MS-224

MS-224

 

THE JOHN JOHNSTON PRAYER BOOK COLLECTION

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The John Johnston Prayer Book Collection was accessioned into the Piqua Public Library Archives and Special Collections in June 2013 as the result of a purchase by the Flesh Public Library Assistance and Development Fund.  The collection is housed in a single Hollinger box containing four files.  Based on the purchase and that the book’s copyright has long since expired, there are no restrictions on the use of these materials.

 

The book which is the subject of this collection is The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America:  Together with the Psalter, or Psalms of David.  The book was published in Philadelphia by E. L. Carey and A. Hart and it was stereotyped by L. Johnson in 1836.  Written on the title page in a very beautiful, artistic, feminine hand is “John Johnston of Piqua, Ohio dec^r. 10. 1840” and further down the page in the same handwriting is “Elizabeth Johnston Jones”.  It is therefore safe to conclude that the book was given to John Johnston by his daughter Elizabeth Johnston Jones as both a Christmas present and a comfort to Col. Johnston at the end of the year in which his beloved wife Rachel Robinson Johnston died.

 

John Johnston was born 1775 in Donegal, Ireland.  He immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1786.  In 1802 he was appointed factor at the Indian agency at Fort Wayne and in the same year the 26 year old John married the 16 year old Rachel.  In 1809 Johnston became the Indian agent at Fort Wayne and in 1811 the agency was moved to Piqua.  Johnston continued as Indian agent until 1829.  He was called back into service in 1842 to negotiate at treaty with the Wyandott tribe, the last of the Ohio Indians.  The treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate on 17 August 1842 as the Treaty of Upper Sandusky.  John Johnston was a founding member of St. James Episcopal Church and was the first lay reader.  The church was established in a one room school house on the Johnston property in Upper Piqua, Ohio.

 

Rachel Johnston would present John with fifteen children, the first four born in Fort Wayne and the remaining eleven born in Upper Piqua.  John was a loving husband and father and devoted to his children.  The children were a joy to him but later the source of much grief as John would out live the majority of his children.  In the “Prayer Book” on fly leafs pasted in the front and back and inside of the front and back covers Johnston recorded the births, marriages and deaths in his family.  The book became a small portable family Bible for Johnston.

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The John Johnston Pray Book Collection is divided into two series:

 

SERIES I:  Col. John Johnston’s Prayer Book – This is found in Box 1, File 1.

 

SERIES II: Provenance and Transcription – This is found in Box 1, Files 2-4.

 

MS-224

 

THE JOHN JOHNSTON PRAYER BOOK COLLECTION

 

CONTAINER LIST

 

BOX 1

 

SERIES I:  JOHN JOHNSTON’S PRAYER BOOK

 

File    1

The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments,

and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America:  Together with the Psalter, or Psalms of David.  Philadelphia: E. L. Carey and A. Hart, 1836

 

 

SERIES II:  PROVENANCE AND TRANSCRIPTIONS

 

File    2

Provenance of the prayer book including:

a. a copy of the 1860 Census showing that Jefferson Pattersonand Julia (Johnston) Patterson did have a daughter named Julia Patterson.

b. a copy of the e-mail sent to James Oda describing the passing of the Prayer Book from Col. Johnston to Julia Johnston Paterson to Julia Patterson to Joseph Graham Crane to Johanne Crane Prior to Mia Prior who found the book in an old trunk in her attic along with some other family heirlooms.

c. a copy of the invoice indicating the sale of the Prayer Book by Mia Prior to the “Piqua Public Library Foundation” [Flesh Public Library Assistance and Development Fund].

3   Color copies of the handwritten  pages from the prayer book and the typed transcription of each page.

4   A black/white working copy of the handwritten pages from the prayer book.

 

MS-224

 

THE JOHN JOHNSTON PRAYER BOOK COLLECTION

 

PROVENANCE

 

The Book of Common Prayer was quite likely a Christmas gift to Col. John Johnston from his daughter Elizabeth Johnston Jones in 1840.  The notes in the book in Col. Johnston’s handwriting cover the years throughout the 1840’s and into the early 1850’s.  There is an entry in the back of the book signed by Elizabeth (Johnston) Jones concerning the death of Capt. James A. Johnston in 1863. 

 

According to the 1860 U.S. Census, Col. J. Johnston, age 86, was living with Jefferson and Julia (Johnston) Patterson in Van Buren, Montgomery County, Ohio.

