Wyatt Johnson lived in the rural area of Jasonville, Greene County, Indiana but was actually a resident of Jackson township, Sullivan County.  Folks in the Jasonville community could walk, without breaking a sweat, into Sullivan and Clay counties.  

     Wyatt Johnson raised a family of nine girls and one lone boy whom he named Ira Jackson Johnson, called "Jack."  Now this was the era when little boys were named Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson; even George Washington was still popular.  And if you find an ancestor named Thomas J. or William A., you might take a guess at Jefferson, Jackson, or Andrew as a middle name.  

     But my very great grandfather Wyatt Johnson was a tough old pioneer and when he died in l878, his obituary did not name those nine daughters and the one boy at the tail end of the tribe.  Other details were more important.   Historians agree that Andrew Jackson was a man of the commonest people.  When he left office, he left the government just about debt free. A worthy accomplishment to be envied today.  Today's high fever of bias, emotion, opinion, political bent is no different than it was in Wyatt Johnson's world.   Here' s what Wyatt's obituary tells us. "He...took part in many of the conflicts so common among the early settlers (this means he duked it out).   He was active in the election of the President in l832 when Jackson was a candidate, two votes being cast for Jackson's opponent  at that precinct.  It was thought to be a mistake, and no one present being willing to acknowledge that they were genuine, they were cast aside as being spurious."  So much for the sanctity of the secret ballot.  I'm very sure that the man who lived  50 years in a township named for Andrew Jackson, and who named the only male to carry on his father's line after Old Hickory  must have made it known to any "spurious voters" just where he  "politically" stood.

[Contact: Webweaver]