Where were the Johnson's in Conecuh

I have always wondered if the Johnsons and some of the Johnston's of Conecuh were related in ways we just haven't identified. Looking at where my family lived in Conecuh I have found the following. Given that each section is defined as a square  mile, I am using that as a basis for my description of locations based on the landmarks found in plat maps located here. Neighbors are coming from the BLM patent search which gives related documents in the same section, neighbors listed had land at the same time or before the patent issued to my relative.

William Burton Johnson has two land patents for Township 6 range 11e,parts of sections 28 and section 14 in 1843 and posthumously in 1848. His brother Washington Johnson purchased parts of section 20 in the same township and range in 1835. The earliest patent for William B Johnson is in 1826 as an assignee for William D. Stone for part of section 28 in the same township.

From the plat map I found, it looks like section 14 is north of Evergreen and the Olive Branch Church is located in it, and Section 28 is part of Evergreen. William Burton Johnson's neighbors were Mitchell Burford, William D. Stone and John Salter in section 28 and in Section 14 his neighbors were Ezekiel Attaway, Green Brantley, Lewis Franklin, Michael Harris, Elisha Joiner and James Salter. His brother Washington's land would have been just northeast of the current town of Evergreen and the section is divided diagonally by Cane Creek. His only neighbor in 1835 was James Tomlinson.

 The brother in law of William and Washington Johnson, Wesley Young had land in township 6N range 10e part of section 25 and also in township 5N range 10e section 35. Section 25 of township 6N range 10e has Murder Creek running through it and the western border of the section is about 3/4 a mile east from New Centennial No 1 Church and Riley Cemetery. Wesley Young's neighbors for this section was Isaac Brown. His land in Township 5N range 10e section 35 would have been about 3/4 mile south to the  northern boundary line of the section from Hamlin Ridge Church. His neighbors were Curry Claiborne, John McIntyre, Samuel Oliver, William Lyman and Mabry thomas.

In 1860 Elizabeth Parker Johnson obtains land in Township 7N range 10e part of section 24 while William Washington Johnson obtains land in 1848 in township 6N range 11e part of section 23 and in 1860 in township 7N range 10e  parts of section 35 and section 26. His brother George N. Johnson bought land in part of section 20 of township 7N range 10E in 1860 as well. Samuel C. Johnson purchased land in township 6N range 11e part of section 11.

It looks like William W. Johnson's closest neighbors in section 26 were his cousin Smith Johnson, Edmond Joiner and Benjamin Amerson all buying the land also in 1860 and an Amos Archer who patented land in the section in 1835. This section is  about 1 mile south and east of Centenary Church and a road labeled 22 runs through it. Additions neighbors in Section 35 were George Stokes, Josiah Kolb, James Witherington and James Stallworth. Section 35 is just below section 26 contains a town Bookers Mill and is just over 1 mile slightly northwest of Witherington Cemetery (the southern boundary line for the section).  His earlier land, located in section 23 of township 6n and Range 11e in 1848 would have been about 3/4 mile to the northern boundary of the section line from Olive Branch Church. His neighbors in Section 23 were Archy Gary, Joshua Evers, and William Rabb.

Elizabeth Parkers land in 1860 would be in the section above the section just east of William W. Johnson's. Her closest neighbor who had land in that section was Harris Brantley. George N. Johnson's land was located less than a mile from Fairnelson and within 3 miles of the land of his brother William W. Johnson and his mother Elizabeth Johnson. His neighbors were Louisa Auld, Douglas and Susan Harris, and  Henry Waldron. George N. Johnson died during the Civil War and his children were raised in Georgia.

Samuel C. Johnson's land was located about a half a mile north on the southern boundary for the section of Millageville Church. His only neighbor was Thomas Mosely who purchased land in that section on the same date in 1858. We know that Samuel C. Johnson was a minister who preached in Santa Rosa county, Florida before moving to Texas later in life.

Just who are you Talulah?

When I started out and genealogy, my Aunt Leahmanda gave me a disc with all the family in a gedcom from the work that she and my Aunt Patt had gathered the hard way. Digging in libraries, visiting cemeteries and folks. When I asked about their great grandmother, Talulah, my Aunt's told me that Mama Hardy had said she was a Johnson Diamond bastard baby. It took me a long time to find Talulah. Back then the censuses were online but they weren't all indexed. It meant looking through them page by page on a slow dial up modem.

