Posted by Communications Liaison Ellie Simpson, thanks to Archivist Jon Coss.
Joseph Kerr Johnson (1812-1894) and his two brothers were born in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. After their father died, their mother brought them to America. In 1820, they joined her brother who was pastor of the Coshocton Presbyterian Church in eastern Ohio. Joseph started his life as a farmer near Akron, Ohio, and while there located a coal mine on his farm, from which he reaped a fortune. He and his brothers became partners in a successful banking firm and real estate operation known as William K. Johnson and Co. (named for the oldest brother).
In 1834, Joseph married Mary Susan Humrickhouse (1814-1890). Their sons were David M. Johnson (1837-1914) andJohn H. Johnson (1842-1924). From early ages, David and John began collecting “butterflies, bugs, snakes, pennies, stamps, arrowheads, and stone axes.” They kept the collections in their parents’ home until their father had a three-story stone building put up to house the collections, including among others, Indian artifacts they had discovered on their property.
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Joseph K. Johnson and Mary Susan H. Johnson are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, David M. Johnson in Los Angeles, and John H. Johnson in Tacoma.
During the Civil War, John H. Johnson served as a sergeant and took part in Sherman’s March to the Sea. The brothers relocated the family business to New York City in 1871, while keeping their ties to Coshocton. They invested in real estate north of Manhattan and bought a house in Pelham Manor. After the Panic of 1873, they suffered losses in the bond market. While trying to recoup their losses, they met and joined forces with a French dress-maker. Using David’s knowledge of business and John’s artistic skills, this prosperous new venture took them abroad. John Johnson had a special interest in Belgian and Flemish lace. He was also fascinated by Japanese and Chinese pottery, only then becoming available to the West. Their travels gave them the opportunity to add to their collections, crowding them into their modest home.
In 1871 Joseph K. Johnson came to Pelham with his wife Mary and their sons, David and John. They became charter members of the Huguenot Church in 1876. The Westchester Presbytery approved Joseph K. Johnson as Elder and John H. Johnson as Deacon of the new church. Joseph was an elder until his death. John H. Johnson served as the sole deacon until 1908, and David M. Johnson was a trustee.
By the 1890s, Joseph Kerr Johnson and his wife Mary had died in Pelham, and New York real estate values had risen dramatically. David and John sold their properties and moved to Tacoma, Washington, to take advantage of another real estate phenomenon. David and John Johnson, being supported by their revenues as landlords, spent their energies traveling and collecting priceless treasures from Europe, China, Japan, and the northwest coast of North America. For the rest of their lives, they traveled and added to their collections. In 1909 John and David Johnson compiled articles of incorporation for a Johnson-Humrickhouse Memorial Museum to be established in Coshocton, after their deaths. David died in 1914 in Los Angeles and John in 1924 in Tacoma. Neither of them married, but they had many relatives to carry out their bequests. Their wills stipulated that their more than 15,000 items be shipped from the West Coast to Coshocton, Ohio. The Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum, named for their parents, was established in 1931. It is currently open to the public under the auspices of the Cochocton Public Library.
John and David Johnson (L-R) in their house, before it was turned into a museum.
Sources:
Engineering & Mining Journal. New York: March 24, 1894. Joseph K. Johnson obituary, p. 276. (Citation must be cut and pasted into Google.) chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/The_Engineering_and_Mining_Journal_1894-03-24-_Vol_57_Iss_12_%28IA_sim_engineering-and-mining-journal_1894-03-24_57_12%29.pdf
Find-A-Grave. Background for Joseph K. Johnson and Mary Susan H. Johnson. Portraits of David and John Johnson. Humrickhouse is based on the village of Homrighausen.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75319908/joseph_kerr-johnson
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75319962/mary-susan-johnson
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/250618567/david_m_johnson and https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/192932723/john_humrickhouse_johnson
HMC Archives. Session Minutes, Volume 3, Register of Pastors, Elders, Deacons, etc.
Johnson and Humrickhouse Family Papers on OHIO Link. http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/OCLWHi1026.xml;chunk.id=bioghist_1;brand=default
Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum website. http://www.jhmuseum.org/
Jones, Diane Zuro. A History of Coshocton Public Library, 1872-1992: A Public Library/ Museum Partnership. Kent State University, Thesis for Master’s in Library Science, 1993. https://archive.org/stream/ERIC_ED360979/ERIC_ED360979_djvu.txt
Kirkpatrick Genealogy. (No longer available online.) http://www.genealogy.kirkpatrickaustralian.com/archives/getperson.php?personID=I16469&tree=TKA
https://www.jhmuseum.org/our-story.html (Portraits of brothers in Cochocton, OH.)
http://www.genealogy.kirkpatrickaustralian.com/archives/getperson.php?personID=I16469&tree=TKA (No longer available online.)
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