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Surnames: Johns Overholser Ulrey Zent Langston
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/gh.2ADI/5919
Message Board Post:
Oliver Johns, Trustee, and prominent citizen of Jackson Township, is a native of Wayne
County, Indiana, born near Hagerstown, March 28, 1842. His parents were David M. and
Susanna Johns, the former born in Stark County, Ohio, October 20, 1821, and the latter in
Montgomery County, same State, August 20, 1823. David A. Johns, the paternal grandfather,
was a native of Pennsylvania, and a soldier in the War of 1812. He was a wagon-maker by
trade, and, after leaving the army, settled in Ohio, where his death occurred many years
ago. David M. Johns early learned the wagon-maker’s trade, and worked at the same until
his removal to Huntington County, Ind., in 1854. He purchased land in Section 8, Jackson
Township, and lived upon the same until his death, which occurred March 26, 1861. He
married, in 1840, Miss Susannah Overholser, by who he had eight children, six sons and two
daughters, the subject of this sketch being the oldest of the family. Mrs. Johns, in
1867, m!
arried Stephen C. Ulrey, and moved to Kosciusko County, where she still lives. Oliver
Johns was twelve years of age when his parents moved from Wayne to Huntington County, and
from that time until the present has been one of Jackson Township’s most highly esteemed
citizens. He was raised to farm work, and on the death of his father was left in charge
of the home place, being at that time nineteen years of age. Two years later he purchased
an interest in a saw mill, and after continuing the lumber business for some time, sold
out and invested his means in the home where he now resides, moving to the same in 1868.
He is a Republican in politics, and as such was elected Trustee of Jackson Township in the
spring of 1886. His marriage on the 14th of October, 1862, to Miss Sarah Zent, of
Richland County, Ohio, and daughter of John Zent, has been blessed with the birth of the
following children, viz.: Edwin E., deceased; Jennie M., wife of Rufus Langston; Ellen M.,
C.!
C. and Daniel W.
History of Huntington County, Indiana. (Brant and Fuller; Chicago, IL). 1887.
Biographical Sketches Jackson Township. Page 655 and 656.