Nephi Johnson

Nephi Johnson, his personal and family background, and his involvement in and statements about the Mountain Meadows Massacre

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Nephi Johnson

1833-1919

Biographical Sketch

Early Days in Ohio and Illinois

Nephi Johnson was born at Kirtland, Ohio, to Joel Hills Johnson and Anna Pixley. His parents were New Englanders who with other members of the extended family were early believers in Joseph Smith's restoration movement and followed him from New York to Ohio and later to western Illinois. By 1839, members of the extended Johnson family were in Carthage, Illinois and Johnson was baptized in 1842.

Migration to Utah

The Johnson family departed Illinois in 1846 and immigrated to Utah in 1848.

Moving to Southern Utah

The Johnson family settled in Parowan in 1850 but by 1851, they had relocated to Johnson's Springs (modern Enoch) seven miles north of Cedar City and a dozen miles south of Parowan. From an early age, Johnson began learning the local Indian languages and became a proficient interpreter.

In the Iron Military District: 2nd Lieutenant Nephi Johnson, Company D, Isaac Haight's 2nd Battalion, Fort Johnson

In 1857, Johnson was 2nd lieutenant in a platoon in Company D of the Iron Military District. Joel White was the captain of Company D and Daniel Macfarlane was his adjutant. Company D was attached to Major Isaac Haight's 2nd Battalion. However, the members of Johnson's platoon were from Johnson's Springs, not Cedar City, and none of them, except Johnson, were at Mountain Meadows. The reason Johnson was singled out was because of his skill as an interpreter: Haight specifically sent for Johnson because Haight needed someone with Johnson's linguistic skills to deal with the Paiutes whom he and John D. Lee had unleased at Mountain Meadows.

Johnson rode to Mountain Meadows on Thursday, September 10. The following day, he delivered orders to the Indians to disburse and hide. At the time of the massacre he probably translated the orders to attack the women and children.

He was listed in the 1859 arrest warrant issued by Judge John Cradlebaugh for those suspected of complicity in the massacre.

Later Life

In 1858, he was in the exploring party into western Utah and Nevada, scouting for new areas for possible settlement. He also helped found the colony at Virgin City, where he lived for fourteen years and acted in succession as presiding elder, acting bishop, and bishop's counselor.

Johnson explored the upper Virgin River drainage and he along with his brothers were the first whites to enter Zion Canyon. In 1862-63, he traveled with Jacob Hamblin to the Hopi mesas in northeast Arizona.

In 1856, he had married Mandana R. Merrill who bore him ten children; in 1860, he had married Conradina A. Mariger, who bore him sixteen children; in 1889 he married a widow with six children, who bore him one additional child.

Move to Kanab, Kane County

He moved to Kanab, Kane County in 1871, where he fulfilled a series of positions including first counselor to the bishop, county commissioner, town president, superintendent of waterworks and road commissioner. Johnson was employed by John Wesley Powell in Powell's 1872 Colorado River expedition.

By 1874, Johnson had moved north into the Sevier River Valley where his father, Joel H. Johnson, established a sawmill at Hilldale south of Panguitch. His brother Seth Johnson was also there. In that year, Nephi Johnson was appointed presiding elder of the small church congregation there. (Note: A Nephi Johnson served as a city attorney in Garfield County.)

Testifying in Lee's Second Trial in 1876

In 1876, Johnson testified in the second trial of John D. Lee.

He moved to Juarez, Mexico, 1889-1894, then relocated and lived his remaining years in Bunkerville, Nevada, were he served in the church in the office of patriarch to the Mormon community there.

Final Statements about the Massacre

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As the years passed and the threat of criminal prosecutions receded, he made several other important statements about the massacre. Part of the importance of Nephi Johnson was that in his later years he became more forthcoming about lesser known aspects of the massacre.

His later statements have now been published in Turley and Walker, Mountain Meadows Massacre: The Jenson and Morris Collections, .

Final Years

Nephi Johnson died in 1919, survived by many children and descendants. On his deathbed, a young schoolteacher witnessed his tortured, delirious recollections of the massacre more than six decades before. The experience prompted her in later life to write The Mountain Meadows Massacre. She was Juanita Leavitt, the granddaughter of massacre participant, Dudley Leavitt. Later, she was better known by her married name, Juanita Brooks.

References

Alder and Brooks, A History of Washington County, 32, fn. 13; Bagley and Bigler, Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives, 406-411; Bitton, Guide to Mormon Diaries, 183; Bradley, A History of Kane County, 151; Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre, Appendix I, 224-226; Chidester, Golden Nuggets of Pioneer Days: A History of Garfield County, 37, 57; “Diary of Almon Harris Thompson,” Utah Historical Quarterly, 7/1-3 (1939), 79; Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, 970; Fielding, The Tribune Reports of the Trials of John D. Lee, ; Goodman, “New Look at Old Treasures,” Utah Historical Quarterly 26/3 (July 1958), 283; Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia III: 131-132; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 220, 232, 237, 242, 243, 270, 271, 380; Lee Trial transcripts; Newell, A History of Garfield County, 109; Seegmiller, A History of Iron County, 366; Turley and Walker, Mountain Meadows Massacre: Jenson and Morris Collections, 324-34; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.

External Links

Nephi Johnson's testimony in the 1876 trial of John D. Lee:

• http://www.mtn-meadows-assoc.com/johnson.htm
• http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen

Further information and confirmation needed. Please contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.