It is reasonable to assume that Col. Johnston would have had the prayer book in his possession at this time.   Among the children of Jefferson and Julia Patterson was a daughter, Julia Patterson, age three years in 1860.

 

Julia Patterson married Joseph Halsey Crane.  Their son was Joseph Graham Crane who was the father of Johanne Crane (Prior).  Johanne Crane (Prior) was the only descendant of the Crane family.  Johanne Crane (Prior) had a daughter Mia Prior who was the owner of John Johnston's Prayer Book and who sold it to the Flesh Public Library Assistance and Development Fund who in turn gave it to the Piqua Public Library Archives and Special Collections. 

 

In summary, the book came from Col. Johnston to his daughter Julia upon his death.  The book then passed to her son Joseph and then to his daughter Johanne and to her daughter Mia.  It was Mia Prior who sold the book to the Library Assistance and Development Fund.

 

Inside front cover

 

Price $3 – at Washington City

 

Son James went

To Kenyon College

April 12. 1842

Entered Milnor

Hall.

Session open

September 28. 1842

 

Written sideways on inside of front cover

 

My Treaty with the Wyandotts, being

The last of the Ohio Indians, March 17. 1842

   Ratified by the Senate 17 Aug. 1842 J.J.

 

 

On a funeral notice pasted on the first fly leaf

 

 

Funeral of my beloved

daughter

       Margaret Defrees Johnston

 

 

Her remains were afterward

taken to Upper Piqua and

there intered by the side of

her lamented mother.

 

 

Fly leaf page 2 is blank
Fly leaf page 3

 

 

 

I. H. S.

 

Jesus Hominum Salvator

which means

Jesus the Savior of men. 

 

 

Fly leaf page 4

 

 

My honored Father

Col. John Johnston

died at Clay Hotel

       Washington D.C.

Feb. 18^th 1861 aged

    86 years and was

buried in the same grave

with my sainted mother

at Upper Piqua Feb.

23^d 1861

 

       [probably written by Elizabeth Johnston Jones]

 

 

Fly leaf page 5

 

John Johnston born March

25, 1775      [not readable     ]

       Rachel Robinson his

wife was born in the City

of Philadelphia July 12.

1785.  We were conected (?)

in  marriage at Lancaster

in Pennsylvania on the

15 July 1802 by the Rev.^d

Mr. Meiklenbergh. [Rev. Peter Muhlenberg]

       My dearest wife the choice of

my  youth and ______ with so many

_____ _____ ____ to me as the mother

of my 15 children: and when I shall

ever more deplore in a lamint

died at Upper Piqua – Friday morning

July 24, 1840 at 3 o’clock 11 days

sickness.

 

 

Fly leaf page 6

 

OUR CHILDREN

 

Stephan Johnston born

at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Rebecca Johnston born

at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Elizabeth Johnston

born at Fort Wayne,

Rosanna Johnston

born at Fort Wayne,

Juliana Johnston

born at Upper Piqua,

Ohio. August 16, 1811

 

Fly leaf page 7

 

Mary Johnston born at

Upper Piqua, Ohio.

Abraham Robinson Johnston

born at Upper Piqua, Ohio.

Rachel Johnston born

at Upper Piqua, Ohio.

Rebecca Johnston born

at Upper Piqua, Ohio.

John H. D. Johnston

born at Upper Piqua,

Catherine Connelly

Johnston born at Upper

Piqua, Ohio.  March

     8, 1822

 

 

Fly leaf page 8

 

William Barnet John-

ston born at Upper

Piqua, Ohio.  January

Margaret Defrees

Johnston born at

Upper Piqua, Ohio.

Harriet Jones John-

ston born at Upper

Piqua, Ohio.  August

James Adams John-

ston born at Upper

Piqua, Ohio May

5, 1832

 

In all 15 children

 

Fly leaf page 9

 

Rebecca Johnston

My second born, died

at Fort Wayne, Indiana

April 26, 1808. Aged

2 years 7 months and

Our dear daughter

Rebecca Johnston White-

man, wife of James

Findlay Whiteman Esq.^r

died in the Town of Piqua

Ohio [after?] a hard but a

short time serious sick on

Monday 26^th April 1844

Leaving an male infant

Child a few days old

     [baptized?] July 20, 1818

died April 26, 1841  

   ?   dutiful, kind and

Affectionate.

