From the Northampton Whig, Easton, Pennsylvania dated April 15, 1835: BEGIN Married - On the 9th inst. Mr. Isaac Garrison to Miss Elizabeth Mettler, both of Alexandria township, New Jersey. END transcription of Records->ArmedForces->17.6 BEGIN *****Page 1***** (3-232) No. 206.842 Isaac Garrison Father of John Garrison Rank Priv Company 8 Regiment 1st Battln N.Y. S.S. Vols Rate for month $8.00 Commencing Jany 21 1881 Ending Certificate dated May 31 1884 and sent June 21 1884 Payable at (Washington) Agency ? " Attorney ------------------------------ Act ? 4th July, 1862 Book Vol Page 206.842 [3-218] Ex'r. ? No. 280.028 Acts of July 14, 1862, and March 3, 1873 Isaac Garrison Little York, Hunterdon Co. N.J. Father of John Garrison Private. Co. 8th 1 Batl. N.Y.S. Died at June 1, 1864 Killed No other claim Jan 26, 1881 S S Lincoln Clerk Application filed: Jan. 21, 1881 Attorney: G. E. Lemon P.O. Present Board of Review May 15 1884 *****Page 2***** Declaration for original pension of a father MUST be executed before a Court of Record, or some officer thereof having custody of its seal. State of Pennsylvania } County of Northampton } SS: On this 17th day of December, A.D.one thousand eight hundred and eighty- personally appeared before me, ???? of the Common Pleas, the same being a court of record within and for the County and State aforesaid Isaac Garrison aged 85 years, a resident of Little York, Hunterdon Co. New Jersey ?, being duly sworn according to law, makes the following declaration in order to obtain the pension pro- vided by Acts of Congress granting pensions to dependent fathers. to wit: That he is the father of John Garrison who volunteered under the name of John Garrison at _____________________ on the ___________ day of May A.D. 18 ______, as a Private in Co. 8th of the 1st Batallion of N.Y. Sharp Shooter commanded by Capt. J. B. McDonald in the War of 1861-5 who was killed in battle on the 1st day of June, A.D. 1864, at ______________________, and who bore at the time of his death the rank of Private in Co. 8 of the 1st Batallion of New York Sharp Shooters that said son John Garrison left neither widow nor child under sixteen years of age surviving, that the declarant was married to the mother of said son at Eaton, Pa. on the ________________ day of ____________________________, A.D. 1824, by ? name unknown that he was wholly dependent upon said son for support; that the mother of said son died at Phillipsburg, N.J. on the 29th day of May, A.D. 1876; that there were surviving at date of said son's death, his brothers and sisters, as follows: Neoma, born 1826 Delila, born 1824 William, born 1831 died in 1858 Matilda, born 1833 Diana, born 1835 that he has not in any manner engaged in, aided, or abetted the rebellion in the United States; that ? ? application has been made He hereby appoints, with full power of substitution and revocation, George E. Lemon of Washington, D.C., his true and lawful Attorney, to prosecute his claim; that his Post-Office address is Little York, Hunterdon Co. New York his Isaac X Garrison mark 1. Charles Harrison 2. Henry Barber *****Page 3***** (3-130.) War of the Rebellion. Act of July 14, 1862, and subsequent acts. Dependent Parents Claim No. 280 028 for original pension. Brief app'd ____________________, 18___, by _________________ Certificate No. _____________________, forwarded to _______________________ Agency Title Isaac Garrison, father, of John Garrison was a private (pensionable rank private) in 8th Co. 1st Batln. N.Y.S.S entitled to a pension at the rate of eight dollars per month, to commence Jan 21, 1881, the date of filing declaration Residence, &c, of claimant and attorney Residence of claimant, Little York, county of Hunterdon, State of New Jersey Post Office of claimant, Little York, county of Hunterdon, State of New Jersey Name of attorney, Geo. E. Lemon, Post Office of attorney, Washington, D.C., county of ___________________, State of _________________ Fee, ten dollars, articles of agreement ________ having been filed ______________________ Agent not to pay Submitted for admission, May 14, 1884, E. E. Clark, Examiner Approved for admission May 24, 1884, Daniel W. Atwood, Reviewer See slip attached to face of brief of ? date DWA Dates shown by papers Enlistment, Aug 6, 1862 Right ? ____________________________, 18___ Muster into rank, _______18__ Claim completed ______________, 18___ Discharge, ______________18__ Death of Mother May 29, 1876 Death, June 1, 1864 Re-marriage of claimant, _______________, 18___ Invalid app. filed, ___________18__ ________________________, 18___ Invalid last paid to, _________18__ _________________________, 18___ Application filed, Jan 21, 1881 _________________________, 18___ Incidental Matter Attached - Report of Adjuntant General Certificate of Examining Surgeon *****Page 4***** Surgeon's Certificate of Examination of a Dependent Relative Claim No. 280.028 State: Pennsylvania, County: Northampton Post Office: Easton, 1883 I hereby certify that I have carefully examined Isaac Garrison ______________________, who claims a pension as the dependent father of John Garrison who is alleged to have died June 1, 1864, and that in my opinion based on much examination and a personal acquaintance with him for __________ years, the said Isaac Garrison is and has been physically incapacitated for the support of himself and family, the nature, degree, and duration of his diability being as follows: Garrison is the father of seven children - six living - four daughters and one son who is supposed to be at sea Is 87 years of age - he is ? smart for a man of his age can walk several miles - is entirely unfit at present from old age for any manual labor - does not complain of having had any special disease in past years. We have no personal knowledge of this man ? ? J. P. ? Edward ? ? *****Page 5***** General Affidavit State of New Jersey } County of Hunterdon } SS In the matter of the pension claim of Isaac Garrison father of John Garrison, Priv. 8 of 1st Batl. ? of S.S. personally came before me, a ? ? ? in and for aforesaid County and State, Isaac Garrison the claimant ? ? care of ? ? persons of lawful age, who, being duly sworn declare in relation to the aforesaid case as follows: what I have stated in a former affadavit how my house was ? ? ? ? all evidence as to ? records were destroyed ? ? ? ? records ? ? Charles Worford who was an ? as I am told ? ? ? ? ? years prior to 1875 and that I went to ? ? Charles Worford lived and ? that said Worford had died then asked his son John Worford about the ? ? records & he told ? ? ? ? had been ? ? ? but could not ? ? ? ? my hand ? his Isaac X Garrison mark ? ? ? ? *****Page 6***** ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? matter ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? S.S. no 280.0 Personally ? ? ? before me a Notary Public ? ? ? ? county & state Isaac Garrison of said county & state. Post Office address ? ? ? ? eighty six ? ? 1st ? ? who being duly sworn according to law ? in ? ? above claim as follows ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 864 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? township this county ? ? ? burned down about ? ago when I sold to said ? (all I know) for #425 00/100 & paid off the mortgage in our name for #100 leaving me #325 00/100 which all the money I have since had to leave upon also that when said house burned down all records that had been my possession relative to my dependence ? son ? ? - letters received from him being in the army & the family bible with the ages of my family were burned ? ? ? my memory has become so ? ? ? remember who ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? or when it was ? ? ? ? ? ? in Easton, Pa. *****Page 7***** General Affadavit State of New Jersey } County of Hunterdon } SS In the matter of the pension claim of Isaac Garrison father of John Garrison, Priv. 8th 1st Batln NY S.S. Personally came before me, a Notary Public in and for aforesaid County and State, George Race age 57 of Blooms- Bury Hunterdon county and State of New Jersey persons of lawful age, who, being duly sworn, declare in relation to the aforsaid cases as follows: that the said John Garrison worked for me off and on before his enlistment and that his father said Isaac Garrison received these for farm produce of different kinds I don't know if he ever got money - although he may - and I know that said claimant got the biggest share of said wages which was nine dollars a month. I don't know what the claimants support has been except what little work he has done. I would suppose that the contributions seem actually necessary for claimants support Also before me a Notary Public in and for said county & state Moses Robins age 57 of Bloomsbury Hunter- don County & state of New Jersey being duly sworn declares as follows that he is well acquainted with the above claimant and know that John Garrison worked for above George Race and that the wages earned by said John Garrison were actually necessary for the comfortable support of said claimant - I testify that said claimant has had no income that is usable since ? kept off the poor house by living around among some of his children. We further declare that we have no interest in said case, and we are not concerned in its prosecution. Signature of { George Race Afflant, or of { each Afflant { Moses Robins *****Page 8***** General Affadavit State of New Jersey } County of Hunterdon } SS In the matter of the pension claim of Isaac Garrison father of John Garrison, Priv. 8th 1st Batln NY S.S. ? 280.028 Personally appeared before me, a Notary Public in and for aforesaid County and State Moses Robins aged fifty six above County & State Post Office address Bloomsbury, N.J. persons of lawful age, who, being duly sworn, declare in relation to the aforesaid case as follows: that I have known said Isaac Garrison as long as I can remember & know that he was disabled by age in 1864 & each year since from earning a competency. I was at the funeral of John Garrison's mother. I am acquainted with the location of said Isaac Garrisons former property in Alexandria Township that it was worth probably three hundred ($300) dollars & was heavily mortgaged and since sold. That said Isaac Garrison is at present worth nothing that there is no one legally bound to support him since the death of his said son to deponents knowledge. that said Isaac Garrison probably for eight years after his said sons death earned less than one hundred dollars per year and since that time nothing also that said John Garrison was never married & I further declare that I have no interest in said case, and am not concerned in its prosecution. J W Creveling signature of { Moses Robins Afflant, or of { Lewis Anderson each Afflant { *****Page 9***** Read Carefully! In order for the mother ? ? ? ? ? to obtain the benefits of the Pension Laws, it must be shown in evidence that the father (if living at the date of son's death) was physically or mentally incapacitated to provide a full support for himself and family in the last year of the son's life and since his death; and that the income from all sources, including earnings from labore by the father, was inadequate to a support, and, in consequence, contributions from the son were necessary, and were made. State of New Jersey } County of Warren } SS: In the pension claims of Isaac Garrison, father of John Garrison, late of 8th Co. 1st Batln N.Y. Sharpshooters personally came before me, a Notary Public in and for aforesaid County and State, Joseph F. Sheppard, a resident of Phillipsburg, of the County of Warren State of New Jersey, who, being duly sworn, declare in relation to the aforesaid case as follows: That he has been engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery for the past 28 years; that he has known Isaac Garrison, the father of John Garrison, deceased, since the year 1870 and that he attended him as his ? ? ? to change in 1876 for disease of ? ? and that ? the same time from 1870 to 1876 the said Isaac Garrison was unable to any labor from which he ? any ? and ? that he has not ? or ? ? ? ? ? since ? said ? 