer members of the Church struggled to obtain an outfit for the journey. On the 24th of January 1838, Joseph Ellis Johnson sold this property to Ezra Holmes. The Presidency of Seventies, of which Joel was now a part, organized them into the Kirtland Poor Camp to share resources. They started west on July 4th, 1838.

See My Life’s Review for more detail of their journey, and Benjamin’s mission to Canada.

After Benjamin’s mission to Canada, he returned to Kirtland to visit his father, sister Esther Melita, and Almon and Julia Johnson Babbitt. While there, he met and courted Melissa B. LeBaron. They were married on the 25th of December, 1841 by Almon Babbitt in the home where Joseph and Emma Smith had previously lived. (P) Almon and Julia Babbitt had remained in Kirtland after the Poor Camp left and Almon had bought up a great deal of property. He sold parcels on Block 113 of Lot 30, Tract 1, and on Lot 18, Tract 1 to Benjamin on October 14, 1841.  Block 113 of Lot 30 also housed the Temple, and the property the Johnson family had previously owned was on Tract 1 Lot 18. Benjamin and Melissa may have lived on one of those properties until they persuaded his father, Ezekiel and his sister, Esther Melita, to go with them to Nauvoo.  Almon and Julia also made the decision to move to Nauvoo. Almon took merchandise by boat to start a business, while Benjamin, Ezekiel, and the women traveled to Nauvoo by wagon and buggy.  

Sources

1. FamilySearch: Ezekiel Johnson 
2. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 2
3. Joel Hills Johnson papers, 1835-1882, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/fa4a9f8c-9195-4d4f-a33b-9d79e81a160b/0?view=browse&lang=eng accessed 5/23/2025.
4. Johnson, Joel Hills, Autobiographical sketch and journal, 1835-1872 p. 10, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f2884d74-e43f-44fc-8e6b-fa379970dc72/0/9?lang=eng 
5. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p.7
6. Andrus, Hyrum, Mormon Manuscripts to 1846. 1977. Joels granddaughter, Mary Julia Johnson Wilson called them “annoying individuals” in her Ancestral Sketches and Memoirs (microfiflm of typescript, BYU.) 
7. Briggs, Lyle Spencer and Gladys, Land transactions of Saints, Kirtland, Ohio 1830's & 1840's, 1993 
8. August 5 Call Number: MS 16158 Church History Library.
9. Joel Hills Johnson papers, 1835-1882 / Autobiographical sketch and journal, 1835-1872 p 15 https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/f2884d74-e43f-44fc-8e6b-fa379970dc72/0/14?lang=eng 
10. Johnson, Rufus David, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown, p.42
11. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 11
12. Briggs, Lyle Spencer and Gladys, Land transactions of Saints, Kirtland, Ohio 1830's & 1840's, 1993 
13. Johnson, Rufus David, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown, p. 44
14. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/doctrine-and-covenants-historical-resources-2025/chronology?lang=eng 
15. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 12 – 13, Also, Johnson, Rufus David, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown, p. 47
16. Johnson, Joel Hills, Autobiographical sketch and journal, 1835-1872 p. 15
17. Johnson, Joel Hills, Autobiographical sketch and journal, 1835-1872 p.18 
18. Johnson, Joel Hills, Autobiographical sketch and journal, 1835-1872 p. 15
19. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 14
20. https://prophetjosephsmith.org/index/life_joseph_smith/joseph_smith_timeline 1834
21. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, pp. 14-15.
22. Briggs, Lyle Spencer and Gladys, Land transactions of Saints, Kirtland, Ohio 1830's & 1840's, 1993, Kirtland Map 1 of Tract 1 Lot 33.
23. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, pp. 13-14.
24. Briggs, Lyle Spencer and Gladys, Land transactions of Saints, Kirtland, Ohio 1830's & 1840's, 1993, Kirtland Map 3 of Tract 1, Lot 18.
25. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 14
26. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 5.
27. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 14. 
28. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/kirtland-temple?lang=eng accessed May24, 2025. 
29. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 14.
30. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/KWJ8-9GR 
31. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 15.
32. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 16.
33. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 17
34. Johnson, Rufus David, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown, p.52
35. Johnson, Rufus David, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown, p.51
36. Johnson, Rufus David, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown, p. 56
37. Johnson, Rufus David, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown, p.57
38. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 20
39. Johnson, Joel Hills, Autobiographical sketch and journal, 1835-1872 p. 19.
40. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 19 
41. Johnson, Rufus David, J.E.J. Trail to Sundown, p.59
42. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p.17
43. Briggs, Lyle Spencer and Gladys, Land transactions of Saints, Kirtland, Ohio 1830's & 1840's, 1993, Land Transactions, Name: Johnson, Joseph E.
44. Briggs Land Transactions – Name: Benjamin Johnson
45. Johnson, Benjamin F., My Life’s Review, p. 99-101.