Zopher “The Elder” Johnston
BIRTH 1710
Northern Ireland
DEATH 1804 (aged 93–94)
Greene County, Tennessee, USA
BURIAL
Old Cooper Burial Ground
Greene County, Tennessee, USA
ZOPHER JOHNS(T)ON “THE ELDER”, PATRIARCH OF THE ROARING FORK AND CROSS ANCHOR FAMILIES OF GREENE COUNTY, TENNESSEE:
The Patriarch of the Greene County, Tennessee families covered in this book all link to Zopher Johnston “The Elder”. He is the oldest member of our family who can be documented in the American Colonies by the year 1720. He is also the first member of our families who arrived in Greene County, Tennessee beginning in the year 1790. To understand the relationships of the eleven surnames documented in this family history, one must first learn about the Patriarch, Zopher Johns(T)on “The Elder”. All of our families, in one way or another, descend from him. Four of Zopher "The Elder's” sons can be documented. Two of these sons arrived in Greene County, Tennessee with their father in 1790 and founded the intermarried families who lived in the Roaring Fork/Cross Anchor area of northern Greene County:
The Patriarch of the District 12 (Roaring Fork/Baileyton Road area) Johnson family was Zopher Johnston. His year of birth is not known, although he was born sometime in the early 1700’s. His name was carried forward by multiple generations over an unbroken, 230 year time span. The last of his namesakes died in Macedonia, Illinois in the 1930s.
By 1791, there were three men named “Zopher JohnsTon/Johnson” in Greene County, Tennessee. The family Patriarch, Zopher, who was born in the early 1700’s, is who we refer to as Zopher “The Elder”. The original surname was Johnston, but is often spelled as “Johnson” in various records. We have a first hand account of his name by Jane (Brown) Cooper in 1844, when, in her own hand, she phonetically spelled his name as “Zaffa Johnston”. By 1840, the “T” had been dropped from the surname in most records. By 1850, the “T” is completely gone, and the surname is Johnson. This is the surname his descendants would carry in their future westward migrations into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.
We first find the Patriarch, Zopher Johnston, in the 1730 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania tax list: “Zopher and John Johnson, settled ten years”; thus, we know he was in the Colonies at least by the year 1720. The timing coincides perfectly with the initial mass migration of the Scots into the American Colonies. It is possible Zopher and John came to the Colonies as young, indentured servants to a wealthy Quaker Family living in Philadelphia. After their indenture was fully paid, they migrated westward. This scenario is one theory.
The next “sighting” occurs in September 1761. Again, both “Sopher” and John Johnston are once again in a Tax List, this time in Allen Township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. We can now make some speculative assumptions. Zopher and John appear to be brothers. “Sopher” had 6 persons in his household, while John had 5. We know “Sopher” is Zopher Johnston, the Patriarch of the District 12 Greene County, Tennessee Johnson Family, because in 1832 his son, Zopher Johnston, Senior, filed for a Revolutionary War Pension in Greene County. In this pension application, Zopher, Senior, stated he was born on the Forks of Delaware in Pennsylvania. This area is in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. In 1832, Zopher, Senior, stated his age as 70 years old; thus, dating his birth in Northampton County about 1762.
Another twenty years elapsed before we are able to learn more about Zopher Johnston, the Patriarch of the Greene County District 12 Johnson families. During this twenty year interval (1761-82), like so many of the Scots, Zopher migrated south from Pennsylvania, down the Great Wagon Road into the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. It is uncertain if Zopher’s brother, John, came with him. In 1782, we find only Zopher Johnston in Frederick County, Virginia. His “brother”, John, is not with him. In the 1782 Frederick County, Virginia Tax List, Zopher is listed with eight persons in his household. Two of his sons resided next door in their separate households. These two sons were Moses and Zopher Johnston, Senior, the Revolutionary War soldier who is buried in Greeneville, Tennessee.
Both of the sons, Moses and Zopher Johnston, Senior, came to Greene County, Tennessee with their father, Zopher “the Elder”. Residing next door to this Johnston family in 1782 is the Jotham Brown family. Jotham Brown’s wife, Pheby, is believed to be a daughter of Zopher Johnston. There is not yet specific documentation with which to make this claim with certainty. Most of the Jotham Brown family members also migrated into Greene County, Tennessee beginning in 1803.
On November 17, 1790, Zopher Johnston, the Patriarch of the Greene County family, purchased 100 acres of land from the State of North Carolina, Grant #850. He paid 50 shillings for the land. At this date, the area which would later become Greene County, Tennessee was called “The Territory South of the Ohio”. The State of North Carolina maintained jurisdiction over this area, and in 1789, had ceded the land to the Federal Government. The land in Greene County would eventually become part of the State of Tennessee in 1796.
Neither Zopher Johnston “the Elder”, nor either of his sons, Zopher, Senior, and Moses, are in the 1800 Tax List. This seems to imply the 1800 Tax List of Greene County is incomplete. The Tax Lists for the years 1801-1804 are missing. The next available tax list is that of 1805. In the 1805 Tax List, only a Harrison Johnston (born 1780) is named. Harrison is believed to be a much younger son of Zopher “the Elder” by a younger, second wife, Catherine Harrison (born 1753; died 1834). The Tax Lists for the years 1806 through 1808 no longer exist. By 1809, only Zopher Johnston, Senior, (born c. 1762), the Revolutionary War Soldier, remained in Greene County. Zopher Johnston, the family Patriarch, who brought his family from Virginia into Greene County, Tennessee by 1790, most probably died in Greene County between 1800 and 1805. He is clearly deceased by February 1809, when Harrison Johnson, who is believed to be his son, was mentioned in the Greene County Court Minutes as the “Administrator of the Estate of Zopher Johnston, deceased”.
1805: The 1805 Tax List of Greene County lists only a Harrison Johnston. Harrison is believed to be a son of Zopher “the Elder” by “the Elder’s” second wife, Catherine Harrison. Neither Zopher “the Elder” nor his sons Zopher Senior and Moses are named in this 1805 Tax List. It is the opinion of this writer that Zopher Johnston “the Elder” died intestate before 1805. His widow, Catherine Harrison Johnson, and her son, Harrison Johnson (born 6-18-1780), are temporarily in “legal” possession of the land.
The known children of Zopher Johnston, the Patriarch of the Greene County District 12 Johnson families, and his First Wife whose name is not known, include:
Pheby/abt 1745 (Mrs Jotham Brown)
Moses/abt 1750
Joseph/abt 1755
Zopher, Sr/abt 1762 m. Spouse Unknown
John/
After his First Wife died before 1780, he married Catherine Harrison and they were the parents of:
Harrison/18 Jun 1780
Both Harrison and his Mother are buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery on their farm. Catherine, born 9-13-1753, died on 5-22-1834. On Harrison’s tombstone, he is identified as the son of Zopher and Catherine Johnson. Harrison died on 6-3-1857.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167036039