1876 And he further declares that he has no interest in said case, and is not concerned in its prosecution. J. F. Sheppard M.D. *****Page 10***** General Affadavit State of New Jersey } County of Hunterdon } SS In the matter of the pension claim of Isaac Garrison father of John Garrison 8th Co. 1st Batln N.Y. S.S. No. 208.028 Personally came before me, a Notary Public in and for aforesaid County and State, William M. Cackener of said county and state aged fifty six. addr is "Bloomsbury, N.J." persons of lawful age, who, being duly sworn, declare in relation to the aforesaid case as follows: That I have known said Isaac Garrison ever since I can remember & know that his son John Garrison worked for George Race ? ? favor ? ? just prio to his enlistment in the army of the late war and know that said Isaac Garrison received provisions consisting of the products of said ? as ? of the earnings of said John Garrison from said George Race and also that said Isaac Garrison was dependent on his said son for support and at present has no sensible means of support with no one leagally bound to support him to deponents knowledge. Also that he was in 1864 & since incapacitated by age from earning a competan- cy & I further declare that I have no interest in said case, and am not concerned in its prosecution. J ? signature of { William M. Cackener Afflant, or of { Lewis Anderson each Afflant { ***** Page 11***** General Affadavit State of New Jersey } County of Hunterdon } SS In the matter of the pension claim of Isaac Garrison father of John Garrison Prv. 8 of 1st Batt. N.Y. S.S. Personally came before me, a Notary Public in and for aforesaid county and state, ? ? ? William ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? persons of lawful age, who, being duly sworn, declare in relation to the aforesaid case as follows: ? ? about the ? ? ? ? ? with Isaac ? ? ? his wife ? ? ? was Mettler and ? ? ? together as ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? at that time he went to ? ? We both form our intimate acquain- tance with the said father ? that he worked around by the day & from the nature of the case can not tell ? - and would say that he may have earned ? ? ? ? ? twenty five dollars ? and about the year 1854 We further declare that we have no interest in said case, and are not concerned in its prosecution. signature of { George Race Afflant, or of { each Afflant { ? B. ? *****Page 12***** General Affadavit State of New Jersey } County of Hunterdon } SS In the matter of the pension claim of Isaac Garrison father of John Garrison Prv. 8 of 1st Battl. N.Y. S.S. No 280.02 Personally came before me, a Notary Public in and for aforesaid county and state, George Race of Bethlehem Township Hunterdon County New Jersey Post Office address Bloomsbury N.J. aged fifty six persons of lawful age, who, being duly sworn, declare in relation to the aforesaid case as follows: That the said John Garrison labored for me at two different times, the last said time for about one year just prior to his enlistment in the army for the late war. I know that the said John Garrison's father got part of his support from his sons earnings. that he the said father took provisions consisting of produce raised on my farm of different kinds at different times as a part as part of the earnings of said John Garrison I further testify that the said Isaac Garrison was in 1864 disabled by age from earning a competence for himself. I further state that I was at the funeral of Eliza Garrison the mother of said John Garrison when she was buried on or about 1876. Also that said Isaac Garrison owned a very small property in Alexandria Township which was insufficient for his maintenance That the said soldier John Garrison was the son of Isaac Garrison and that said John Garrison was never married and left no children surviving him That the means of support of said Isaac Garrison during the year 1864 and each year since has been very meager. Also that the said property above mentioned consisted of about eight acres one half of which was tillable. the house on which has since burned down while in said Isaac Garrisons possession - that said Isaac Garrison worked odd jobs for me on the farm for seven or eight years & earned from every source having less than 100 dollars & from that time on earned nothing & I further declare that I have no interest in said case, and am not concerned in its prosecution. "John" inserted & Isaac crossed out Signature of { George Race ? ? Afflant, or of { Lewis Anderson each Afflant { *****Page 13***** General Affadavit State of New Jersey } County of Hunterdon } SS: In the matter of pen. clm Isaac Garrison father John Garrison 1st Battln. N.Y. S.S. Personally came before me, a Notary Public in and for aforesaid county and state, William M Cackener, aged 57 years, and _____________________, aged ________________ years, whose respective Post-Office addresses are as follows: Bloomsbury County of Hunterdon, State of New Jersey, and ________________ County of __________________ State of _____________________, and who, being duly sworn, declare that deponent is intimately acquainted with the farm owned formerly by said Isaac Garrison in 1864 that it consisted of a small house situated on about eight acres. four of which was cultivated in usual farm fashion and four acres consisted of ?- land - I should suppose that after ?- hiving of ?? plowed and cultivated the annual profit of the same could not possibly be over twenty five dollars and likely to be less - The house above ? ? ? as a log house and a ? ? the farm dwelling I further declare that I have no interest in said case, and am not concerned in its prosecution. J. W. Crevling William M Cackener General Affadavit State of New Jersey } County of Hunterdon } SS: In the matter of pen. clm Isaac Garrison father John Garrison 1st Battln. N.Y. S.S. Personally came before me, a Notary Public in and for aforesaid county and state, Isaac Garrison, aged 88 years, and _____________________, aged ________________ years, whose respective Post-Office addresses are as follows: Little York County of Hunterdon, State of New Jersey, and ________________ County of __________________ State of _____________________, and who, being duly sworn, declare That I was in 1864 before and after plagued with pain in my sides when even when I strained or worked much and don't know that I worked for any one else in 1864 than George Race ? I have been around and looked for the parties that I might have worked for & Mr. George Race is the only party I could find. I had worked for - I have the work done on my little lot sometimes in 1864 I was able to do a full days work and sometimes not for the reason above stated I further declare that I have interest in said case, and am concerned in its prosecution. J. W. Crevling Isaac Garrison George Race *****Page 14***** 280 028 War Department Adjutant General's Office Washington, October 27, 1883 Respectfully returned to the Commissioner of Pensions. John Garrison, a private of 8th Co. 1st Battln N.Y. S.S. Volunteers was ? on the 6th day of August, 1862, at Buffalo for 3 yrs. T.E.H. and is reported: on rolls of Co. to April 10, 1863 present. March & April 1863 absent wounded, in hospital at Old Point ?. May & June absent wounded at Fort Monroe - company record of events for March & April 1863 stated two men wounded skirmishing with the enemy , date & place not given. July & Aug 1863 present. Same report to April 30, 1864. May & June 1864 killed June 1st, 1864 at Cold Harbor Va. Co. went in action ? said place & date. ? ? Assistant Adjuntant General ? END a second transcription of Records->ArmedForces->17.6 BEGIN Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2016 14:38:24 -0800 From: Susan J. Dorey P1.jpg death of son John on 6-1-1864. P2.jpg Declaration of Original Pension of a Father. On 12-17-1880, Isaac Garrison, age 85, of Little York, Hunterdon County, NJ applied for pension for his dead son John who volunteered. John's parents married at Eaton, PA in 1824. Isaac was wholly dependent on son John for his support; John's mother died at Phillipsburg, NJ on 5-29-1876. Surviving, in 1864, siblings: Neoma, b. 1826 Delila, b. 1824 William, b. 1831, d. 1858 Matilda, b. 1833 Diana, b. 1835 P3.jpg Isaac got pension of $8 per month. Isaac lived at Little York. His attorney was George E. Lemon of Washington, DC. P4.jpg Surgeon's Certificate of Examination of Dependent Relative. Undated. Doctor found Isaac to be physically incapacitated. Isaac is the father of 7 children, six living: five daughters and one son who is supposed to be dead. Isaac is 87. markedly smart for a man of his age. Can walk several miles. Is entirely unfit at present from old age for any manual labor. Does not complain of having had any special disease in last years. We have no personal knowledge of the man. [based on Isaac's age, this document must be dated about 1882.] P5.jpg General Affidavit of Isaac Garrison. I have stated in a previous affidavit how my house was burned down and all evidence as to family records were destroyed. Rest is illegible. Isaac signed it with an X mark. P6.jpg is mostly illegible. I think it is in Isaac's voice. Says after the house burned down he sold the property for $425 and paid off his mortgage of $100, leaving him with $325 which is all the money he had to live on. The fire destroyed letters and the family bible. P7.jpg Deposition of George Race of Bloomsbury, Hunterdon Co. John worked for him off and on before his enlistment and that his father received their . . . produce of different kinds. John got wages of $9 a month of which Isaac got the biggest share. Another person, Moses Robins, declared that Isaac had no support, but was kept from the poor house by living with his children. P8.jpg. Deposition of Moses Robins, age 56, of Bloomsbury. I have known Isaac Garrison as long as I can remember and know that he was disabled by age in 1864 . . . I was at the funeral of John Garrison's mother. I am acquainted with the location of Isaac Garrison's former property in Alexandria Township that it was probably three hundred dollars and was heavily mortgaged and since sold. P9.jpg a statement that Isaac was unable to support himself. P10.jpg Deposition of William W. Cackens (sp?), age 56 of Bloomsbury. William knew Isaac since I can remember, that Isaac had worked for George Race . . . P11.jpg is mostly illegible. P12.jpg Undated multi-page General Affidavit by George Race of Bethlehem Township in the matter of Isaac's pension claim for John. Isaac was 56, lived Bloomsbury. It was a declaration by someone who knew Isaac. Isaac . . . at present has no visible means of support with no one legally bound to support him. Isaac was in 1864 disabled by age from earning a competency for himself. He said he was at the funeral of Eliza Garrison, the mother of John when she was buried on or about 1870. . Isaac owned a very small property in Alexandria Township which was insufficient for his maintenance; the property consisted of 8.5 acres which was tillable, the house which has since burned down while in Isaac's possession. Son John was never married and left no children. The means of support of Isaac since 1864 has been very meager. P13.jpg has two pages. The right side says Isaac is 88 years old, living in Little York County, NJ. Isaac claims he had pain in his sides with strain, the only person he ever worked for was George Race. In 1864 he was able to do a full day's work some of the time. P14.jpg from War Department. Adjutant General's office, 10-27-1883. John Garrison enrolled 8-6-1862 at Buffalo. He was wounded March and April 1863 and in hospital at Old Point Comfort. May and June wounded at Fort Monroe. Killed 6-1-1864 at Cold Harbor. END From the Hunterdon Republican, Flemington, New Jersey dated February 16, 1887: BEGIN Category: Trivia - Brief News Items from around the County. GARRISON, Isaac, who is in his 93rd year, is healthy, strong and active. He lives about 3 miles north of Lambertville and frequently walks there and back again like a boy. END From a Hunterdon County, New Jersey newspaper dated March 28, 1888: (probably Lambertville Record, Lambertville, New Jersey) BEGIN - Chas. K. (Kin.) Abbott, of this city, was arrested on Monday charged with robbing Isaac Garrison, an old man of ninety-five, living in Delaware township, of thirty-one dollars. It appears that Garrison came to this city on Saturday last and had his pension check cashed. He drank a little beer, and started for home. Abbott went along with him part of the way. When the old man got home his money was all gone. Abbott was brought before Justice J. H. Horn, who adjourned the hearing to Tuesday morning and required Abbott to secure $500 bail. He went out with the constable to endeavor to secure it, but instead took leg ball and ran away. He has not yet been arrested. END From the Lambertville Record, Lambertville, New Jersey dated April 4, 1888: BEGIN - Last week, we gave an account of the robbery of Isaac Garrison, of Delaware Township, by "Kin" Abbott. On Monday of this week, the old man died. His death was hastened, it is believed, by the worry over the loss of his money. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and it was as a pensioner of that war that he received the money of which he was robbed. He was in his ninety-fifth year, and possessed considerable vigor for a man of his age. END From the Hunterdon Gazette, Flemington, New Jersey dated April 10, 1888 (Fiftieth Volume, No. 35): BEGIN Death of an Old Soldier In our last week's issue we gave an account of the robbery of an old man named Isaac Garrison, of Delaware Township, by one 'Kin.' Abbott, a Lambertville boy. We are sorry to now have to say that old Mr. Garrison died last Monday night and, what is more to be regretted, it is believed that his death was hastened by the worry over the loss of his money. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, and it was as a pensioner of that war that he received the money of which he was robbed. He was in his ninety-fifth year, and possessed considerable vigor for a man of his extreme age. END From the Hunterdon Gazette, Flemington, New Jersey dated April 10, 1888 (Fiftieth Volume, No. 35): BEGIN Deaths In Delaware Township, April 2, 1888, Isaac Garrison, aged 94 years and 5 months. END From a Hunterdon County, New Jersey newspaper in April of 1888: BEGIN Garrison - In Delaware twp., April 2d, 1888, Isaac Garrison, aged 94 years and five months. END From a Hunterdon County, New Jersey newspaper in April of 1888: BEGIN Isaac Garrison, the old gentleman we mentioned last week as having been robbed of about $30 pension money, died at his home in Delaware township, near this city, on Monday last. No doubt the loss of the money hastened his death. His age was 94 years and 5 months. Mr. Garrison was born in Alexandria township and lived all through life in Hunterdon county. He made his home in Delaware township the past two years. One of his sons was killed in the Rebellion, being shot through the head while serving as a sharpshooter. Another son went on a whaling voyage and never returned. END transcription of Newspapers->Misc->17.6ch-iii.jpg From the Carbon County News, Carbon County, Montana in December of 1899: BEGIN Constable John Johnston departs for California RED LODGE (Dec. 13, 1899) There was a poignant departure at the Red Lodge depot on Saturday. John Johnston left for California. He has permission to become a resident of the Soldiers' Home at Sawtelle, near Santa Monica. John Johnston was once a powerful man physically, but years of exposure and hardship as an Army Soldier and Scout took their inevitable toll. His health has failed rapidly for about the past year and no one who knew him in his prime, when he was a man among men, would recognize the feeble old man who boarded the train. Dad Johnston, as he is affectionately known here, came to Red Lodge about 12 years ago from Billings. He took up a homestead about four miles south of town and resided there until about a year ago when his failing health made it necessary for him to accept help from his friends. This worried John Johnston considerably, as he was always his own man, taking great pride that he need not depend on any one. But realizing that he would receive the care which he needed and was entitled to because of the long years of honorable service to his Country, he made arrangements to enter the Soldiers' Home. Because of his reputation as a lawman, earned when he was deputy sheriff at Coulson, Johnston became Red Lodge's first constable and served several years in that capacity. He had a unique method of enforcing the law, seldom having to resort to drawing his gun. An incident which occurred in George Howard's saloon in Old Town will illustrate how John Johnston handled those who failed to behave themselves. Ben Greenough was playing pin pool with an old timer called "Jack the Ripper." There were two little old Scotch coal miners, drunk and fighting on the floor. Johnston happened to pass by, looked in and saw them, came in and picked them both up off the floor, one under each arm. He walked out, the two men under his arms, still feisty and cussing a blue streak. Johnston laid them across the hitching pole, banged their heads together and dropped them in the dirt. Bystanders thought they were dead, but in a few minutes they came to an walked off arm in arm, peaceable as doves. Johnston's philosophy was, beat hell out of them once, so they would remember the lesson, and they will misbehave no more. This policy held true, as he seldom had to arrest the same man twice. A grateful county paid for his transportation to California and also the expenses of the attendant who accompanied him. Johnston was brought to the depot in Jim Virtue's coach. With him was Fred Swope; M. W. Potter and a young lad of 12, Fred Longmore, who had become a good friend of Johnston's, spending many hours listening to the famous Scout's tales of the days when times were wild and a man slept with one eye open and his hand on his rifle. It was plain to see that Dad Johnston was most reluctant to leave Red Lodge, his home. He broke down and wept, and in the large crowd seeing him off, very few were dry-eyed. END transcription of Newspapers->Deaths->17.6ch-iii.jpg From the Red Lodge Daily News, Red Lodge, Montana in February of 1900 (caption under photo): BEGIN RED LODGE (Feb.2, 1900) Word of the death of John Johnston has been received here with genuine shock. His passing, which occurred on Jan. 22, was scarcely more than a ... ... ... about 10 years. Legal attempts were made to prevent the move, in favor of providing Dad Johnston with a final resting place at Red Lodge, but were fruitless.) END From a Hunterdon County, New Jersey newspaper in May of 1900: BEGIN Garrison Miss Naomi Garrison died at the Morris Plains State Hospital on Monday morning of general debility. Deceased was a daughter of the late Isaac Garrison, and was born in Bloomsbury, Hunterdon county seventy-two years ago. She had been in the hospital for four years, and had been there several times previous to this. On Monday afternoon the remains were brought to the home of her sister, Mrs. Peter Tillman, of East Blackwell street, where the funeral services were held at the same time as were those of Miss Maggie Conrad, Thursday 2:30 P.M., Dr. Holloway officiating. Interment in the Tillman plot in Locust Hill Cemetery. END From "Record of First Presbyterian Church of Easton, Pennsylvania 1811 - 1887" in 1936: BEGIN 1835 Isaac Garrison - April 9, Both of Alexandria Elizabeth Mettler N. J. END From the Hunterdon County Democrat, Flemington, New Jersey dated August 22, 1996: BEGIN Liver-Eating Johnston Fabled Frontiersman Hailed From Here By Dennis and Gary McLelland One July day in 1824, one of America's most noted (and notorious) frontiersman was born near Little York. He would grow up to be John "Liver-Eating" Johnston. He was a mountain man, whaler, Mexican War sailor, gold miner, Civil War veteran, trapper, wolfer, lumberman, Indian fighter, Army scout, stage coach operator, whiskey peddler and Montana Sheriff. But the world knows him as "Jeremiah Johnson," protagonist of a 1972 movie starring Robert Redford. The movie was supposed to have portrayed a slice of man's frontier life during the 1840s in Montana. But the movie was mostly fictitious. The film was not called "John Johnston" because Sidney Pollack, its director, felt like he wanted to make the mountain man more "allegorical" to stand for all mountain men, not just the life of John Johnston, according to an article in The Snake River Press, Cody, Wyo. The Anaconda (Mont.) Standard published an 1899 interview with Johnston about six months before his death. In that interview, Johnston said he was born in New Jersey, three miles from Little York. He didn't say three miles in which direction, but the U.S. Census for 1830 shows a Jacob L. Johnston in Bethlehem Township, who had a boy in his household between the ages of 5 and 10. In those days Bethlehem Township included what is now Union Township, so the Johnstons could have resided in either of those places. The name "Liver-Eating" was given to Johnston because he allegedly ate the raw livers of Indians he had slain in battle. According to the book "The Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnston" (Indiana University Press, 1958), during a battle with the Sioux, Johnston ran after a fleeing brave, and catching him from behind, thrust a 12-inch hunting knife in the Indian's stomach. Upon removing the knife, a piece of the man's liver remained stuck to the blade. To play a trick on his approaching friends --, he smeared his jet-black beard with blood. When his comrades saw the blood and looked at his knife, Johnston then asked, "Anyone want a chew? It's a long wait till dinner." The story is largely corroborated by Johnston in his interview in the Anaconda Standard, except that he said that he put on the act specifically to tease "a squeemish old fellow named Ross" who found the act so convincing "he threw up his guts" and spread the word about Johnston. From that day on, he was known as the Liver-Eater. Johnston left New Jersey as a young man to serve aboard a whaling ship. After a few voyages, he joined the U.S. Navy when the Mexican War broke out in 1846. But the restless Johnston found only trouble in the Navy. He struck his commanding officer and decided to desert ship rather than face execution. After Johnston jumped ship, he stepped on shore at San Francisco. The United States had just wrested California from the Mexicans in 1847, and the Mexican War was ending. Johnston remained in California for some time; it is reported that he panned for gold after another son of Hunterdon, James Wilson Marshall, discovered gold at Sutter's Fort in 1848, and started the California Gold Rush. Marshall had grown up in Lambertville. Not finding his fortune, Johnston began to roam the West in a restless search to strike it rich. But he never did. Liver-Eating Johnston was still seeking gold in 1864 when he decided to join the Union army. Why he waited until 1864 to enlist is unknown. During the fighting against Gen. Sterling Price's rebel army at Missouri, Johnston was shot twice: once in the shoulder during the battle of Newtonia and again in the leg during the battle of Westport. He recovered from his wounds and remained in the Army until Sept. 23, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. After the war, Johnston headed back to Montana where his wood yard provided cords of wood to passing steamboats. Since the wood yard was on Sioux land, Johnston was often attacked by the Sioux, but never seriously injured. During one battle, he and his comrades killed 36 Sioux braves and displayed their skulls on poles in front of his wood yard. Passengers on steamboats would gawk open-mouthed at the horrible sight as they passed his wood camp, according to Eric Thane, author of "High Border Country" (Duell, Sloan & Pearce Publishers, 1942). Johnston's knowledge of many parts of Montana territory was extraordinary, and he became a scout for Gen. Nelson Miles during the Indian Wars of 1876-77. Johnston was instrumental in guiding the 7th Calvary (after Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn) in pursuit of Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph. He saved Miles' command on several occasions because of his expertise and experience. Johnston served as sheriff in the towns of Billings and Red Lodge between 1891 and 1895. He amassed an excellent record, and he typically used his fists to tame unruly town people rather than his gun. In about 1887, when Johnston was 63, a touring professional boxer visited Red Lodge, looking for challengers to fight him. Prodded by his friends, Johnston knocked the professional through a wooden fence with one punch. He retired at age 71. When the end came, Johnston was in terrible pain, according to the Carbon County Democrat, Red Lodge. He was 76 years old, unable to get out of bed, and needed an attendant round the clock. He had developed complications from his many wounds, as well as his years exposed to the frigid winters of Montana. In addition, he developed heart disease, his legs were continually swollen, he lost his sight in one eye, and he suffered from a terrible rash. His friends at Red Lodge arranged for Johnston to move to the veteran's hospital in Los Angeles, where he was to receive better care. But one month after arriving, Johnston died on Jan. 20, 1900. He never returned to New Jersey after spending 60 years in the wilderness. But surely, Johnston deserves to be recognized as one of Hunterdon County's most colorful sons. This article is adapted by Dennis McLelland of Watchung from his yet unpublished book "The Life and Times of John 'Liver-Eating' Johnston." Mr. McLelland, a guidance counselor at Essex County High School, has spent three years researching Johnston. His brother, Gary, helped develop this article. END From "Marriage Index: New Jersey, 1680-1900" (FTM CD #240) by Broderbund Software in 1998: BEGIN Garrison, Isaac Smith, Mary Dec 18, 1848 Sussex END From The Los Angeles Times - latimes.com Archives: BEGIN *L.A. THEN AND NOW; Trailing a Wild West Character to His Graves; The saga of John 'Liver-Eating' Johnston follows the legendary mountain man to burial sites in Los Angeles and Cody, Wyo.; [HOME EDITION]* /Cecilia Rasmussen/. *Los