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Submitted: 4/21/18 • Approved: 4/21/18 • Last Updated: 4/24/18 • R1218781-G1218781-S3
1811 - 1878
Ancestry.com
Posted 16 Nov 2013 by bhenderson3704
The family story of Amos and Clarkie is as follows:
Amos and Clarkie Johnson and their family arrived on Petit Jean Mountain on Christmas Eve of 1859. Their family consisted of their three children -- Nancy, William and Columbus (Lump). Their daughter, Nancy, and her husband, Theodore Montgomery, had three children, William (Billy), Robert, and Sally. (Sally was born in Maumelle en route to Petit Jean). William Johnson was married to Emily E. Knowles.
Clarkie Swanigan Barnett Johnson was born in County Donegal, Ireland. We do not know at what age and under what circumstances she came to the United States. She married a Mr. Barnett. They lived in Baker County, Georgia, where they owned a plantation. After Mr. Barnett died, Amos Johnson, a neighbor, agreed to help her manage the plantation. Clarkie Barnett and Amos Johnson fell in love and were married in 1834.
After what the family referred to as "an unfriendly discussion over slavery", Amos and Clarkie and a brother of Amos decided to move to Texas. In the fall of 1859, they came to Greenville, Mississippi, where they boarded a steamboat and traveled up the Mississippi River to the Arkansas River to Little Rock. They set up camp in Maumelle and stayed there until Nancy Montgomery delivered their third child, a daughter named Sally.
While they were in Maumelle, they met a Mr. Haggerty who was taking his cattle to market. Upon seeing Mr. Haggerty's cattle, Amos Johnson said, "wherever those cattle came from is where we are going!" When Nancy Montgomery was able to travel after the birth of Sally, Amos and Clarkie Johnson and their families went to Petit Jean Mt. Amos Johnson's brother continued to Texas.
Mr. Haggerty told them about the mountain near his farm and said that it was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. The ground was good for crops and cattle grazing. The Haggerty's farm was below the west side of Petit Jean Mt. The Johnson, Montgomery adn Haggerty families remained friends until Mrs. Haggerty died. Mrs Haggerty regularly rode her horse up the Mountain to visit the Johnsons. Her visits normally lasted two or three days. It was Mr. and Mrs. Haggerty who told the Johnsons and Montgomerys the story of Petit Jean.
There were two other families living on Petit Jean when Amos and Clarkie settled there -- the Owen West and Chester Morris families (some versions of the story also include the Rainwaters) had moved to Petit Jean two or three years earlier. Amos and Clarkie Johnson's first home on Petit Jean Mt. was near what is now SoundCraft Systems, Inc. They had selected that site because of an excellent artesian well.
In 1860, Amos Johnson was killed by a falling tree as he worked to clear the land. His grave was the third one in the Petit Jean Mt. Cemetery. (The first two were the Walker children.) Clarkie Johnson continued to raise her family on Petit Jean Mt. and lived there until she died in 1878. Clarkie also is buried in the Petit Jean Mt. Cemetery.
Contributed on 4/21/18 by hawkinsdonna48
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Record #: 1218781