I found Talulah in 1880 in the household of James H. Diamond in Santa Rosa County, listed as Talulah Johnson and a cousin. Then thanks to the folks on the Santa Rosa genweb site, I found Talulah married to William Sheppard Hardy Jr in Santa Rosa county.  I then found Talulah listed with her family in 1870 in Conecuh County, Alabama. I have a lot of questions still about Talulah though.

In 1870 Talulah is listed with her grandmother, Elizabeth Parker Johnson, William Washington (Wm W.) Johnson, age 40, a Nancy Johnson age 30, and Elizabeth Johnson age 11. I have William W. as her father, but he could be her Uncle. In 1860 William W. Johnson is again listed with his mother, Elizabeth, and an Elizabeth Johnson age 24, and an Elizabeth Johnson age 3. When he enlisted in the Civil War he states he is single, which begs the question, are Elizabeth and Nancy Johnson the same person or different women, and are they his sister or are they the mother of the girls, and if they are, then who are they.

The 1850 census makes it even more difficult. In the home is Elizabeth Johnson, W.W. Johnson and a Nancy Johnson age 27 with a James Johnson, age 5, Lewis Johnson age 2, and Sarah Johnson age 7. This Nancy and these children appear to be the same person as Nancy Coker who is listed with mulatto children in Conecuh county in later censuses. Why they are with the family, and how that relationship exists is a good question.

When we look at the Johnson family, we know that William W. Johnson, his brothers Samuel Christopher Johnson, George Nolan Johnson and Peter Lazarus Johnson and his sister Mary Johnson are the children of William Burton Johnson Junior and Elizabeth Parker. We know Mary Johnson married John Diamond and lived in Santa Rosa county, Florida, that she is buried in Coon Hill Cemetery as is her mother. That John Diamond's next wife is a Matilda Johnson who every Diamond researcher says was her sister. Except there is never a Matilda Johnson with the family, and until her marriage, Matilda Johnson isn't found in a census. John Diamond married Matilda Johnson in Conecuh County in 1873.In 1880, she is listed as age 45 making her born in 1835.

Conecuh County Alabama is a burned county. Sherry Johnston the historian in Evergreen told me it's been burned three times, which means that finding early records isn't possible. If Talulah is indeed a "Johnson Diamond bastard baby" then is it because her father William never married her mother or because her mother was a sister of William and never married? And is her other parent a Diamond or did that come from the Diamond cousins that Talulah had?

When we look at the earlier censuses for William Burton Johnson and Elizabeth Parker we know that in the 1820 state census William B. Johnson is found with 1 male over 21, 1 female over 21, 1 male under 21, no females under 21, 3 free people of color and 1 slave. That in 1830 we find his household to contain a male 50-59, 2 males 5-9, one male under 5, 1 female 5-9, 1 female 10-14, 1 female 30-39, a free man of color 10-23, and two free males of color 24-35, a free female under 10, two free females 10-23, a free female 36-54 and one 55-99 with 1 slave 10-23. In 1840 his household contains 1 male 5-9, 2 males 10-14, 1 male 15-19, 1 male 50-59, 1 female 5-9, 1 female 15-19, 1 female 40-49, no free people of color and 6 male slaves.

So is the Nancy in 1850 one of the free women of color, a mulatto, who was associated with the family in earlier years? Is William W. Johnson the father of some of her mulatto children? Born in 1823, she may be the free female under 10 who is living with the Johnson's in 1830. And why did the family have free people of color with them for over 10 years? I ask because it seems a bit unusual. Were the free people of color freed upon the death of William Burton Johnson's father? Where they freed by Elizabeth Parker's father? Were they relatives? Do they have anything to do with Talulah herself? Neither of William Burton Johnson's siblings have free persons of color living with them, though they are slave owners.

