Samantha Caldonia Johnson

1853-1931 · Louisiana

Born 1853, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana

Died 1931

Father: William Jasper Johnson

Mother: Adeline Amanda Leatherman

Children include Stella

Samantha Caldonia Johnson, called Donia, was born in Louisiana on 10 February 1853, in Claiborne Parish by her grave record, and came to Texas when quite small. Her parents are given as William Jasper Johnson and Adeline Amanda Leatherman.

In January 1871 she married Joseph Allen "Jack" Reaves, a Confederate veteran and Church of Christ preacher. She bore twelve children by her obituary's count, thirteen by a descendant's. Her last, Artie Mae, was born on Christmas Day 1894; a photograph taken the day before shows Donia pregnant with her.

Jack died in 1923. Donia died on 26 March 1931, aged 78, at the home of her youngest daughter, Mrs. W. Cryer, at Buckholts. The Cameron Herald wrote that she "had lived a long and useful life and had been a member of the Church of Christ for over sixty years." It named her surviving children: J. F. Reaves of Elmore City, Oklahoma; J. J. Reaves of Hollister, Oklahoma; J. A. Reaves of Little River; Mrs. W. S. Rose of Big Spring; Mrs. J. A. Norris of Denton; Mrs. W. J. Baker; and four daughters married to Cryer brothers, "Mrs LT Cryer, Mrs WR Cryer, Mrs QL Cryer and Mrs W Cryer." She also left four brothers, two sisters, 64 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren.

Parents

William Jasper Johnson 1827-1902 Adeline Amanda Leatherman 1830-1925

Children

Stella Lee Reaves 1892-1980

Sources

Find a Grave memorial 89382811, photograph added by Ronald C. Brewer, 18 January 2020.

Find a Grave memorial 89383098, photograph captioned "JosephAllen Reaves and his wife Samantha Caldonia DONIA Johnson Reaves," added by Paula Norris Pierce, 2012.

Find a Grave memorial 89383098, photograph added by Paula Norris Pierce, 2012.

Cameron Herald, Cameron, Texas, 2 April 1931, page 9; clipping posted to Find a Grave memorial 89383098.

Find a Grave memorial 89383098, stone photograph.

Cameron Herald, 2 April 1931, page 9 (clipping posted to Find a Grave memorial 89383098); Find a Grave memorial 89383098 (double stone and captioned photographs)

Texas State Board of Health, standard certificate of death, Milam County, filed 4 December 1923; FamilySearch, Texas Deaths 1890-1977, image ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9Y14-SYD7.

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Cite: Heirology, "Samantha Caldonia Johnson (1853-1931)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/samantha-caldonia-johnson-1853-1931-12af24.