Truly, I know little about Zachariah Johnson other than what I’ve gleaned from state and county records. I know that he was born sometime in March of 1849 in Putnam County. How do I know that? Because he appears in the 1850 Federal Census in Putnam County marked as age 1 (one). In the same household are: father, James Johnston, aged 35, a cooper; mother, Mary A, aged 21; Sarah E, aged 11 (half-sister, eldest daughter of James Johnston/Johnson); Milana J Lanham, aged 19, likely sister of Zach’s mother, Mary Ann; and Levine Lanham, aged 53, a farmer, and likely father of Mary Ann and Milana. (*NOTE: Putnam became a county in 1848 having formerly been a part of Kanawha County. Unless I miss my guess, James A Johnson was likely the son of David B. Johnson in whose household in the 1840 Census appears a male aged 15-20 years old. On the preceding page of the census is Harrison Hays, husband of my 3rd-great-grandaunt, Sarah McGraw. David B. Johnson lived in an area surrounded by other familiar surnames whose offspring intermarried with my family: Caruthers, Brown, Harmon, Wright, and Hedrick).
In the 1860 Federal Census of Putnam County, we find father “J.A. Johnson,” still living in the same place because his neighbors haven’t changed much. This time, Zach’s half-sister Louisa is accounted, aged 17, Zach is 11, having aged 10 years as expected; and several younger siblings: Sydney Jane (1851), Charles H (b 1852), Loving N (1857), and Samuel A (1859). Those dates of birth are my calculations, not necessarily exact. I presume that most women in those days had a baby about every two years, give or take, and from the ages given on each census in which they appear.
The Virginia Legislature didn’t pass a law requiring the recording of births and deaths until 1858. That didn’t catch on for several years, depending on how far one lived from the courthouse. Often, folks would have a close friend or relative report the birth or death for them. Sometimes, it never got recorded at all.
Come 1870, Zach Johnson is no longer living in his father’s household in Putnam County. I will speculate that 24-year-old Zach had been living in Kanawha County since, on 1 Aug 1872, he married 16-year-old Mary Celina Price, daughter of Madison Price, in that county.
In 1880, Zachariah Johnson and wife “M. C.” are listed in Lewis District, Mason County, West Virginia. In the household are daughters Ella, Lulu, and Ethel, as well as Mary Celina’s sister, Ella Price, 26 years old. Zach’s occupation is noted as “works in saw mill.”
There is no 1890 Census, but we do know that by 1900, Zach is married to another woman, Lilly Enochs, about 1886, because the next child, Leona Josephine Johnson, was born 11 Jun 1887 in Guyandotte, Cabell County. Her parents are listed on the Delayed Certificate of Birth on file with the WVCulture center database: Zachariah Johnson and Lillie Jane Enoch. So, from this we understand that Zach was in Cabell County in 1887.
Come 1900, we find Zachariah Johnson and family listed in Boone County, WV in the census. His marriage to Lilly/Lillie Enoch is given as 1886. Zach is now 51 years old, and his occupation is Engineer. This is the last census in which Zachariah Johnson appears.
Zachariah Johnson was killed on 5 March 1910 when the train on which he was an engineer ran away. Here is the text of the newspaper article posted in “The Messenger, Tue, April 12, 1910: Killed by Wrecking of Log Train on Cedar Fork: Zach Johnson, aged 68, an engineer on the lumber railroad on the Cedar Fork of Big Coal River, and his little son [Cecil], aged 6, who was riding in the engine cab with him, were crushed to death under the wreckage of the train yesterday when it ran away on a steep grade and piled up at a sharp turn in the road. Johnson lived at Colcord [Raleigh Co], on Clear Fork, and is survived by a wife and eight or ten children. The bodies of the father and little son were taken to Alum Creek, Kanawha County, where they were interred in the family burying ground.”
The WVCulture database, having misindexed the name Zach as “Jack” shows the death records for both father and son (see below). Zach was apparently killed outright (Mar 5); Cecil apparently lived until April 5 before succumbing to his injuries.
CITE: “West Virginia Vital Research Records – Record Image”. 2023. Archive.Wvculture.Org. https://dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=598426&frame=00096