From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print
Traveling with a used Civil War ambulance for the women to ride in and two covered wagons for the rest, Joseph S. Johnston and family set out from Tennessee in 1867 with Dallas as the destination. Stopping on Saturdays to wash and iron, and never traveling on Sundays, they soon came to the Mississippi River. Crossing the river with 26 other wagons was without incident. The Red River was crossed on ferry boats.
After reaching the Dallas area, the family settled on a plot of ground that included a grove of lovely cedar trees surrounding a spring. Joseph bought 300 acres m that location at that time. Later he added 1,000 acres which he eventually cut down to only 200. The present day Cedar Springs Road keeps the area name alive. Through the years he added “good buildings and other modern improvements,” according to an article in a History of Dallas County published in 1892. According to the same source, Joseph accumulated residential properties valued at $5,000 in addition to a warehouse on the river. All holdings together were valued then at $30,000. By then, Joseph Johnston had recouped most of the $50,000 he had lost during the War Between the States. At the time of his death in 1899, he was, indeed, in comfortable circumstances.
My mother was the eldest daughter of Joseph Johnston’s daughter, Lulu. Lulu married Thomas A. Work. I personally remember the houses and farm buildings on the Cedar Springs place, where I often visited as a child in the 1920’s. Joseph Johnston had no liking for Lulu’s suitor, Tom Work, the young man from the livery stable. My grandfather spirited Lulu away from her home by a ruse involving a very fast horse and a buggy. At a pre-arranged time, walking the horse slowly, he drew quietly near to the house. Mr. Johnston, working in the field, saw what was happening. He ran for his gun. My grand father-to-be whipped up the horse, gathered up his fiance and decamped hurriedly.
Later, as I understand it, the Johnston family, at Lulu’s untimely death, determined to split up her three daughters (the eldest of whom was my mother, Laura). However, my mother, then Laura Work, did not agree. She would not let the division occur. She was 12 years old at the time and suddenly became her father’s housekeeper and hostess, and the mother-in-fact of her two young sisters. According to the family memories, she lived in fear of failing in her multiple role and losing her fight to hold the family together. She did not fail.
Joseph S. Johnston (born 23 July 1819 in Tennessee, died 14 February 1899, Dallas) was the youngest of nine children born to William and Martha Swan Johnston. William, born in Ireland, died in Tennessee in 1840. Martha was born in Pennsylvania and died in Tennessee ca. 1846. Joseph and Mary Will Powell (born 27 December 1826, Tennessee died 25 January 1901, Dallas) were married in 1846 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Mary was one of at least eight children of Mary Wammock (born ca. 1805, Virginia) and Scott Powell (born ca. 1799, Virginia). Both died in Tennessee.
Mary and Joseph S. Johnston had eight children. 1) William C. born ca. 1848, Tennessee; married Mollie Long; 2) Martha Isabella born 1 March 1849, Tennessee, died 3 December 1932, Dallas; married David R. Long (brother of Mollie Long); 3) Katie born 5 August 1856, Tennessee, died 18 February 1883, Dallas; married S. A. Daniel; 4) Robert Emmett born 30 November 1857, Tennessee died 12 September 1921; never married; 5) Mary Louise born 28 December 1858, Tennessee, died 23 October 1935, Dallas; married William Severe Day; 6) Joseph E. born ca. 1862, Tennessee, married Willie Oldham; 7) Lulu Ann born 30 October 1864, Tennessee died 11 February 1901, Dallas; married Thomas A. Work; 8) James Franklin born ca. 1872, Dallas, married Lilly (last name unknown).
Joseph S. and Mary Johnston both left wills saying exactly how their property was to be divided. They are buried on the family plot in Greenwood Cemetery as are several of their children. The Johnston plot and the David R. Long plot are side by side.
By Mrs. John N. Harris, Dallas
