Ellen Amelia Johnson

Ellen Amelia Johnson is the sixth great granddaughter of Capt. John Johnson, of Roxbury, who arrived in 1635 with the Winthrop Fleet, on the Arbella.

Biographical Summary:

"...Ellen Amelia Johnson was born at a critical time in the lives of her parents, Lorenzo Johnson and Mary Lyman. Before her birth her parents suffered religious persecution and were driven from their home in Nauvoo. Her parents were living at a refugee camp, Winter Quarters, Nebraska, when she was born on December 12, 1847.

In 1852 when Ellen was four years old, she traveled across the plains to Utah where her parents settled in Springville in Utah County.

Ellen received very little formal education but was so studious that she assisted in teaching school at an early age. When she became a mother, she taught her children to read..."

"...James [Thompson Lisonbee Sr.] and Ellen married on April 20, 1862, in Springville, Utah. Shortly after their marriage, James volunteered and went yet another time to the Missouri River after stranded Saints. He and Ellen had five children during their years in Springville...

"...[James] died in Springville eleven days after his return on December 9, 1877, at age thirty-eight and was buried on Ellen’s thirtieth birthday. He never made it home.

Once again Ellen was left to provide for her family. Filled with sorrow and disappointment, she returned home to Monroe. How thankful she was that she had taken her children with her to greet their father on his return. And how deeply grateful she was that her widowed mother, Mary Lyman, was there to give her the strength to carry on..."

"...The journey home to Monroe was filled with difficulty and peril. One night it snowed. Eastern settlers in the area were unfriendly and would not give them shelter from the winter storm. Ellen bedded down her four eldest children on the ground, and she and her mother, who came with her, held the two youngest through the night. By morning the bed on the ground was completely covered by a mound of snow.

Ellen worked hard to make a living. She carried home very heavy bolts of material and made men’s jumpers and overalls by the dozen for a co-op store. She provided and cared for her children, for her widowed mother, Mary Lyman—for twenty-six years, and for her blind mother-in-law, Mary Ann Callaham.

Towards the end of her life, Ellen and her youngest son traded her home in town for more land about four miles out of town. They hoped to make a living by farming but experienced much adversity and loss. So she continued to sew and care for the homeless and the helpless.

On December 25, 1903, Ellen died in Monroe, [Utah] at age fifty-six. She had fought a good fight. With Ellen gone, her ninety-six year old widowed mother followed two weeks later..."

SOURCE: Krauss, Dixie H; Perry & Lora; Their Roots & Branches; Deseret Pioneers; publicatoin date 2003. Retrived from: http://www.hancocklegacy.org/PDF/James%20Lisonbee%20&%20Ellen%20Ame...
* Residence: Utah, United States - 1870

• Residence: Monroe, Sevier, Utah, United States - 1880