 

 

 

Fly leaf 10

 

My dear afflicted child

Harried died at Cinc-

innati on Tuesday mor-

ning April 11, 1843. her

remains were brought

by John D. Jones to Upper

Piqua, and was there

Intered by the side of

Her lamented mother

On good friday the 14^th

April 1843. myself

reading the funeral

My dear daughter Cath-

erine C. J. Holtzbecker

died at Upper Piqua

On Monday morning

the 25^th day of Septem-

Ber, 1843 at 20 minutes

past 6 o_’clock. leaving an

infant daughter

4 months and 10 days

old.  Took sick Saturday morn-

           ing Sept.^r 16, 1843

 

 

Fly leaf 11

 

My daughter Catherine’s

Orphan child was Baptized

at Upper Piqua on Friday

the 29^th Sept. 1843, by the

name of Eliza Johnston

by the Rev.^d R. S. Killen

my daughter Margaret

and myself standing

My dear afflicted

daughter Rosanna

Johnston died at Upper

Piqua on Sunday night

August 11, 1844 very

suddenly.  Buried by the

side of her lamented

mother and in the same

grave with her sister

Catherine.  The Rev.^d

Mr. Paine reading

the burial service &

officiating.  Age

         35 years.

 

 

 

Fly leaf 12

 

The antiquity of the liturgy of

The hymn Gloria in Exceleis

has in its purest form been in

existence more than 1500 years.

        The Te daum was sung

in the church as early as the 5^th

Century – [it?] is in  also several

of the collects.  Most of the

others are copied almost lite-

rally from the Sacramantary

of Gregory of the next Century.

        The use of the doxeology

in public worship can be

traced to the times immediately

succeeding the apostles

both the creeds are in sub-

stance equally ancient.

        The litany is derived

from that of Gregory of the

6^th Cetury, from which it

does not much differ, in many

things it also resembles the

litany of Ambrose of the

4^th Century.       1846

Title page

 

Pages inserted after the Psalms and before the hymns

Insert page 1

 

        Copy of lines composed for

Eliza Johnston Holtzbecker after

seeing a sprig of Arbor Vila cut

by her venerable ‘Grand Pa’ from

off the grave of her mother.

 

For E___ J___ H___

“There’s a shadow on thy pure young brow

As ye gaze upon the sprig

Plucked from thy youthful mother’s

Grave

Where Piqua’s water play.

 

What are the thoughts that hide thy

Face,

Say lovely little me?

And lend to it a softening grace

More sweet than morning sun.

 

Plucked by a grand lined trembling

Hand

From a thrice sacred spot

Where lie his much loved spouse

Hold hands

Long mourned and unforgotten.

Insert page 2

 

[Thus?] a gentle thought I send to thee

This token of his love.

Oh may it ever treasured be,

Whe’er thy footsteps [noe?].

 

There last never known a mother’s lips

Her place has been supplied,

May the kind hand that guards

Thee now,

Long linger by thy side.

 

But kept thy mother’s memory green

In that loving heart of thine,

In those high thoughts will ever spring

Another mind the shrine.

 

And when ye seek in after year

Bright Piqua’s flowing wave

To bend the knee and shed a tear

Out by young mother’s grave.

 

When the very branches sweep thy head

Breath of love and woe

From which thy grandure plucked this

Sprig

You [so?] long, long ago.

 

Insert page 3

 

[The top lines of the poem are worn off and not readable]

And of this hour and evening still

Bright with moon’s soft rays.

 

[Narcitla J. Truth]

 

November 28, 1849

 

 

Insert page 4

 

   Dear ‘Grand Pa’ from his little

Grand child Eliza Johnston Holtzbecker

 

 

 

Received Dec.^r 29, 1849

 

 

Written on page 144, the last page of the Prayer Book.

 

(My Mother)

Elizabeth Barnard Johnston

A native of Donegal, Ireland

Died at Upper Piqua, Ohio

August 18, 1834 aged 89 years

A tribute from a son.

 

(from the monument)

May 30, 1855

 

Written on fly leafs at the back of the book – fly leaf 13

 

Marriage of our Child-

ren.

Elizabeth Johnston

and John D. Jones of Cin-

cinnati were married

at upper Piqua Sept.^r

23^d, 1823 by the Reverend

Juliana Johnston and

Jefferson Patterson of

Dayton were married at

Upper Piqua Feb.^y

26, 1833 by the Rev.^d

Mary Johnston and

Milton N. McLean Esq.^r of

Cincinnati were married

at  Upper Piqua June 19,

1834 by the Rev.^d Ethan

Allen of Dayton.

