Sacramento County
Biographies
AMARIAH JOHNSON
Amariah Johnson was born about nine miles from Paris,
Illinois, in 1823, the third son of his
father, Isaac Johnson, who, thirteen years later, moved with his family to Iowa,
where he was a farmer. When Amariah grew to
manhood, he learned the trade of carpenter and builder with his two elder
brothers at Fort Madison, Iowa.
In 1844 he began business for himself at Fort
Madison. He went to St.
Louis a year later and worked with Messrs. Whitehall
& Weston and with H. H. Wright, remaining in that city till January,
1850. When Fremont came to California
in 1845, our subject tried to get into his party, but was too late, every place
being filled. In December, 1849, his father and younger brother came on
to St. Louis with a party of nine
others, all bound for California.
He joined them, leaving St. Louis
on the 4th of January, 1850.
They were unable to get tickets but secured passage to the mouth of the Rio
Grande, on the steamer Globe. They then came via
Fort Brown (now Brownsville); then, following the route taken by General Taylor
up the Rio Grande, they packed 1,300 miles across to the coast; there they engaged a sailing vessel and came up the coast,
landing at San Francisco on the 28th
of March. Our subject came on to Sacramento,
thence to Marysville, and finally to the mines on the Yuba. After a
varied mining experience there and on the Feather River,
he took a contract to erect a hospital building at Nevada
City and then came to Sacramento,
arriving just after the squatter riots, and secured employment on the Orleans
building, then in course of construction. He, however, soon started
business on his own account, locating his shops on the site now occupied by the
yards of the Sacramento Lumber Company, on Second street, where he lost about
$5,000. He soon started again, however, this time on Fourth
street, between K and L,
and, taking in William Shumaker as partner, continued in the business for many
years. In 1857 he made a trip home to Fort Madison, Iowa, and was
there married, June, 1858, to Miss Eliza Jane, daughter of John S. Kennedy;
immediately afterward he started with his bride for the far West. He
bought property on N street and built his family residence, twenty-two years
ago, where he has resided ever since. He has one son, Howard; and one
daughter, Kate E., wife of Dr. Reid.
Transcribed by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An
Illustrated History of Sacramento County,
California. Pages
527-528. Lewis
Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2006 Karen Pratt.
Sacramento
County Biographies