Angeles Times*. Los Angeles, Calif.: Aug 21, 2005. pg. B.2 *Full Text* (1393 words) /(Copyright (c) 2005 Los Angeles Times)/ He's identified with the wilderness, the West and the mountains of Montana and Wyoming -- but for more than 70 years his body lay in Los Angeles, the city of concrete and automobiles. The mountain man carved his niche in the American frontier as a legendary Indian fighter, inspiring books and becoming immortalized as "Jeremiah Johnson" in the 1972 film starring Robert Redford. He was born as John Garrison and changed his name to John Johnston, with a T, after an altercation in the Navy. But newspapers often misspelled his name as Johnson. He spent much of his life in Montana and Wyoming but lived his final months at the Old Soldiers Home in what was then the town of Sawtelle, now the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Los Angeles. When he died in 1900, penniless and without known relatives, he was buried in the military cemetery. There he stayed for nearly three-quarters of a century. Then in 1972, a middle school teacher in the Antelope Valley town of Lancaster became fascinated by his story after reading "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson," by Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker. The book recounted Johnston's exploits as a soldier and Indian fighter and noted that he had been buried in Los Angeles. After further research, the teacher, Tri Robinson, learned that Johnston had wanted to be interred in his old stomping grounds in the northern Rockies. He shared the book with his seventh-grade students. "The kids got all upset that Johnston was buried near the San Diego Freeway," said Robinson, who is now pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church in Boise, Idaho. "A friend of mine at the Old Trail Town in Cody, Wyo., said if we could get permission to move him, they would pay for everything else. "Then the movie came out that fall, and the kids got even more excited. They wrote letters to legislators and Veterans Administration officials and even Redford. Soon everyone was behind the project." Robinson's students at Park View Middle School began calling themselves the Committee for the Reburial of Liver-Eating Johnston. "Half the class got to go to his disinterment and the other half went to his reinterment," Robinson said. In 1974, more than 2,000 people paid homage at Johnston's new burial ground, the gateway to Yellowstone National Park. Redford was a pallbearer -- the only one who didn't dress as a frontiersman. But Johnston's life hasn't been as easy to resolve as his gravesite. Researchers are still trying to unravel the truth behind the man, who perpetuated his own mythologies -- as a poetry-loving hunter, an Indian-hating killer and cannibal, a soldier and a mountain man. The name Jeremiah was concocted for the film, said Nathan Bender, a historian and archivist at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody. But there was already plenty of fabrication and fantasy about Johnston. "There's a real mishmash of material out there, including dozens of stories that can be attributed to Johnston himself," Bender said. America learned of John Johnston first "when the Washington Post mistakenly published his premature obituary, in January 1878, more than 20 years before his death," Bender said. The obituary portrayed "him as a vicious frontiersman who killed Indians as a pastime" or as revenge for his wife's supposed murder, Bender wrote in an article published by a historical journal in 2004. Other papers picked up on his reported death and his "revolting cannibalistic deeds," Bender wrote. Amid fact and myth, Johnston lived when the West was a wilderness, when the skill, courage and self-reliance of the individual determined whether he lived or died. Born in Little York, N.J., in 1824, he served in the Navy during the Mexican War, according to Dennis McLelland, 58, a retired high school counselor in North Carolina who found Johnston's birth name, Garrison, in military records. "He deserted the Navy after he struck an officer," McLelland said, "and changed his name to John Johnston." Then he began fighting Indians, grizzlies and Mother Nature. He also supplied firewood to steamships along the Missouri River and mined for gold in Nevada. Johnston's legend, which he later denied, holds that he married a Flathead Indian woman in the northern Rockies before the Civil War. While he was away hunting, the legend goes, his pregnant wife was killed and scalped by a raiding party of Crow Indians. In retaliation, he supposedly waged his own war in which he single-handedly fought and killed more than 300 Crow warriors. Bender discounted that tale. The Crow, he said, were known as "strong allies of the Americans throughout the entire frontier history of the region." During the Civil War, Johnston joined the Army as a scout for the 2nd Regiment, Colorado Volunteer Cavalry. Afterward, he set out for the West once more, meandering several thousand miles across the nation and, according to legend, reconciling with the Crow. Other tales had Johnston poisoning a batch of biscuits with strychnine and leaving them for the Indians to eat or even tainting blankets with smallpox, then giving them to Indians. Stories of cannibalism attached themselves to Johnston too -- as happened when he supposedly was held prisoner by Canadian Indians. He killed a guard, cut off the man's leg and walked out, chewing on the leg, the story goes. How much of this is true, if any, is obscured by the fact that Johnston relished perpetuating his own myths. In an 1868 letter to a Montana newspaper editor, he wrote that he got the "Liver Eating" nickname through a misunderstanding. After a battle with the Sioux, he wrote, he cut out the liver of a young warrior he had killed and asked a friend if he wanted a bite. "He refused but told everyone he seen me eating the Indian liver," Johnston wrote. "But I don't eat any ... just rubbed it over my mouth to make the man think I was eating it." Johnston repeated the story over the years, reveling in his audiences' reaction and adding additional mutilated Sioux to the telling. "He took advantage of his ghoulish name" to stoke his notoriety, Bender said. Johnston was actually a great friend of the Crow, the "only white man they knew who would eat raw deer liver with them," Bender said. The name "Liver Eater" was adopted as a Crow name out of respect for Johnston, he wrote. Johnston worked as a whiskey trader and a fur trapper in the 1870s and as a civilian Army scout during the Indian wars of 1877- 78. He served as a deputy sheriff in Coulson, Mont., for a few years before trying to turn his frontier fame into money by starting a Wild West show. Partnering with Martha Jane Canary, better known as "Calamity Jane," and many of his Crow friends, he regaled townsfolk across the Great Plains with his exploits fighting the "whole Sioux Nation." After less than two years on the road, the show went belly up; troupe members had to sell their horses to get home. Johnston went back to work, spending a decade as a constable in Red Lodge, Mont. As his health failed in late 1899, he hopped a train and headed for the Old Soldiers Home, where he died at age 76. Even now, much of the legend clings to Johnston's reputation, along with a little stardust. "Most people visiting Johnston's gravesite in Cody think it's the grave of Jeremiah Johnson," Bender said. But the gravestone inscription reads: "John 'Jeremiah Liver Eating' Johnston." That he was buried at Cody -- named for Buffalo Bill Cody -- proved controversial. In the early 1970s, when the Lancaster students were campaigning to move Johnston's body, a Montana congressman wanted him buried in Red Lodge instead. "He didn't even like Buffalo Bill Cody," Rep. John Melcher said. "He once got in a fistfight with him." *[Illustration]* Caption: PHOTO: PROCESSION: In 1974, Johnston was moved to a new burial ground in Cody, Wyo. Among the pallbearers was Robert Redford, right, who portrayed him in the 1972 film "Jeremiah Johnson."; PHOTOGRAPHER: Museum of the Old West; PHOTO: FRONTIERSMAN: John Johnston's real life was shrouded in myth.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Museum of the Old West; PHOTO: (BD)CELLULOID HERO: Robert Redford starred in the 1972 movie "Jeremiah Johnson," which added to Johnston's legend.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Museum of the Old West Credit: Times Staff Writer END From Diane (Walters) Hearne (0.606) in 2006: BEGIN 1840 Alexandria Isaac: one male 5-10, one male 30-40, one male 40-50, 2 females under 5, one female 5-10, one female 10-15, one female 30-40. END The following is from Dorman Nelson BEGIN I just got word that a will (1826) was found of William Mettler. He left his daughter Eliza Garrison 20.00 and Isaac Garrison 14.60 in 1841. They received the money the following year. END From Dorman Nelson with regard to John Garrison, child ii and William Garrison, child iii: BEGIN Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 08:01:34 -0800 James Brust (Author of Where Custer Fell) and I without knowing each other--years ago hired Gene Specialists to find out about John Johnston's birthright. Both parties went from Johnson's sister listed on his next of kin records from the Government when he was in the Old Soldier's Home in Sawtelle, California. Matilda Tillman. She was a Garrison. She married Peter Tillman. Her father was Isaac Garrison from the area of Little York, NJ. Johnson said he was from Little York. (Three miles thereof.) The family from the records, which you have found also, was Matilda, John, William, Naomi, Delila, Diana and a possible Isabella. Isaac married Eliza Mettler. Isaac had a habit of farming out his kids to others in the area. There was a Johnson family nearby. As Dennis Mclelland (Wrote an unpublished book on Johnson) noted there was also a Jacob L. Johnston in the area as well. Since Johnston listed his sister as his next of kin and they were born within a few years of each other, I gathered they were close to each other and possible kept in contact. I am chasing down her children's children currently. John Garrison entered the NY Sharpshooters in 1864 and was killed June 1. Since he was a veteran and William was listed as lost at sea in 1857, Isaac applied for and received a pension because he was old, and the Gov provided a pension for loss of able bodied sons in the family that were military related. These are in the pension papers in the Gov NARA Archives. Every one seems to be taking the 1824 date of birth for johnson. I suspect it was 1834 or so. If you look at pictures of him from 1877 onward, he looks later like a man in his 50s and then near the end in his 60s. I can at 54 grow a beard similar to his with the graying in his 1880s pictures. That he was entered in a boxing match later in life, I suspect if he was 60 or so, and matched with a 20 some he wouldn't last out. Johnson won, by the way. I have some memoirs of his from the newspapers. One that he got a hand me down coat from his G grandfather and his mother sewed it to fit and he went to a dance, barefoot, but proud of his coat. That he mentions he was on a whaler, and in the Navy when he joined the Union army adds to being William. But no one has come up with the direct links yet, so, we are all still hunting. Can I list you as a potential relative, or that you are working on this? I suspect with publication of my findings there will be another rush of information. I have been finding some just putting ads in the paper--even a lock of hair!!! I wonder if there would be enough to DNA that to living Garrison clan members? Let me know what you think about this. You probably have more on the Garrisons than I do as far as living ones. Someone might have a "trunk in the attic" with items from the Wild West Show, or his letters home...... Best, Dorman Nelson P.O. Box 33842 Granada Hills, California 91394 (818)881-6821 Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 09:58:55 -0800 I and another fellow paid genists to find out Johnson's birth right. Not together and years apart. Findings, following the Matilda clues. Isaac was born about 1795. In 1825 he signed an Alexandria Township Tavern Application as Isaac Garrason in the same area that Johnston was born. Isaac was the son of Dinah Garrison of the township Alexandria who made her will in 1857, in which she named her son Isaac Garrison. Isaac's father was James Garrison who granted Isaac and his brother John Garrison 40 acres in Alexandria Township in 1819. Isaac and Elizabeth/Eliza mortgaged the remaining 7 acres of land his father had given him in 1819 on 1 April 1844. They mortgaged it again in February 1848. They lived on the plot until they sold it in 1876. Now they are listed as of the Borough of Phillipsburg in the county of Warren in NJ. Isaac and Elizabeth are buried in the cemetery at Bloomsbury. They were married on 9 April 1835 in the First Presbyterian Church of Easton, PA. At least 3 of the Garrison children had been born by then. Isaac Garrison and Elizabeth Mettler (mother listed as born in Easton, PA.) Isaac, according to the newspaper had been robbed of his pension money and died about April 2, 1888 aged about 94 and five months. Buried in Bloomsbury. That's the gist what I have on Isaac and Eliza. I have pension papers and a picture of the grave etc. A side note. I have been trying to find where Matilda might be buried and find her offspring. Naomi, Matilda's sister never married and she died at the Morris Plains Hospital. She was buried in the TILLMAN plot in Locust Hill Cemeterey. I wonder if Matilda was buried there...? Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 05:52:52 -0800 I suspect that Isaac had been married before, so I am trying to dig that up. I have nothing concrete, either of Johnston's sea time, but do have that Isaac was in the service for 91 days. Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 07:02:23 -0800 We are getting some great info here, and getting closer to Liver's birthright. Please note that John Garrison died in 1864 at Cold Harbor--shot through the head. He had been loaned out by his father when younger to neighboring farmers to work...... I am inclined toward William Garrison, who was "lost at sea" to be Johnston. Whether his mother was a Johnston, since his father married Mettler later I think that the 1831 birth of William, or was Mettler's own child we have to figure out. Also I am checking to see if Johnston was a member of the Teamsters that were hired during the Morman War at the same time as william was listed as lost. 1858. Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 11:32:51 -0800 Also, William was the only one that went to sea. Navy was not mentioned. Johnston mentions it only twice. Once to a reporter that he had been in the navy and once when he was filling out papers in the Union Army. I suspect that William is the one. Close to age with Matilda, the age matches with some pension documents and the fact that william was lost at sea and that Johnston mentions he jumped ship. John Garrison was young. He joined the Union Army in 1864 and was killed in June the same year. What we need to do is find out where Matilda's children and their children ended up and who is alive today. I suspect the answers might be with one of them. There had to be correspondence with Johnston and Matilda--for how would he know where she was living? And her married name? In 1900, the year Johnston died, according to the us census, Matilda Tillman and one daughter were living in dover, Morris, NJ. I have the exact address(the house is no longer there) somewhere in my notes. According to some of the gene work she had other children as well. There is some speculation she died in Rochester in 1923. And there are Garrisons that were up there.... There may have been some collecting of news clips by members of the families in 1884-5 because that wild west show was advertised, and Johnston probably told Matilda who would tell other members....... Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 12:15:12 -0800 John Garrison worked for a neighbor in the county of Hunterdon named George Pace. Several times in the year previous to his going to war in 1863. THEN he was killed in june of 1864. Isaac got a pension because of this and that the fact that William went off to sea and was "Lost". Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 07:23:25 -0700 I have hired a fellow to dig up the questions and answers to the birth of Johnson/Garrison. I cannot go back to dig myself. I will have an answer this year. Meantime, I am suggesting that John Johnston is Matilda Garrison Tillman's brother(2 years older) mainly by the facts: .Johnson said he jumped ship before he got to Montana(he arrived about 1862) .Isaac's pension papers list William as lost at sea in 1858.(Isaac Garrison, the father) .How would a man like Johnson know about Matilda Tillman living in Dover, New Jersey without some connection? .Johnson listed Matilda as his sister on his paper work at the Old Soldier's Home in Sawtelle, California. (Died in Jan of 1900) So that is what I have for now. Dorman Nelson Biographer of John Liver Eating Johnson END Much of the information pertaining to this family And their descendants was provided by Fred Sisser III of Bridgewater, New Jersey. Isaac was born on October 1, 1795 in New Jersey and married Elizabeth Mettler (probably born in about 1791) on April 9, 1835 in the First Presbyterian Church of Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The marriage was performed by Rev. John Gray. They lived near Little York, Alexandria Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Isaac probably had a previous marriage with Elizabeth Wilton. Isaac died on April 2, 1888 in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County and is buried in Bloomsbury Methodist Churchyard, Hunterdon County. There is an Eliza Garrison (November 3, 1808 - May 29, 1876) buried with Isaac. This Eliza doesn't seem to be any of the wives mentioned here (see a third probable wife mentioned below). Could Isaac have been married to a fourth Elizabeth? Isaac received land in Alexandria Township from his father in 1819. He mortgaged the land twice, in 1844 and in 1848. Isaac sold the land in 1876 and at the time was living in Phillipsburg, Warren County, New Jersey. This is likely the same Isaac who married Elizabeth Stanaback of Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey on November 13, 1814. The marriage was performed by Benjamin Hamilton, Esq. who was a resident of Hamburg in Hardyston Township, Sussex County. An announcement of this marriage appeared in a newspaper local to Sussex County on November 21, 1814. Elizabeth died in 1832. She is probably the daughter of Jacob Stonebaugh (or Steanbough or Stanaback) of Orange County, New York and Elizabeth Hann (or possibly Jane (or Sarah Jane) Updegrove (or Uptegrove)). from findagrave.com ... BEGIN John Jeremiah Johnston Birth: Jul. 1, 1824 Little York Hunterdon County New Jersey, USA Death: Jan. 21, 1900 Santa Monica Los Angeles County California, USA American Folk Figure. He became legendary as a frontier "Mountain Man". Born in New Jersey. he reportedly joined the United States Navy in 1846 during the Mexican American War but deserted after striking an officer, changing his name to John Johnston and heading west. In Wyoming he made his living as a hunter, trapper and woodhawk. He moved on to Montana in 1862, and in 1864 he joined the Union Army as a sharpshooter in Company H, 2nd Volunteer Colorado Cavalry, serving in Missouri. Wounded in the October 28, 1864 2nd Battle of Newtonia, he was honorably discharged and returned to Montana, where he assisted settlers in hostile Indian territory. In 1877 he served under General Nelson A Miles as chief of scouts, participating in more raids than any other Indian fighter. Eventually, in failing health and with dwindling finances, he was forced to accept financial help from friends. Unwilling to be an object of public charity he reluctantly consented to move into the National Soldiers' Home at Santa Monica, California where he was admitted as an "inmate" in December 1899. Upon his death there on January 21, 1900 he was buried the following day in the nearby Sawtell National Cemetery. The 1972 film "Jeremiah Johnson," loosely based on his life, starred Robert Redford in the title role. When Johnston was reburied in Old Town in Cody, Wyoming, on June 8, 1974, Redford also served as one of the pallbearers. (bio by: O'side Native) Burial: Old Trail Town Cemetery Cody Park County Wyoming, USA Maintained by: Find A Grave Record added: Mar 30, 1999 Find A Grave Memorial# 4943 END from ancestry.com ... Isaac Garrison in the New Jersey, Deaths and Burials Index, 1798-1971 Record Image Index-only record Name: Isaac Garrison Birth Date: abt 1793 Birth Place: United States Death Date: 2 Mar 1887 Death Place: Delaware, Hunterdon, New Jersey Death Age: 94 years Occupation: Laborer Race: White Marital Status: Widowed Gender: Male Father Birth Place: United States Mother Birth Place: United States FHL Film Number: 589311 Source Information Ancestry.com. New Jersey, Deaths and Burials Index, 1798-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: "New Jersey Deaths and Burials, 1720-1971." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2009, 2010. Index entries derived from digital copies of original and compiled records. from findagrave.com ... BEGIN Isaac Garrison Birth: Oct. 1, 1795 Death: Apr. 2, 1888 Burial: Bloomsbury Methodist Churchyard Bloomsbury Hunterdon County New Jersey, USA Created by: Beverly G. Kirby-McDonough Record added: Sep 29, 2007 Find A Grave Memorial# 21834172 END From http://www.fpcc.net/~sgrimm/jeremiah_johnston.htm with regard to William, child iii (NOT John, child ii): NOTE - John Garrison should be William Garrison. - MEL BEGIN John 'Jeremiah' Johnson's real name was John Garrison. Based on Dr. McLelland's research and interviews, John Garrison changed his name after striking a lieutenant and deserting the US Navy. Since desertion was a capital offense, John Garrison became John Johnston. The alias was Johnston and not Johnson. Much legend has been written about John Garrison and most of these tales are unlikely. Born in Little York, New Jersey and of Scottish descent, John started his career as a mountain man about 1843. His adventures during these early years are typical of fur trappers (i.e. grizzlies, indians and mother nature). In 1846, he married a Flathead woman who was later killed by Crow indians. This is where the legends begin. He probably killed a few Crows, not the 300 the tall tales report. There certainly would have been something in the Crow history to reflect this magnificent feat. There is none. Also, the legend of him extracting the liver of his victims and eating it is probably false. Later, Garrison was a sharp shooter for the Colorado Cavalry, a deputy sheriff in Custer County, Montana and turned down an offer from Buffalo Bill to appear in his Wild West show. In between those various jobs, he would return to the wilds he loved where his movements and purpose are not known. In 1895, his health failing (he was 72), he left the mountains and in 1899, entered a Veterans Hospital in Los Angeles. Originally, John Garrison was buried in the hospital cemetery in Los Angeles, but was moved (with Robert Redford as one of the pallbearers) to Old Trail Town in Cody, Wyoming. John Garrison was portrayed by Robert Redford in the movie Jeremiah Johnson. The movie as far as I can tell is pretty accurate. Books about John Garrison Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson by Raymond W. Thorp This is the book that started a lot of the legends. I have never read this book, but it constantly gets bad reviews due to its tall tales. Another book was being written to straighten out a lot of misinformation, but I have not heard the status of this publication. END Fred Sisser III believes this additional info concerning 17.6 which spawns more additional info: BEGIN Timeline - 1814 Elizabeth Stanaback living in Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey (28) 13 Nov 1814 Isaac Garrison and Elizabeth Stanaback married in Sussex County, New Jersey by Benjamin Hamilton, Esq. (28) 21 Nov 1814 marriage announcement for Isaac Garrison published in a Sussex County, New Jersey newspaper (28) 25 Jan 1821 child #1, Simeon M., born in Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey (4) (18) Apr 1824 child #2, Isaac, born (29) Feb 1830 Mary J. Smith born [29] c1832 child #4, George, born (29) 1832 Elizabeth Stanaback died (28) c1844 child #11, Mary E., born (29) 18 Dec 1848 child #2, Isaac, and Mary J. Smith married by Rev. John Davis (27) (31) 1850 child #2, Isaac, living in Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey (29) child #2, Isaac, working as a laborer (29) 1880 child #2, Isaac, living in Hardyston Township, Sussex County, New Jersey (29) child #4, George, living in Hardyston Township, Sussex County, New Jersey (29) 1900 child #2, Isaac, living in Hardyston Township, Sussex County, New Jersey (29) Notes - Elizabeth Stanaback daughter of Jacob Stonebaugh and Elizabeth Hann Updegrove. (28) Sources - 4. obituary for Simeon M. Garrison (9.274), Reference->9.274.txt 18. Mona Hylton , 11 Jun 2007, Reference->9.274.txt 27. marriage record for Isaac Garrison (17.6, child ii), Records->Marriages->17.6ch-ii.jpg 28. Fred Sisser III , Reference->17.6.txt 29. Fred Sisser III 31. "Marriage Index: New Jersey, 1680-1900", Broderbund Software, 1998, Reference->17.6.txt Probable children by Isaac Garrison and Elizabeth Stanaback: i. Simeon M. (4) (see continuation below) ii. Isaac. iii. William. iv. George. Children by Isaac Garrison and Elizabeth Mettler: xi. Mary E. Simeon M. Garrison Father - Isaac Garrison Mother - Elizabeth Stanaback Timeline - 25 Jan 1821 Simeon M. Garrison born in Vernon Township, Sussex County, New Jersey (5) (6) 29 Dec 1853 Simeon M. Garrison and Martha E. Roe married in Sussex County, New Jersey (2) 6 Oct 1854 child #1, Laura Estella, born (4) 1857 child #2, John G., born (4) (8) (9) c1902 Martha E. Roe died (5) (6) 1910 living in South Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey (1) 9 Feb 1915 Simeon M. Garrison died in Sussex, Sussex County, New Jersey from a fall (5) (6) 12 Feb 1915 obituary for Simeon M. Garrison published in Sussex Independent, Newton, New Jersey (5) obituary for Simeon M. Garrison published in Wantage Recorder, Sussex Borough, New Jerseym (6) Simeon M. Garrison buried in Deckertown Union Cemetery, Sussex County, New Jersey (6) Notes - Simeon M. Garrison worked as a farmer; lived in Sussex, Sussex County, New Jersey. (6) Martha E. Roe daughter of John J. Roe and Sarah Bross. (3) Questions - Source #5 says Simeon M. Garrison buried in Papakating Cemetery. (7) Sources - 1. Dorman Nelson , 11 Jun 2007, Reference->5.431.txt 2. "Marriage Index: New Jersey, 1680-1900", Broderbund Software, 1998, Reference->9.274.txt 3. Mona Hylton 4. living family members 5. Mona Hylton , 11 Jun 2007, Reference->9.274.txt 6. obituary for Simeon M. Garrison (9.274), Reference->9.274.txt 7. Marshall Edward Lake (1.) 