Joseph Johnson, the father of the person whose name appears at the head of this article, was born in Horseneck, Connecticut, in 1776, and at an early day located in Greene county. New York. About 1805 he removed with his wife and four children, two sons and two daughters, to Delaware county. The sons were Orrin, the eldest, who died when but twelve years of age, and Daniel F., who was born January 29, 1801, in the old town of Canton (now Cairo), Greene county. New York. The daughters were Mahala, now the wife of Charles Husted, of Watertown, Tuscola county, Michigan, and Mindwell, now the widow of Alexander Merwin, of Groveland township, Oakland County, Michigan. In the latter part of 1823, Joseph Johnson removed with his family to Genesee county, New York, and in he fall of 1836 came to Michigan, and settled in the town of Atlas, Genesee county, where he died in 1849, at the age of seventy-three years. His wife, who was born in 1770, died at the age of eighty-eight. Mr. Johnson was drafted during the war of 1812, but being temporarily crippled was not called upon to serve. One of his brothers, however, enlisted from Delaware county. New York. Mr. Johnson was raised a farmer, but had acquired a knowledge of several trades, and worked considerable in a machine-shop, at blacksmithing, etc.

On the 30th of January, 1828, Daniel F. Johnson was married to Amanda Husted, of Genesee county. New York. She is a native of the town of Scipio, Cayuga county, to which her father, Benjamin Husted, emigrated early from the State of Connecticut. The issue of this marriage was nine children, as follows : Amanda, born December 25, 1828, died April 18, 1831 ; Harriet, born December 9, 1830, died September 26, 1831 ; Clarinda Moranda R., born December 3, 1832, these three in the State of New York; Daniel, February 22, 1835; Julia Ann, May 2, 1837; Nancy Evaline, March 25, 1839; Phidelia, March 17, 1841 ; Margery Ann, April 15, 1843 ; Sarah Elizabeth, August 3, 1845, the six last named all born in Michigan. The children are all living except the eldest two, who died in New York. Clarinda M. R. Johnson was married January 1, 1852, to Ransom E. Burgess, of Groveland township ; Daniel married Sarah Harpst, of Royalton, Niagara county. New York, July 13, 1856 ; Nancy E. was married to Eli Jennings, of Atlas township, Genesee county, Michigan, February 8, 1857 ; Julia Ann was married to John T. Peck, July 12, 1858 ; Phidelia was married June 3, 1863, to John Campbell, also of Genesee county, Michigan, and a very prominent and most excellent man ; Sarah E. is now the wife of Almon Barron, of Groveland, to whom she was married November 15, 1865 ; and Margery A. was married in February, 1872, to Silas Downey, son of Alexander Downey, Esq., of Groveland.

Mr. Johnson's wife was born September 17, 1806, and was consequently in her twenty-second year when she was married. She has reached the age of seventy- one years, of which period forty- nine years have been passed in the enjoyment of married life. Perhaps the worthy couple have also known the weight of sorrow, but if so it has left no impress of its visit upon their countenances at least, however much their hearts may have been affected.

In 1834, Mr. Johnson made a trip to Delaware county, Ohio, but the inducements were not sufficient to make him take up his residence there, and he stayed but a week, returning at the end of that time to the township of Spring, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, where his father had been residing for two or three years, D. F. J. made no permanent stay in that county. In the summer of 1834 he came to Michigan, and purchased from the government the northeast quarter of section 6 in the township of Groveland. He afterwards purchased additional land on sections 5 and 7, and owned a little more than half a section in all. After making his original purchase, he went back to Pennsylvania after his wife and child, Clarinda, then but two years of age. He made a trip to New York, and settled some matters pertaining to his old farm, and after shipping his goods by boat in care of a lad named Jacob Irwin, who was living with him, he hitched a good team of horses to a lumber wagon, and, in company with his wife and child, set out overland for Michigan. The route lay through northern Ohio, and the trip occupied about twelve days, which was quite rapid traveling, considering the state the roads were in, especially through the " Black Swamp" of the Maumee region, where the mud was, to use a hackneyed expression, " simply fearful."

On arriving in Groveland township they stopped for some time with Mrs. Johnson's brother, William P. Husted, who was living on the place now occupied by Ira H. Marsh. There they stayed until Mr. Johnson was enabled to build him a house of his own. This house was a log structure, eighteen by twenty-two feet in dimensions, and the family moved into it on the 9th day of December, 1834. It was, like many others when they were first occupied by the pioneers, without door or windows, and but a portion of a floor had been laid. It was covered with a good shingle roof, however (and in that respect was ahead of many more pretentious edifices), and the storms could not beat in from above. Mr. Johnson procured his roof boards and shingles at the saw mill of Captain Archibald Phillips, at Waterford village. When the new house was occupied the snow lay upon the ground to the depth of about two inches, and the weather was very severe. At night the gray wolves which then abounded " made night hideous" with their cries, and sniffed uncomfortably close to the house on many occasions. With stout hearts and strong and willing hands, they went to work improving the spot destined to be their future home, and, truly, the end has crowned the work. Children were born to them, changes many and important took place in the general aspect of the country, and Mr. Johnson and his wife no doubt changed in common with the others. " All things worked together for good," and today, among the citizens of Groveland, whose pioneers are all given their just shares of respect, none have greater than Daniel F. Johnson and the wife who with him has witnessed the evolutions through which the present era of prosperity and general contentment has been created as a fitting memorial to the energetic labors of the pioneers.

Mr. Johnson has held numerous offices in the township, which he filled satisfactorily to all. In the fall of 1839 he was elected on the old Whig ticket to the legislature of the State, and was one of the representatives in that body from the county of Oakland during the session of 1840. In politics he was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party, which he has been a consistent and devoted member of since it became a party.

In the fall of 1835 he sent for his parents, and, as we have seen, they came to Michigan and located in Genesee county the next year. Mr. Johnson lived in his log house about ten years, and the house was then built which he now occupies. His son Daniel lives near him on a portion of the old farm. The barn now standing northwest of the old home, on the north side of the road, was erected in 1836, the lumber being procured at Flint, Genesee county.

Mr. Johnson takes much pride in raising the best quality of grain of all kinds, and of his success in this line he may justly be proud. He says that although times were exceedingly close when he first settled here, and it was hard work for a long period to make ends meet, he has never known the absolute want of the necessaries of life, and is, what a majority of people perhaps cannot say, content with his lot and able at all times to enjoy life fully. It is fitting to close this sketch with the sincere hope that " his days may be long in the land" where he has so many years resided, and after his labors in the harvesting of earthly pro- ductions shall have ceased that he may be " gathered unto his fathers" in peaceful content by the greatest of all reapers, and his memory be cherished as that of a loving husband, kind father, and excellent neighbor, whose loss shall be deeply lamented.