Who is Talulah? I still have William Washington Johnson listed as her father. I know that her grandparents were William Burton Johnson and Elizabeth Parker. That in Dad's DNA matches the answer lies, I just have to keep digging and see if I can find the answers. William W. Johnson died in 1900 in Conecuh. He had married, according to his pension, though I have never found a marriage. I can't find an estate, and can't find her death either. I looked in the bastard bond book on ancestry for Talulah, and didn't find her there. Still so many questions, and after 15 years, I am no closer to an answer.

Recombination- Observations, questions and answers

I love using DNA to help with my genealogy. It isn't a replacement for genealogical research, it is a tool, but it is a fascinating tool at that. Thus far I have tested my parents, my first cousin, my mom's half first cousin, my grandfather's first cousin, my dad's second cousin once removed, his half first cousin once removed and a third cousin. What I am finding as far as how much DNA we all share is fascinating.

As I identify more segments to family lines, the pattern of inheritance appears so random. It certainly appears that some siblings are more genetically related than others. What we inherit from our parents is sometime a small amount of DNA from one ancestor, or the entire DNA on some segments.It is a lottery.

We have 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents, 32 great great great grandparents, 64 great great great great grandparents, 128 5th great grandparents and so on. While knowing your tree out to those 5th and 6th great grandparents definitely seems imperative in identifying DNA, so does having a full tree, in other words, you need to identify each generations siblings and do their DNA. Even then, a lot of the time, if you have a match that has a tree, you will look at it and be like, I don't see a connection.

Why? Well, human error I think it partly responsible for sure. I had to change names to the "wrong" names in my tree so that PAL would show up in her circle at ancestry DNA. Not every tree out there is right. From non parental events, to just plain bad research (or those lovely hints on ancestry. Why would you attach a record to a tree that is obviously wrong.)

So back to my trends. Let's look at the total cM's and how widely they vary among my testers. Using myself, each parent and a few of their largest matches (only one uses data from 23andme). Relationships in the table are the relationship to my parent.

	Mom	Me	Her nephew	Her ½ cousin	1st cousin 1R	2nd cousin 1 R
Mom	NA	3549 cM	1929.5 cM	590.6 cM	580.4 cM	152 cM
Me	3549 cM	NA	1039.7 cM	214.1 cM	233.5 cM	126 cM
Her nephew	1929.5 cM	1039.7 cM	NA	230.3 cM	415.4 cM	81 cM
Her ½ cousin	590.6 cM	214.1 cM	230.3cM	NA	NA	NA
1st 1R	580.4 cM	233.5 cM	415.4 cM	NA	NA	NA
2nd 1 R	152cM	126 cM	81 cM	NA	NA	NA

From this table you can see that though my cousin and I are the same generation, we inherited differently. I share more with Mom’s 2^nd cousin once removed from the maternal line (our 3^rd cousin) and he shares almost as much as mom with her 1^st cousin once removed (our 1^st cousin twice removed).

Similarly, her half first cousin shares 83 cM with a 2^nd cousin once removed and mom shares only 19 cM with the same person, though they are identically related, and her nephew shares 16 cM with the same person in a segment not shared with either. (Data not in table).

	Dad	ME	½ 1st 1 r	2nd 1R	Dbl 2nd 1R	4th cousin
Dad	NA	3552 cM	209.6 cM	106.8 cM	370 cM	81 cM
Me	3552 cM	NA	61 cM	63.2 cM	220.3 cM	0
½ 1st 1 R	209.6 cM	61 cM	NA	47.7 cM	NA	NA
2nd 1 R	106.8 cM	63.2 cM	47.7 cM	NA	NA	NA
Dbl 2nd 1R	370 cM	220.3 cM	NA	NA	NA	NA
4th cousin	81 cM	0	NA	NA	NA	NA

Dad and his ½ 1^st cousin once removed are the same relationship to his 2^nd cousin once removed, yet he shares twice the DNA. He shares a large amount with his 4^th cousin, yet I share none with the same person, and I only have about ¼ the DNA in common with his ½ 1^st cousin once removed but ½ with his second cousin once removed and about 2/3 of the DNA with the double 2^nd cousin once removed. 

What does this mean, it’s possible that we inherit less of one ancestor’s DNA than others. Until we can map an entire genome for one person we can’t be certain, but it certainly looks like DNA isn’t share and share alike. What we get is a mix match of DNA that often includes greater portion from one ancestor than another.