8. findagrave.com 9. findagrave.com, headstone for John G. Garrison (5.432) and Flora A. ------ (spouse of 5.432), Misc->Headstones->5.432.jpg Children: i. Laura Estella. (4) (see continuation below) ii. John G. (5) (6) (see continuation below) Laura Estella Garrison Father - Simeon M. Garrison Mother - Martha E. Roe Timeline - 28 Apr 1853 Robert Emmet Wilson born (3) 6 Oct 1854 Laura Estella Garrison born (3) 10 Nov 1875 Laura Estella Garrison and Robert Emmet Wilson married in Sussex County, New Jersey (3) 1876 child #1, Albert, born (1) 1880 living in Frankford, New Jersey (1) Mar 1882 child #2, Mable, born (1) 1900 living in Wantage, New Jersey (1) 1910 living in South Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey (2) 1915 living in Sussex, Sussex County, New Jersey (4) 12 May 1916 Robert Emmet Wilson died (3) 1920 living in Sussex, Sussex County, New Jersey (1) 19 Jul 1929 Laura Estella Garrison died (3) Notes - Laura Estella Garrison buried in Fairview Cemetery. (3) Robert Emmet Wilson buried in Fairview Cemetery. (3) Sources - 1. Karen Wreden , 26 May 2007, Reference->5.431.txt 2. Dorman Nelson , 11 Jun 2007, Reference->5.431.txt 3. living family members 4. Mona Hylton , 11 Jun 2007, Reference->9.274.txt Children: i. Albert. (1) ii. Mable. (1) (see continuation below) John G. Garrison Father - Simeon M. Garrison Mother - Martha E. Roe Timeline - 1857 John G. Garrison born (2) (3) (5) 1858 Flora A. ------ born (3) (5) 26 Jul 1868 child #1, name unknown, born (1) (3) 27 Aug 1883 child #1, name unknown, died (1) (3) 1915 living in Sussex, Sussex County, New Jersey (6) 1922 Flora A. ------ died (3) (5) 1937 John G. Garrison died (3) (5) Notes - John G. Garrison married Flora A. ------; (2) buried in Deckertown-Union Cemetery, Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey. (3) Flora A. ------ buried in Deckertown-Union Cemetery, Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey. (3) Child #1, name unknown, buried in Deckertown-Union Cemetery, Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey. (1) Questions - I suspect the birth year for child #1, name unknown, is in error. (4) Sources - 1. Karen Wreden , 26 May 2007, Reference->5.432.txt 2. living family members 3. findagrave.com 4. Marshall Edward Lake (1.) 5. findagrave.com, headstone for John G. Garrison (5.432) and Flora A. ------ (spouse of 5.432), Misc->Headstones->5.432.jpg 6. obituary for Simeon M. Garrison (9.274), Reference->9.274.txt Children: i. name unknown. (1) Mable Wilson Father - Robert Emmet Wilson Mother - Laura Estella Garrison Timeline - c1879 Henry M. Harris born Mar 1882 Mable Wilson born 1900 living in Wantage Township, Sussex County, New Jersey c1903 child #1, Martha E., born 1920 living in Sussex, Sussex County, New Jersey Notes - Mable Wilson died before 1920; married Henry M. Harris. Source - Karen Wreden , 26 May 2007, Reference->5.431.txt Children: i. Martha E. From Karen Wreden on May 26, 2007: BEGIN 1880 Frankford Census: Laura E & R. E. son Albert 3 yrs; born about 1876 1900 census Wantage they have daughter Mable born March 1882 1920 census Sussex Boro (was called Deckertown before this) Laura E. Wilson, 65 wd in household as mother in law of Henry M. Harris 41, wd (Mable's husband) has daughter Martha E. 17 END From Dorman Nelson on June 11, 2007: BEGIN in 1910 Harriet Roe is listed as an aunt living with Laura E. Wilson and Robert E. Wilson with Simeon Garrison aged 89 living with them as well.....South Wantage, Sussex, New Jersey.... END END From Wikipedia.com: BEGIN Liver-Eating Johnson John "Liver-Eating" Johnson ( c. 1824 - January 21, 1900 ) was a legendary mountain man of the American West. He is said to have been born in New Jersey with the name John Garrison. Some accounts say that he joined the navy in 1846 during the Mexican American War but, after striking an officer, he deserted, changed his name to John Johnston, and traveled west to trap and hunt in Wyoming. He also became a "woodhawk," supplying cord wood to steamboats. He was descibed [sic] as a large man, standing around Six foot tall and weighing over two hundred pounds. In 1847, his Indian wife is said to have been killed by members of the Crow tribe, and Johnston set out to take revenge, his personal war on the Crows lasting more than 20 years. The legend says that he would cut out and eat the liver of each man killed, but it¿s quite possible that this only happened once and that he just pretended to eat the liver. In any case, he eventually became known as Liver-Eating Johnson (usually spelled without the t in Johnston). Since eating the liver of a victim is a symbolic way of completing the revenge slaying, some credence might be given to this activity. One story is that Johnson was ambushed by a group of Blackfoot warriors in the dead of winter on a foray to visit his Flathead kin, a trip that would have been over five hundred miles. The Blackfoot plan was to sell him to the Crow his mortal enemies for a handsome price. He was stripped to the waist, tied with leather thongs and put in a teepee with an inexperienced guard outside. Johnson managed to chew through the straps, then knocked out his young guard with one crippling jab between the eyes, took his knife and scalped him, then quickly cut off one of his legs at the hip. Allegedly using the leg as a blunt weapon, he made his escape into the woods, and survived on the Blackfoot's leg until he reached the cabin of Del Gue his trapping partner, more dead than alive, a journey of about two hundred miles. Eventually, Johnston made peace with the Crow who became "his brothers" and his personal vendetta against them finally ended after twenty five years and scores of crow warriors had fallen. The West however was still a very violent and territorial place, particularly during the plains indian wars of the mid 1800's. Many more indians of different tribes, especially but not limited to the Sioux and Blackfoot would know the wrath of "Dapiek Absaroka" Crow killer and his fellow mountain men. He joined the Union Army in St. Louis in 1864 ( Co. H, 2nd Colorado Cavalry ) as a sharpshooter, and was honorably discharged the following year. During the 1880s he was appointed deputy sheriff in Leadville, Colorado and a town marshal in Red Lodge, Montana. In December 1899, he was admitted to a veteran's hospital in Los Angeles, died on January 21, 1900, at the age of about 76, and was buried in nearby Sawtell National Cemetery. The above information is based upon the yarns and tales told over and over through the years. According to Johnson's biographer he was a big man, but standing 5' 11 and 3/4" tall. This is verified by his Civil War record. Other facts and photographs have now come to light which will enhance these legends. [1] In 1972, the film "Jeremiah Johnson" was released. The film was based, at least partly, on Johnson's life, with Robert Redford playing Johnson. The film used some material from the 1969 book "Crow Killer: the Saga of Liver Eating Johnson", by Raymond Thorp and Robert Bunker, but is basically drawn from Vardis Fisher's novel Mountain Man. In neither the novel nor the movie is there reference to liver consumption or removal. On June 8, 1974, Liver Eating Johnson's body was reburied in "Old Trail Town" in Cody, Wyoming with Robert Redford as one of the pallbearers. References {1} Biographer: Dorman Nelson-----dormannelson@sbcglobal.net * Old West Gravesites (John Garrison) * "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson", Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker, Indiana University Press 1958, ISBN 0253203120 . * Buffalo Bill Historical Center, "Liver Eating Johnson and Jeremiah Johnson: Dualing Images of a Mountain Man" * "A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific", Robert M. Utley * FindaGrave.com - John "Liver-Eating" Johnston * Yellowstone Genealogy Forum: Chapple-Rixon-Panton (Yellowstone County Information Sources) END From the Internet: BEGIN (Yellowstone County Information Sources) Revised 8 May 2002 [Added notes to Johnson] Ryan & Flannigan (Saloon Owner in Billings) Fight Promotion This was an impromptu affair arranged to have 'Liver Eating' Johnson, age 62, agreed to a little 'sport' behind the saloon with a professional fighter touring the area taking on all-comers. Johnson saw no need for gloves. His first blow sent the professional boxer through a board fence, and his second blow convinced the fighter that he wasn't in the same class as Johnson. Liver Eating Johnson's Nickname Accounts vary as to why or how he got the name, but generally it appears that in July of 1870 Mrs Captain Hawley was picking Juneberries with an Indian Squaw about 300 yards from a post on the Musselshell River when she was hit in the neck by a bullet from a Sioux war party of nine men. Johnson and nine others found the woman, scalped, but alive. They pursued the Indians intent on killing all. Johnson reported he removed a liver from one of the Indians, who may or may not have been dead when he started to cut it out, and asked 'who would take his liver rare'? Blood from Johnson's chin may have added a little color to the story, as some accounts state the Indians were 'quartered, piled, and scalps taken' by the group. Whether or not Johnson actually ate any of the liver was never revealed. [Reported by Patton] [In the fall of 1843, the steamboat Thames from St. Louis transported Johnson to the St. Joseph eddy in the Blacksnake Hills of Wyoming. Three years later, he became well known to the steamboat captains as a reliable supplier of wood for their boilers. At this time, the Crazy Woman saga depicted in the movie, Jeremiah Johnson, actually took place as Indians in the Musselshell River basin of the Rockies massacred Jane Morgan's family. Johnson tracked down and killed all of her assailants. In 1847, Johnston's pregnant Flathead Indian wife was killed and scalped by a raiding party of Crow Indians while he was away hunting. Barely a year later, his infamous war against the whole tribe of Crows was well known and established. He would eat the liver of his slain enemies as a sign that he had conquered yet another killer of his young Indian squaw. This gruesome practice earned him the title of Dapiek Absaroka (Crow Killer) by the Indians, and, more generally, 'Liver-Eating' Johnson. For more than twenty years he maintained a solitary, wary, daily mortal battle with the Crows. In 1869 he made a peace with them.[2] Johnson settled on a Yellowstone River island to raise cabbages, but after one hot summer they could only be sold for three cents a pound he told Panton 'I'll go and build me a cabin in the mountains where I can kill all I want to eat and I'll never work again.' He built his cabin near the stage station at Red Lodge. Note*: 1) The above article, reported by Patton from the Billings Gazette archives might be in error (if not actually fiction). Please refer to article published by: Raymond W. Thorpe and Robert Bunker. "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson". Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana UP. 1958, re-released in paperback - 1988. Information provided by: E John Martin . See also Johnson's Life at: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/famousSearch.cgi?mode=county&FScountyid=3133 *2) Radio Spot for KDWG 'People in Montana's History', presented by E. John Martin presented below provides a detailed historical summary of Johnson's life, along with excellent references. John Johnston: Mountain Man 'When mention is made of mountain men of the American West the image of a bearded, buckskin clad fur trapper, alone in the wilderness, is probably the first that comes to mind. The setting would be the 1820's, '30's or maybe even the 1840's when, for the most part, that era ended (in the minds of many). Images of the rendezvous may come to mind, where a collection of mountain men, Indians, traders and 'what nots' assembled each summer for trading, liquor, games of skill and re-supply for their next trapping season (Rendezvous). You may have heard of Jim Bridger, Kit Carson or even Hugh Glass, but the most notorious mountain man may have been John Johnston, a.k.a. Liver-Eating Johnson. Arriving on the scene in St. Joe, Missouri in the fall of 1843, Johnston got himself outfitted with the necessities of a trapper, a .30 caliber Hawken rifle, a Bowie knife, some traps and a horse, then headed west (Thorpe 25-26). Where he came from nobody seems to know, but the 20-year-old greenhorn was to become a legend in his own time leaving an indelible legacy. He took up with Old John Hatcher, a mountain man of some repute, and learned how to be a mountain man himself and how to stay alive. Johnston was an apt student, and stayed with Hatcher at his cabin on the Little Snake River in Northern Colorado. When Hatcher left the mountains in 1846, Johnston took over the cabin set out with a new trapping partner, Del Gue, but life wasn't the same. Hatcher had a couple of Cheyenne women that did all the chores for the two of them and when he left had sent them packing. Now, Johnston wasn't too keen on doing his own cooking (Thorpe 40), so in the summer of 1847 he set out for the Flathead (Salish) camps in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana, south of present day Missoula. The previous year, a sub chief had offered his daughter, 'The Swan,' to Johnston in a trade, but now he was looking for a wife. The appropriate exchanges were made, and he and The Swan left on the return trip to the Little Snake. During their time on the trail, Johnson gave her a rifle, powder and ball and taught her to shoot so she would have meat during the winter while he was gone trapping. Out of respect for her, he learned to speak Salish. By the time they reached the cabin it was early fall, and after setting up stores for her comfort, he set out for the winter's trapping (Thorpe 42-44). Sometime in the summer of 1848, the scalped and mutilated bodies of Crow warriors 'and only Crow warriors' began appearing throughout the Northern Rockies and the plains of Wyoming and Montana wherever the Crow roamed. The mutilation found on each warrior was always the same, a slit beneath the ribs and livers removed. In time, it became known that Johnston was carrying on a one-man war with the Crow, killing, scalping and eating the livers of his victims. From that point forward, Johnston was known as the 'Crow Killer' or simply 'Liver-Eating Johnson' (Thorpe 51). It wasn't known initially what set Johnston on the trail of the Crow, but in time, it was learned that Johnston was on a mission of vengeance. In the spring, he returned to the cabin only to find the bones of The Swan in the doorway, victim of a Crow hunting party. Amongst the bones was a small skull about the size of a grapefruit, his unborn child. He took care gathering the bones and secreting them in a crevice among the rocks and hid their location from predators, man and beast alike (Thorpe 47). From that moment, no Crow warrior was safe from his wrath (Thorpe 48). In time, the Crow sent 20 handpicked warriors on the trail of the Crow Killer. None would return (Thorpe 68-69). Johnston lived a long and adventurous life. He was a mountain man's mountain man. Later in life, he was marshal of Red Lodge, Montana. His last days found him in a Los Angeles Veterans Home, and in 1900, he died and was buried there. In 1974, his remains were exhumed and he was reburied in 'Old Trail Town' near Cody, Wyoming, a more fitting resting place for this man of the wilderness (History). In 1972, the movie 'Jeremiah Johnson' was released. It was loosely based on the life of John Johnston, but if you want the real story, read "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson" by Raymond W. Thorpe and Robert Bunker. "A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific" by Robert M. Utley has additional material about Johnston and other mountain men of the American West. Works Cited for Johnson: 1) Thorpe, Raymond W. and Robert Bunker. "Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson". Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana UP. 1958. 2) 'History of Old Trail Town.' http://www.oldtrailtown.com/noframes.html For more information refer to: 3) 'A Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific'. Book by Robert M. Utley. 4) 'Mountain Rendezvous, on line at.' http://www.linecamp.com/museums/americanwest/western_places/mountain_rendezvous/mountain_rendezvous.html http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/voushort.html END From the Internet: BEGIN John Johnson's obituary: Feb. 10, 1900 -Died in California- "Liver-Eating" Johnson, the Noted Scout Is No More Red Lodge Picket: John Johnson, known the country over as "Liver-Eating" Johnson, died at the National Soldiers' Home at Santa Monica, Cal., on Sunday, Jan. 22, and thus came to an end the earthly career of a trail-blazer and intrepid pioneer whose heroic exploits on the western plains are inseparably connected with the early history of the commonwealth of Montana. The announcement of his death was last Saturday received by the Picket in a letter written to this office by Sergeant Whitehead, who penned this brief note: National Soldier's Home, Los Angeles county, Cal., Jan. 22, 1900. to the Editor Red Lodge Picket - Dear Sir: Thinking some of his friends might be interested and like to know, I write to inform you and them that John Johnson, better known as "Liver-Eating" Johnson, died at this home yesterday and was buried here today. This simple announcement will produce a pang in the hearts of those of his companions of early days who are still in the land of the living and will be received with feelings of general sorrow by his legion of old-time friends throughout Montana. For the past twelve years Mr. Johnson had made Red Lodge his home, coming here from Billings and taking up a ranch, which he disposed of last summer to C.W. Savage of Hunter's Hot Springs. Before Billings had a place on the map, Mr. Johnson was deputy sheriff of Custer county, with headquarters at Coulson, and wa on duty there in the early eighties at the time his bosom companion, "Muggins" Taylor, himself an officer of the law, was shot and killed in the discharge of his duties by Henry Lump, a drunken galoot, whose wife supported him by taking in washing. Mr. Johnson was the first constable of Red Lodge and served several terms in that capacity. though a powerful man physically, exposure in camp and on the trail brought its inevitable result, and his iron constitution finally giving way. Wrecked in health and in purse, he was forced to accept financial assistance from his friends, and this worried him considerably. Though disliking to leave the scenes of his former exploits, with the attendant associations, his aversion to being made an object of public charity overcame his prejudices against becoming an inmate of the home for disabled veterans and so he reluctantly consented to enter the California Soldiers' home. Upon leaving Red Lodge less than two months ago, the old man broke down and wept like a child as the train whirled him away from his friends, and it is fair to presume that his last thoughts as he lay dying in a strange land, among strange people in that home by the side of the sea, were of those generous friends and exciting scenes of former days. "Liver-Eating" Johnson was a man among men. Brave and loyal and true, he never shirked a duty, never betrayed a friend, never gave quarter to a foe. Born in New Jersey three quarters of a century ago, he came to Montana in 1862 and remained a few months in Alder Gulch. Then he went to Colorado where he enlisted in the war for the preservation of the union. He served under General Price of Missouri and was in serveral fierce engagements. He was wounded in the battle of Newtonia and discharged from further service. A year later found him back in Montana and from that time until the capture of Sitting Bull he camped on the trails of hostile Indians and saved the lives of hundreds of early-day settlers. He served as chief of scouts under General Miles in 1877 and participated in more raids against the redskins than any Indian fighter of the west. It is related of him that he took more scalps in those eventful days than anybody. It was during one of these Indian-killing expeditions that he got the uncouth name that he took to his grave. this was at the head of the Mussleshell in 1868. the story is that he killed an Indian, cut out the savage's liver and actually ate with great relish. But the story is only partly true. The circumstance is perhaps best related in his own words as he told the story at Hunters Hot Springs less than a year ago. He said: "We was attacked by Injuns, and we licked 'em -- licked 'em good. There was fifteen of us and we killed thirty-six of them and wounded sixty. It was toward the close of the fight that I got my name. I was just getting my blood up and feelin' like fightin'. We was short of ammunition and as I saw an Injun running toward the cover I threw my gun to Bill Martin and took Bill's knife. I wasn't going to waste any good cartridges on him, for I could lick any Injun I could lay paws on. I was considered the best shot with a rifle in Montana at that time, but I wanted to save my cartridges. We had a three hundred yard run to the bushes and I caught the injun by the hair of the head and threw him down just at the edge of the brush. I danced and sang on the Injun's body, for that's what they did to a party of whites a few days before. Then I scalped him and then I danced and sang some more. then I ran my knife into him and killed him and part of his liver came out with the knife. Just then a squeamish old fellow named Ross came running up. I waved the knife with the liver on it in the air and I cried out: "Come on and have a piece! It'll stay your stomach 'till you get home to dinner!" "Don't want none," sez he. "Come on! sez I, dancing around; I've et some and its' just as good as antelope's liver. Have a bite!" and I kind of made believe to take a bite. "Then Ross threw up his guts. And he always swore after that he seen me tear a liver out of a dying Injun and eat it. But that ain't so. I was all over blood and I had the liver on my knife, but I didn't eat none of it. The liver coming out was unintentional on my part. But Ross he vowed 'twas so and I never got rid of the name." END From "A Guide To Old Trail Town" (Cody, Wyoming) obtained in 2007: BEGIN The Grave Site of Jeremiah "Liver Eating" Johnson The grave of Liver Eating Johnson was relocated to Old Trail Town on June 8, 1974. The movie "Jeremiah Johnson" was based on the life of John Johnson, now commonly known as "Jeremiah Johnson". During his colorful career, Johnson, who was born in 1824 and died in 1900, had been a trapper, hunter, woodhawk, army scout, marshal, and Civil War veteran. Over 2,000 people attended the reburial service for Liver Eating Johnson at Old Trail Town, probably the largest burial service in the history of Wyoming. The bronze statue of Johnson erected over the grave was sculpted by Peter Fillerup of Cody. END from http://johnlivereatingjohnston.com/ BEGIN John Liver Eating Johnston. Farmer, sailor, teamster, trapper, hunter, guide, scout, deputy, Union Private, trader, and more. A frontiersman born in New Jersey, sailing the seas then digging for gold in the Montana Territory and continuing to live a robust, adventurous life in the west dodging arrows, bullets, fists, weather, animals, until the frailty of old age came upon him. John Liver Eating Johnston was known as John Johnson, Jack Johnson, John Johnston, Liver Eating Johnson, the Livereater, and probably other names no one would dare say with him nearby. He was noted to be surly, extremely strong and a loner. But did you know his birth name was Garrison? What kind of man was he? What was his roots? What did he do to be remembered even now 107 years after his demise? And, who is he related to? Where is he buried? How big was he? There are many seeking the answers to these questions and more. Do, write in, ask, seek answers, add your own findings. Information is out there, in archives, libraries, diaries, and