William Jasper Johnson
William Jasper Johnson was born in Georgia on 19 November 1827. As a young man he went west to Claiborne Parish in north Louisiana. There, on 7 November 1848, he married Adeline Amanda Leatherman, a girl born in the parish.
Their third child, Samantha Caldonia, called Donia, was born in Louisiana in February 1853. About that year the family moved to Texas. Donia's obituary said she "came to Texas when quite small." William farmed, and for many years he also preached for the churches of Christ.
He and Adeline had fifteen children, including two sets of twins. Their names are given as William Walter, 1849; Sarah Helen, called Sally, 1851; Samantha Caldonia, 1853; Amanda Louisa, 1854; Zachariah, 1857; Francis Marion and Mary Frances, called Molly, 1860; Marion, 1861; Jefferson Davis, 1862; Samuel Lee, 1864; Annie, who lived only through 1865; Emma, 1866; and the twins Julian Jasper and Martha Julia, 1871. Donia married Joseph Allen Reaves, a Confederate veteran and circuit preacher of the same church. William served in the Civil War himself.
He died in Comanche County, Texas, on 4 April 1902, aged 74, and was buried in the Pendergrass Cemetery near Sidney. His tall marble stone reads "W. Jasper Johnson, died Apr. 4, 1902, aged 74 yrs," and is inscribed "In my Father's house are many mansions."
A photograph of him in old age survives, a white-bearded man in a dark coat.
Sources
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Cite: Heirology, "William Jasper Johnson (1827-1902)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/william-jasper-johnson-1827-1902-0b7855.