Samuel P.
Johnson and Susan E. Beck
Submitted
by Gregory S. Johnson- October 2003
Updated December 27,
2005
My paternal great-grandfather, Samuel
Parsons (“S.P.”) Johnson, son of Samuel Johnson and Martha
“Patsy” Collier, was born in Carroll County, MS on November
18, 1840. His wife, Susan Eliza Beck, daughter of Thomas
Wright Beck and Esther Blackman Fellows, was born March 24,
1850, also in Carroll County, MS. They were married March
26, 1867 in Black Hawk, MS. by the Rev. Steve Johnson and
lived in the city of Vaiden.
They had 10 children, three of whom
(Gaston Gilbert, Mary Eliza and John W.) died as children.
The remaining seven were Mamie Canzada (wife of Wesley
Stephen Hatcher), Mattie Esther (wife of James Robert
Lowry), Thomas Meek (married to Ada Mason and Hattie Allen
Gratham), George Whitfield (never married; was the surviving
twin brother of John W.), Louis Henry (married to Lizzie Red
and Lynn Bock), Samuel Walter (married to Bennie Mae
Rodgers), and Joseph Emmitt (married to Ada Mayfield).
Joseph was my grandfather.
Prior to their marriage, in March 1862,
S.P. enlisted in Waul’s Texas Legion (Co. F, Willis
Battalion). He was living in Gonzales County, Texas at the
time. It is not known when or why he had moved to Texas.
According to the pension applications completed by Susan
after S.P.’s death, he was still in active service when the
Civil War ended.
S.P. died in Carroll County on November
22, 1922. He is buried in Old Salem Cemetery. “Co. F,
Waul’s Texas Legion, CSA” is engraved on his headstone. He
was a member and elder of the Blackmonton Presbyterian
Church at the time of his death.
After S.P. died, Susan lived for awhile
with her daughter Mamie Johnson Hatcher in Red Banks
(Marshall County), MS. Later, she lived with her son Thomas
Meek in Ruleville (Sunflower County), MS which is where she
died on December 30, 1930.
According to Susan’s Death Certificate,
she is buried in Old Salem Cemetery in Carroll County. Based
on personal observation, her grave is unmarked.