 

 

Back fly leaf 14

 

Rachel Johnston and

William A. Reynolds of

Cincinnati were married

at Upper Piqua May

25, 1836 by the Rev.^d

Rebecca Johnston and

James Findlay Whiteman

were married at Upper

Piqua may 13, 1840 by

Catherine Connelly

Johnston and George

Holtzbecker were

Married at Upper

Piqua July 29, 1840

By the Rev.^d Aloah

Guion.

 

Back fly leaf 15

 

My son Stephen John-

ston, Lieutenant U.S. Navy

was married to Eliza

beth Anderson at

Louisville, Kentucky

by the Rev.^d Mr. Jackson

in the summer of 1838

James Kele Reynolds

son of my daughter Rac-

hel Reynolds was bapt-

ized in Saint James Church

Piqua, on Sunday the

23^d April 1843 by the Rev.^d

R. S. Killen, myself &

Monday, May 15, 1843 at

one o_’clock, my daughter

C. C. Holtzbecker became

mother of a young daughter.

 

 

Back fly leaf 16

 

June 12, 1845 John

H. D. Johnston and

Mary Jane Dye were

Married by the Rev.^d

Henry Payne.

 

Back fly leaf 17

 

NOTE: possible page missing.

 

died near Upper Piqua

March 17, 1847 my

sister Mary Johnston

Widney aged of 79

Dec.^r 6, 1846 my son

Capt. A. R. Johnston 1^st

Dragoons was killed in

battle with the   ?  Army

in California at San

Pasqual 30 miles from the

Sunday evening December

13, 1847 at ½ past 8 o_’clock

my brother James Johnston

Esq.^r died at his residence

Upper Piqua after a long

and painful confinement

of 3 years & 3 months in

his 77^th year.

 

 

Back fly leaf 18

 

Sunday morning the

2^d of April 1848 my

dear son Lieutenant

Stephen Johnston of

the U.S. Navy died

at Louisville, Kent-

ucky after a linger-

ing and painful ill-

ness contracted in the

Thursday June 21, 1849

my dear daughter

Margaret Defrees Johnston

was ceased with Cholera

at one o_’clock and died

at 9 o_’cxlock the same eve-

ning, sick only 8 hours.

My comfort, my stay and hope

in this world is taken away.

She was most dutiful, kind

and affectionate to me in my

old age.  God’s holy will be done.

Born Sept. 10, 1825, died June 21, 1849

 

Back fly leaf 19

 

Thursday November 8, 1849

I arrived at Upper Piqua

with the remains of my beloved

daughter Margaret Defrees

Johnston and on the evening

of the same day I committed

her body to the ground in our

family cemetery close to the

[NOTE: the handwriting changes here.]

Capt.ⁿ James A. Johnston

was born at Upper Piqua,

Miami County, Ohio

                           May 5^th 1830

died September 8^th, 1863

at Seminary Hospital

Georgetown D. C.

his remains were brought

to this city by my son

John Johnston Jones, from

here Mr. Jones and myself

accompany^d the remains

to the family cemetery at

Upper Piqua where they

were deposited near his

father, mother brothers & sisters.

                                              Elizabeth Jones

 

Back fly leaf 20

 

In

memory of Rebecca Johnston Whiteman, daughter

of John and Rachel Johnston of Upper Piqua and

wife of James Findlay Whiteman, born July 2 1818, died

April 26, 1841.

        A gentile spirit whose short life was devo-

ted to those who had claims upon her affection and

regard, as a daughter she was ever dutiful and kind,

as a wife perfectly devoted under all circumstances

and as a Christian meek and lowly, with a mind

in all disciplined for the enjoyment of those realms

of life to which she was so early called.

 

In

        memory of Benjamin Whiteman, son of James

Findlay and Rebecca Whiteman, who died on the

23^d day of August 1841, aged 4 months and 5 days.

Back cover inside

 

In

memory of Rachel Johnston, wife of John Johnston

born in the city of Philadelphia July 12, 1785, died

at Upper Piqua July 24, 1840.

        An honored and lamented mother of 15 children.

Lo where this silent marble weeps

a friend a wife a mother sleeps

a heart within whose sacred cell

the Christian virtue loved to dwell

affection warm and faith sincere

and soft humanity were there.