Here are some excerpts from the diary of Susanna Johnson, including an explanation of that big dent in her head:
"Some time in October, in 1801, I had been on a visit to Samuel Taylor's in Rockingham; on my return, accompanied by his daughter, at the south end of the street in Charlestown our horse was started by a boy, wheeling a load of flax, which threw me from the horse. The violence of the fall was so great, together with a wound cut deep in my forehead, that I was taken up for dead, or apparently senseless, by my grandson Jason Wetherbee, and carried to the house of Samuel Stevens, Esq., about thirty rods. Every aid and assistance possible was made for me. After my revival, the wounds were dressed; the cut was sewed up by Mrs. Page, the wife of Capt. Peter Page of Charlestown. In a short time I so far recovered as to be removed to my home, which was nearly one mile. I recovered my former stren as soon as might be expected..."
"Instances of longevity are remarkable in my family. My aged mother, before her death, could say to me, arise daughter, and go to thy daughter; for thy daughter's daughter has got a daughter; a command which few mothers can make and be obeyed."
"My whole life has been a strange mixture of good and evil, of pleasure and affliction, and I hope and trust I have profited by the reality, that others may be profited by the history, which I leave as a legacy to my friends, as I am now awaiting my departure, when I hope to leave the world in peace. My vacant hours I have often employed in reflecting on the various scenes that have marked the different stages of my life. When viewing the present rising generation, in the bloom of health, and enjoying those gay pleasures which shed their exhilarating influence so plentifully in the morn of life, I look back to my early days, when I too was happy, and basking in the sunshine of good fortune: Little do they think, that the meridian of their lives can possible be rendered miserable by captivity or a prison; as little too did I think that my gilded prospects could be obscured; but it was the happy delusion of youth, and I fervently wish there was no deception. But that Being, who "sits upon the circle of the earth, and views the inhabitants as grasshoppers," allots our fortunes."
According to my friend Muffy, who is a direct descendant of this remarkable woman, after the incident of the dent, in 1809, she was dragged under a cart for 6 rods and broke her ankle and was pretty beaten up. She was tough! When Susanna died, she left 227 lineal descendants.
Thanks, Muffy, for sharing the above portrait, as well as the written picture of her life.
Surname: JOHNSON, Susannah
Source: History of Charlestown, NH, The Old No. 4,
by Rev. Henry Saunderson printed by the Claremont Mfg. Co., Claremont, NH 1876
p.445
Capt. James Johnson m. Susannah, dau of Lieutenant Moses
and Susanna (Hastings) Willard. She was born at Turkey
Hills - later known as Lunenburg, MA Feb 20, 1729/30.
The children of Capt. James Johnson and his wife, Susanna (Willard) Johnson:
1. Sylvanus Johnson b. Jan 25, 1748 m. Susanna Hastings dau of Capt. Sylvanus and Jemima (Willard) Hastings. b. May 29, 1746
Note: The age of Sylvanus Johnson at the time of his capture by the Indians with his father and mother was 6 years. He was with the Indians three years, during which time he wholly forgot the English language but became perfect in the Indian, and so fully had his habits during that period become conformed to those of his Indian masters, that they were never subsequently eradicated, and he so much preferred the modes of Indian life to the prevalent customs of civilization that he often expressed regret at having been ransomed. He always maintained, and no arguments could convince him to the contrary, that the Indians were a far more moral race than the whites. "He died at Walpole in 1832 aged 84 years leaving the reputation of an honest and upright man." His wife died Dec 7, 1819.
2. Esther Johnson b. Dec 23, 1749 d. Jan 1750
3. Susanna Johnson b. Dec 19, 1750 m. Capt. Samuel Wetherbe
4. Mary (or Polly) Johnson b. Dec 8, 1752 m. Col. Timothy Bedell of Haverhill, NH
5. Elizabeth Captive Johnson (birth already recorded)
6. James Johnson b. at Quebec Canada 1756 in Dec and died the same day.
7. James Johnson 2nd b. at Leominster, MA Mar 12, 1758 died the middle of May following.