folk's dusty memories. A culmination of gathered facts can bring Johnston's real life to canvas. One of the better short biogaphies has been written by a young man by the name of Skyler Gabel: Skyler Gabel Cody 8th Grade "Liver Eating" Johnston Liver Eating Johnson was a violent, drunk, mountain of a man who didn't have a very high reputation but was by no doubt the most fearless fighter and he became a legend. Johnston was built like a brick wall with a towering height over six feet tall and weighing 280 pounds none of which was fat. There re not very many books written on "Liver Eating" Johnson. There was the fictional movie Jeremiah Johnson and then the fictional Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver Eating Johnson by Raymond Thorpe and Richard Bunker. Finally, I found a knowledgeable researched source that was just published in 2008: The Avenging Fury of the Plains by Dennis John Mclelland Ed.D. Liver Eating Johnson's real name was John Garrison Johnston. Johnston was born in Little York, New Jersey in July of 1824 to Isaac and Eliza Garrison. He had 5 sisters and may have also had a brother who died in Virginia during the Civil War. Of Irish or Scottish descent, Johnston's father was an alcoholic and nearly worked young Johnston to death. The brutality of his father when Johnston was young and helpless may have had a part in making him the adult capable of doing almost any violent act that he became. The apparent rage inside him most of the time shows that his father also toughened him. Isaac would send his son to farms to work off his own debt. Johnston tired of this treatment and began working on a coastal schooner hunting whales. He was then at sea for 12 or 13 years. This is where he developed his powerful frame. The high sea became boring for Johnston so he enlisted in the U.S. Navy during the Mexican War. It is not known how long Johnston served as a sailor but was obviously not very long because of his temper. Johnston was an impulsive man with a lack of self-control and a very hot temper. When the Lieutenant in charge struck one of his comrades with a sword, Johnston, in a fit of rage, struck him in the neck, which laid him out senseless on the deck of the ship. When the Lieutenant came to, he didn't know whether lightning or a spar had hit him, but he thought it was Johnston. Because of being suspected of striking a superior officer, he didn't get any shore leave for 30 days. When he finally was allowed to go to ashore, he never came back and ventured off into the unknown west. The events described above were taking place when, in the movie Jeremiah Johnson and in the book by Thorpe and Bunker, Johnston's squaw the Swan and Johnston's son were supposedly being killed by the Crow. This proves the story was false. After this, came the myth that Johnston sought revenge and went on a rampage against the Crow. Supposedly, this made a Crow chief mad, so he sent 20 of his best warriors after Johnston one at a time. Johnston, they said, killed them all. Johnston's military record also proves there was no Crow Vendetta against him for that reason. Johnston was actually friends with the Crow most of the time, so it was all a big tall tale. The "Crow Chief" that supposedly induced 20 warriors after Johnston wasn't even Crow. Johnston changed his name to Johnston from Garrison because he was now a deserter on the run and would be hung if caught. Johnston then joined the gold rush. He mined in California then (dates unknown) moved east and ended up in Colorado. He later moved up through Wyoming and into southern Montana where he mined, hunted, trapped, wolfed, bootlegged, peddled whiskey, cut wood and worked as a scout for General Miles Nelson and many others. But mainly he fought Indians. This is where he met his friend and partner J.X. Beidler. The two men had two things in common: whiskey and violence. Johnston was with Beidler on and off until he retired. Johnston like his father was an alcoholic despite the other stories from Thorpe and Bunker's book. It was now when Johnston's legend began to build. Johnston was a legend in and after his time, which resulted in many "fairy tales". Of the many things Johnston did, his nickname proved a lie for he never consumed a human liver. He was tagged with his false name during a battle with the Sioux in 1868. Some claim the battle was in 1869 or 1870, but Johnston himself stated it was in 1868. Johnston and 15 other woodcutters were attacked by the Sioux as they were cutting wood to fuel steamboats on Sioux land. At the end of the battle Johnston stabbed a warrior in the side. When he withdrew his knife, there was a bit of liver remaining on the blade. As a joke Johnston turned to his friends, held up his knife, and then asked if they "wanted a chaw". In the winter of 1863 Johnston joined the 1st Division 2nd Colorado Calvary 4th Brigade H Company as a Private/Scout in the Civil War. He lied about his age and said he was 33 when he was really 39. Johnston deserted only 5 days after he enlisted. It is suspected although uncertain that the reason he deserted was to go spend all the money he had been paid on whiskey. Johnston eventually came back to find the Second Colorado Calvary just staying at the fort awaiting orders. Later Johnston was reassigned to the 2nd regiment. In October of 1864 Johnston was shot in the leg and shoulder in the battles of Westport and Newtonia in Missouri. Johnston fought in the war until he was discharged on September 23, 1865. Johnston returned to Montana territory not sure of anything that lay ahead. He ended up going back to the gold fields and fighting Indians. When he left the gold fields, Johnston spent all the money he owned on whiskey in Fort Benton. After he ran out of money to fuel his drunk, he went back to work as a teamster delivering supplies to miners. Johnston then met up with his old partner J.X. Beidler. Johnston and Beidler set up camp and wood hawked on the Missouri river right in the middle of Sioux land. Wood hawking was dangerous anyways but right in the middle of Sioux land it was almost suicide. They were attacked on a regular basis and soon decided to take a break. Beidler went his own way and Johnston went out alone hunting and trapping for awhile. Johnston was one of a kind to still be hunting and trapping into his 60s. Eventually, Johnston and Beidler were back to their wood hawking camp. Johnston was often seen with Indian skulls on stakes next to the river trying to sell the body parts to tourists passing on the steamboats. Being a wood hawk meant being fearless. In the summer of 68 seven woodcutters were killed. Johnston returned again to the wilderness to trap and hunt. Sioux would steal Johnston's beaver traps and pelt, which angered Johnston so he would set up traps for them and outsmart them. Sometimes he would make a tent and make it look like he had left quickly and leave a piece of poisoned meat for the Indians to eat. Once when three Sioux waited inside Johnston's cabin for his return, he outsmarted them by climbing in a pre-dug tunnel and shooting one of the Indians through the floorboards. Johnston continued this lifestyle for years participating in every big fight there was. Johnston also served as a scout for General Miles several different times participating in catching Chief Joseph and fighting in many more battles. But Johnston, bored with this life, looked for different work. In 1868 Johnston and J.X. Beidler got together and peddled bootlegged whiskey to Indians until about 1873. There was a territory called Whoop Up Territory, which was one of the most dangerous places that rarely a white man dared to go. Johnston didn't care. Since the Indians knew him as a bad spirit, he was allowed a free ride across some of the most dangerous hostile lands in the west. During this time Johnston was peddling whiskey under the cover of nightfall and hiding the whiskey during the day. After Johnston now in his 50s gave up the dangerous game of bootlegging whiskey, he guided some trips into the mountains in south central and southeastern Montana since he knew the area better than any man alive. After these trips he went back to scouting for General Miles and many others. In the years to follow Johnston scouts, hunts, traps, and runs a stagecoach line on and off. He became a lawman in Coulson, Montana (now known as Billings) and then joined a Wild West show, which also lead to a dead end so Johnston returned and resumed his job as a lawman in Coulson. He decided he didn't want to work anymore and was tired of the social life so built a cabin in the mountains where he could live the rest of his life. Johnston built that cabin in Red Lodge where he hoped to never work again. But later he hired on as Sheriff until, having much trouble from his shoulder wound obtained in the civil war, he retired at the age of 70. Johnston went on one more trip to Tombstone, Arizona. He returned to Red Lodge and almost overnight they say got old. In the last year of his life, 1899, Johnston moved to a veteran's hospital in Los Angeles, California where he died on January 21, 1900. Johnston's body was buried in California for years but with much negotiating and dispute it was moved to Old Trail Town in Cody, WY. Cody is near some of Johnston's favorite stomping grounds being only 65 miles from Red Lodge, MT. Between Red Lodge and Cody was one of Johnston's favorite mountain ranges, the Beartooths, where some backwoodsmen today claim to notice the smell of pipe tobacco drifting into camp and they then report seeing the ghostly figure of Johnston leading a pack string down an ancient trail smoking a pipe in the moonlight. END Posted by: "Dorman Nelson" dormannelson@sbcglobal.net Date: Thu Jun 25, 2015 4:33 pm ((PDT)) BEGIN Howdy, Thanks for asking....The show was probably booked as Hardwick's Show, or, the Liver Eating Johnson and Crow Indian Group, or perhaps another. They were in Minneapolis and I think one other, although I do not have that info handy. There was a local gal that joined the show from Minnisota. And one fellow from the Dakotas. SHE supposedly fell in love with one of the Crow.... The Movie jeremiah johnson is based on the books Crow Killer and Mountain Man....mostly fiction. Tall tales laced with a bit of truth. Johnson never married although he had a squaw working for him one trapping season. The show started in May of 1884 went to the Dakotas, to Minn, to Wis, then down to Chicago where it disbanded in August of 1884. Some of the troupe went with Cody, some with Sullivan, some with other shows and a lot of the cast and crew had to make their own way back to Montana and thereabouts. I will be into those boxes later this summer with all the info. Thanks, Dorman Nelson For those that might not know, the 1972 movie jeremiah johnson was loosely about John Liver Eating Johnston who died in Sawtelle, California in 1900. He was born a Garrison--grandson of Dinah Rob(b)ins who is of the Robbins Family Clan. There are several relatives alive today that are from the marriage of Dinah and Isaac Garrison. Johnston had 4 sisters and one brother from that union. I know that Isaac was married before at least once and the 2 sons and 1 daughter from that union never had children. Liver Eating Johnston was born in New Jersey close to Little York. The family also operated the tavern at King's Crossing, although I think Isaac probably drank himself out of any living from that venue. > Posted by: ktyc14@yahoo.com kty31451 > Date: Thu Jun 25, 2015 1:28 pm ((PDT)) > > i hope you are the man researching Jeremia Johnson. I rented the movie. > Will watch tonight or tomorrow then find out if there is anything at > Historical Society. Do you know where in Minnesota he brought his show? > Kathy Crellin END Somerset County Historical Quarterly Vol. v. - 1916 EDITOR: A. VAN DOREN HONEYMAN PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY SOMERVILLE, NEW JERSEY SOMERSET COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLISHERS BEGIN EARLIEST AMERICAN ANCESTORS OF SOMERSET FAMILIES FROM THE editor's NOTE BOOK Mettler. - This family has not yet been traced beyond the Revolution. A John Mettler, in 1783, purchased 433 acres of the Hamilton Tract in Alexandria twsp., Hunterdon co. The same year a Philip Mettler d. there intestate. A William Mettler, b. about 1770, and a John Mettler, b. about 1772, may have been sons of the previously named John. The latter named John m. an Apgar. and d. 1866, at the age of 94, at Mt. Pleasant, near Milford. His son, Enoch, was the grandfather of Mr. John Wyckoff Mettler, of East Millstone. The name may be English, but it would not surprise the writer to find that the original name was "Medlar," and that the family came from the Palatinate during the middle of the Eighteenth century, although it is said the name "Mettler" is to be found in Switzerland. END