by Suzanne Ashe
Staff Writer
As a kid I never donned pioneer garb and pushed a handcart through the wilderness, but I do have bragging rights as the descendent of a prominent early settler of the Utah territory.
Although I grew up for the most part in Northern California, I spent many summer vacations as a kid at my grandparents' house in Murray or at my aunt and uncle's in West Valley City. Much of this time involved family gatherings where I was reminded -- each time with as much dramatic flair as the first -- that my siblings, cousins and I were descended from songwriter/poet/pioneer Joel H. Johnson. If that name sounds familiar, it's because you've probably sung "High On the Mountain Top" a time or two.
My great-grandma Jolley, who had grown up a Johnson, would remind us of our pioneer heritage and insist we sing that song. I never understood the importance of the song or writer, or why we were force-fed the story each year before being turned loose on the waiting hot dogs and Rice Crispy squares.
I think I'm old enough to understand setbacks, sacrifice and hard work now. However, my great-grandmother is no longer alive to tell me the story.
To get the straight truth, I consulted Google.
After Johnson had arrived in the Utah territory, he built and ran a saw mill in Mill Creek Canyon. He wasn't paid in cash for the lumber he sawed. Instead, he handed it over to the church tithing house, and in return was able to raid the church storehouse for supplies.
Johnson had to commute to work in a wagon, up and down a very steep grade. On the way down the mountain, he would look out for a flag that had been planted atop Ensign Peak. As soon as he saw the flag, he knew it was smooth sailing all the way home.
It was a warm spring day in 1850, the story goes, when Johnson pulled off to the side of the trail, pen and parchment in hand, and wrote about how he felt seeing Old Glory rippling in the breeze.
He wrote a poem, originally titled "Deseret," that later became lyrics to the popular hymn. Johnson wrote hundreds of poems. Some became songs while others were more private and dedicated to his wives.
In addition to running a sawmill, writing poetry and managing his households, Johnson kept a journal. This is where the real story lies.
Joel Hills Johnson was born in 1802 in Grafton, Mass. At the age of 23, he was baptized into the Free Will Baptist church and gained some notoriety as a songwriter. He was married in 1827. He owned one farm, bought another one and took a job at a sawmill to square his debts. Unfortunately, a flood destroyed the mill and creditors took his land and he was forced to start all over again.
In 1929, he invented a machine for striking shingles from a block in a single blow. He made some money from his investment, but unfortunately fell prey to swindlers for much of it. He started construction on a sawmill in Ohio in 1830. It was completed a year later.
He heard rumors about Joseph Smith and the Mormon movement. He obtained a Book of Mormon, read it and he and his wife were baptized in June 1831. He immediately sold his share of the sawmill. In 1834, he moved to Kirkland, Ohio, to work on construction of the Kirkland Temple. He wrote in his journal that he wasn't able to contribute much because he had a lot of health problems.
Johnson chronicled the move to Carthage, Ill., mob violence, the death of his wife in 1840 in Crooked Creek, Mo., the marriage to his second wife, and the arrests and subsequent slayings of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
Through all of the turmoil and persecution, Johnson kept his family together. He kept preaching, and he kept writing.
Johnson arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in October 1848 after "much fatigue and many hardships and difficulties."
This week it's important to remember, whether you've got a traceable link to Utah's past or not, that not only hardship drove the pioneers to Utah, but also their grit and determination to build a better society. And that's something worth celebrating.
sashe@tooeletranscript.com