Biography of Liecester Johnson
FROM: History of Livingston County,
New York
By James H. Smith
Assisted by Hume H. Cole
Published By D. Mason & Co. 1881
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LEICESTER JOHNSON. Leicester Johnson was the second son of David Johnson, who came from Hartford, Conn., somewhere about the year
1808, and purchased a small tract of land in the town of Avon, then Hartford, where he followed the occupation
of farming, which was attended with more or less trials and hardships incident to pioneer life in the Genesee Valley.
During the year known as the cold season" he would walk seven miles and put in a full day's work for a peck
of corn, which he would carry home upon his back at night for the use of his family. He was the youngest of seven
sons. The other six all served their country in the Revolutionary war. One of the brothers, Ebenezer, was about
the first Mayor of the city of Buffalo.
David Johnson married Rachel Chappel, of Connecticut, by whom he had nine children, four sons and five daughters.
By his honesty and persevering industry and economy he acquired a competency. He died in 1814.
Leicester Johnson, whose name heads this brief memoir, was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1805, and came with his
father to Livingston county, then Ontario. He was brought up on his father's farm, receiving such an education
as could be acquired at the common district schools. After attaining to the age of 18 years, he taught school winters
and worked upon the farm during the summer. In 1831 he married Julia A. M., daughter of Calvin Bicknell, Esq.,
of Geneseo, who bore him six children, four of whom are now living, namely: Seymour, Leicester, Julia A. M., and
Julius. The latter is living in Geneseo. The others died in infancy. Mr. Johnson was an "old-line Whig,"
but became identified with the Republican party. In his younger days he took an active interest in the political
affairs of the country, though never seeking office. He was for many years Town Superintendent of Schools, and
filled many other local offices at different times. Upon his beautiful farm, where at an earlier period he had
seen the wild deer and the bear roam in apparent security, he has for years heard the shrill whistle of the locomotive
and seen the trains of heavily freighted cars passing and re-passing at almost all hours. He died in 1875, honored
and lamented by all who knew him.
Seymour is the eldest of the family, and is living upon the old homestead of his father, now consisting of 350
acres of as good land as there is in the Genesee Valley, a finely improved farm 3* miles south of the village of
Avon.
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