Ray City History Blog

David B. “DB” Johnson was born in Lowndes County in 1833.  As a young man he completed preparatory work at Troupville Academy before beginning an education in law at Benton Academy and Business College, Benton, TN.  Eventually completing his law studies under his own initiative, he became a lawyer  then a Judge of Hamilton County, FL.

David B. Johnson (1833-1921), a student of Troupville Academy, veteran of the Indian Wars and Civil War, went on to become a Judge in Hamilton County, FL. Image source: Nevan1941

David B. Johnson is represented in  the Biographical Souvenir of the States of Georgia and Florida: Containing Biographical Sketches of the Representative Public, and Many Early Settled Families in These States (1889),   and in the History of Florida: Past and Present, Historical and Biographical, Volume 2, (1929).

His father, John J.  Johnson, was an Englishman who came to America in the year 1812, when but a boy, and settled near Milledgeville, GA, where he grew up to manhood.  He moved to Appling County, Ga., and there established himself as a planter and married Elizabeth Staten (1798-1882), a [sister] of Burzille [Barzilla] Staten (1791-1846), a respectable and well-to-do Appling County planter.

About 1830, John J. Johnson and his brother-in-law, Barzilla Staten, brought their families to eastern Lowndes County, GA, settling in that part of the county which was later cut into Echols County. (Barzilla Staten served in Levi J. Knight’s company of men in the Indian Wars, and was severely wounded in 1836 during a skirmish at Cow Creek a few miles south of his home.)

Children of John J. Johnson and Elizabeth Staten:

1. Zilpha Johnson (1820- abt 1892)
2. Eleanor Johnson (1825-)
3. John S. Johnson (1826-1908)
4. Mary Johnson (1827-1903)
5. George J. Johnson (1832-1851)
6. David B. Johnson (1833-1821)
7. Catherine Johnson (1837-1919)
8. Burzille [Barzilla] Staten Johnson (1840-1864)

The sixth of these children, D. B. Johnson, is the subject of this sketch. He was born in Lowndes County, Ga., June 17, 1833. 

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…with a clear, strong mind, given a religious training that made for righteousness, he grew up to manhood’s estate under conditions which helped to make him a typical Southerner, enthusiastic, earnest, warm-hearted, broad-minded, ready to attempt to do large things in a large way, for he was cast in a generous mould.

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He attended the common schools of Lowndes County; spent one year in the academy of Troupville, Ga., and in pursuance of his father’s plans to educate him for the profession of the law, was sent to a college then at Benton, Tenn.  Before he had risen to sophomore he fell in love with miss Cyntha Honey [or Honea] , a young lady of Benton, married her, and, packing up his books, took them and his wife and returned home to tell his parents what he had done. He had just passed his eighteenth year.  The problem of life was then presented to him in a very practical shape and he set about in a business-like way to settle it. He began farming and followed it successfully for several years. He lost his wife one year after marriage -1852 – and married again six years later; his second wife was Margery P. Morgan, of Echols County, Ga. 

Johnson lived in a period when men’s souls were tried as by fire, and he rendered a remarkable service both as a soldier and patriot, first in the Florida-Indian war of 1856, and subsequently during the unhappy war between the two sections of the country, in behalf of the Confederacy.

In 1860 the opening of the war found Mr. Johnson on a farm in Hamilton County, Fla., with a wife and family and other responsibilities, but he gave them up and went into the service…

He was one of the first to enlist from Florida, joining the Confederate Army in Jasper as a member of the company organized by Captain Jenkins, which afterwards became Company B, Tenth Florida Regiment, Finnegan’s Brigade, Mahone’s Division, A. P. Hill’s Corps.

D. B. Johnson enlisted in Company C, Tenth Florida Regiment on December 3, 1861  in Liberty County, FL at Rico’s Bluff on the Apalachicola River. (His brother, Barzilla Staten Johnson, joined for service August 15, 1861 and served in the same regiment; Barzilla S. Johnson died of disease May 21, 1864. )

During his period of service he participated in many hard-fought battles, and was an ideal soldier.

He served for some time in Florida, participating in the battle of Olustee and some others of lesser note, and was subsequently ordered with his regiment to the army then in Virginia. He joined Lee above Richmond and took part in may of the hard-fought battles of the Virginia campaigns.  He was wounded in the second battle of Cold Harbor, and was disabled from service for a few months…

Among other Confederate units engaged at Cold Harbor in early June, 1864 was Company E, 50th Georgia Regiment, which included Green Bullard of Rays Mill, GA.

Johnson rejoined the command and served faithfully throughout the war, and surrendered with the fragment of Gen. R. E. Lee’s once magnificent army at Appomattox, Virginia, April 9, 1865.

At the close of the war he returned to Hamilton County, Fla., and resumed farming, which he followed up to 1872. 

… he once more took up the burden of civil life, and during the heart-breaking reconstruction days was a source of inspiration to his associates, as he had been one of courage and good cheer in camp, and of unfaltering courage on the battle field. Accepting the verdict of the war, he threw himself into the important work of bringing about a return of prosperity to his beloved state…

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He then turned his attention to the object of his life – the law – an object which had been frustrated by his youthful marriage, the war, and other hindrances.  He read privately, attended the courts and familiarized himself by observation with the rules of practice and routine of office and was admitted at Jasper, Fla., in 1879.  Since that time he was steadily engaged at the practice, eschewing politics and all other interests and pleasures.  He  reared a family of four children, three boys and one girl.  Two of his sons, John O. and Quarterman S., became successful teachers; his third son, Bartow B., graduated in law in 1888 in the University of Georgia, and became [1889] the junior partner of his father. Ida C., the youngest child, remained at home with her parents.

Children of Judge David B. Johnson

1. John O. Johnson
2. Quarterman S. Johnson
3. Bartow B. Johnson
4. Ida C. Johnson

Johnson’s ability as a lawyer was confirmed when he was raised to the bench of Hamilton County, and so efficient was he in that capacity that he was returned to the office a number of times.