Person:Ezekiel Johnson (4)

There is confusion as to when Ezekiel was actually born. The story Ezekiel told his family is not consistent with research done after his death. Exekiel told his family that he was born on January 12, 1776, and that his father died in the Revolutionary War after he married his mother. However, there is no record of his birth in the Uxbridge vital records. There is a recorded county court proceeding for September 1773: "Bethiar Gansee of Uxbridge in the County of Worcester (Massachusetts) spinster comes into court to answer to a presentment found against her by the Grand Jurors for said body of this county for that she did on said last day of May Anno Dom 1772 at Uxbridge aforesaid commit the crime of fornication with a male person to the said jurors unknown whereof she there afterwards had a [illegitimate] child born of her body against the peace to which she pleads guilty." (Clara S. Johnson, Ezekiel Johnson and Julia Hills, A Report of a Research Trip Made in 1960, [Salt Lake City: Committee of the Ezekiel Johnson Family Organization, 1961, pg. 9)

Based upon this research, it is now believed that his birth was in January 1773 and that his mother and father were never married.

He was by nature a most tender and affectionate husband and parent. He was obliging and true - a man of truth and honor among men. He had a problem with intemperance which at times, changed his whole nature. He was 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a solid build. He had fine light brown hair and mild, but piercing blue eyes. He had tight smooth skin. He had the habit early on of the use of "ardent spirits". He never met his father, who went to fight in the Revolutionary war before Ezekiel was born. Some say he was killed in battle, others say he just never came back. His mother was fined for being pregnant out of wedlock. She eventually married John King. Ezekiel didn't get along with him because he was abusive. When the opportunity came at about 14 years old, he ran away, never to see his mother again. It is believed that she eventually went to Canada. This is all the information of his early life, there isn't any record of him until he is in his twenties. Some notes were found giving the impression that he was in the cow bell business. He was a thrifty man. After he was married, he worked as a carpenter building cabins for the new settlers and clearing the timber for farm land. I guess you could say he was an early realtor. He was a wanderer. He would build a cabin in a secluded area, when a few neighbors moved in, he would move on . He was considering baptism into the Mormon Church, when he found out his wife had secretly been baptized in the night. He was very distressed and said he would never have anything to do with the Church. In 1835, he left the family home for good. He lived with his daughter Esther and her family in Nauvoo. He eventually gave up drinking and had a change of heart about the church. He was very upset when Joseph Smith was killed. He became a one man army of defense. He carried his double-barreled shot gun "Old Bess" and held off a company of soldiers by hiding behind a tree and stepping out pointing the gun at the captain when they got right on him. He told them to leave or he would shoot. They left and tried to sneak in on another street, but he was waiting for them and did the same thing, this time he told them if they did it again, he would just shoot. This gave the saints enough time to escape. This incident led to his death. He became a marked man. On a trip into Nauvoo, a mob captured him and tied him to a wagon wheel were he was whipped to near death. He never recovered and died shortly after. He had asked for baptism but because of his sudden death, never received it. President Wilford Woodruff gave permission for his descendants to do his temple work and seal him to his family. President Woodruff said that Ezekiel "was one of the first Martyrs to the cause of the Church in this dispensation."

1. ↑ Rolla V. Johnson, The Life of Ezekiel Johnson
   Page 1.
2. ↑ Rolla V. Johnson, The Life of Ezekiel Johnson
   Page 5.
3. ↑ Find A Grave Website (www.findagrave.com).
4.   Ancestry.com, compiler, (i)Sons of Utah Pioneers Memorial Gallery Index Cards(/i) (Salt Lake City, Utah, Unite.

   Name: Julia Hills Johnson
   Spouse: Ezekiel Johnson
   Pioneer: before 1869
   Birth Date: 26 Jan 1783
   Death Date: 30 May 1853
   Birth Place: Upton, Mass.
   Death Place: Council Bluffs, Iowa
   Donor: H. Alan Luke
   Chapter: Mills