Mrs. T. T. Parrish - 1920-02-01

630 Day Avenue, S. W.
Roanoke, Virginia
February 1, 1920

My dear Mrs. Lemly:
                    Your letter was much appreciated and I regret to hear of your brother's illness (Claude Johns, died February 3d).  We have the dreadful influenza epidemic in our city again now, more than a thousand cases, with deaths every day.   Sadness everywhere, it seems.
                    For more than three years I have been looking up our Johns genealogy and have found many interesting facts.
                    My grandmother was Martha Johns, the daughter of Edmund Winston Johns and his wife, Susan Bullock ----- Johns.  Now Bullock was Susan's middle name.  I cannot find out, so far, her surname, as the old Bible gives it just as you see it, with the ---- dash, as if her family name was forgotten by the one writing it.
                    I have found Edmund Winston Johns' family record, and after much search and study, in various places, and information from many folks, can give it very well.
                    Your grandfather or a Glover Johns is a brother to Edmund Winston Johns.  I give you this list as I have worked it out:

House of John Johns and wife, Elizabeth Winston Johns

They were married February 28, 1765, lived at New Store, Buckingham County, Virginia.  Elizabeth Winston was the daughter of Judge Edmund Winston.  Her brother, George Dabney Winston, married Doreath Spottswood, the daughter of Patrick Henry ( just a bit of history).  Children of John Johns and Elizabeth Johns were -

William M. Johns  born  January 10, 1765 Edmund Winston Johns " May 24, 1767 Judith Johns " May 2, 1768 Glover Johns " December 25, 1769 Anthony Benning Johns " March 11, 1771 Martha Johns ": October 27, 1772 Mary Johns " May 4, 1775 Samuel Johns " September 28, 1777 Elizabeth Johns " March 24, 1779 Sarah Johns " March 12, 1781 Anne Johns " March 6, 1783 John Johns " June 3, 1784

                    You see what a large family our great great grandparents had.  I have found relatives of Anthony Benning Johns.  He married Sarah Oliver.  Some of his descendants live in Danville, Virginia, and also in North Carolina.  Also, of Judith Johns, who married a Mr. Winston, Governor of Alabama at one time.  Also the great granddaughter of John Johns.  So now I have found your brother and you, descendants of Glover Johns.
                    Please write me who Glover Johns married, dates, etc., your father and mother.  I hope at some time, when I get the Johns family genealogy complete, to have it printed in book form.  We are descended from and connected with the best families in the U. S. A.   Mary Johns married a McCormick, a relative of Cyrus.  Martha, my grandmother, the daughter of Edmund, married a Clark, of the Lewis-Clark family, early explorers.
                    If you can give me any dates or early history of the family, I will be pleased to have it, and if you have amy marriage dates also.  I do not have the name or date of Glover's wife;  if you can also find out who Susan Bullock ------ Johns was, the wife of Edmund, my great-grandfather.
                    I have some old silver marked with Johns that Grandma inherited from her uncle Hobson Johns of Danville;  also an old beaded bag of Elizabeth Winston's.
                    I am a member of the D. A. R.  If you wish to join I will help you, if you are not a member.  All the Johns' served in the Revolutionary War.
                    Thanking you for any information, and that your are much better in health, I am,

Mrs. Willie Johns Creger Parrish
or
Mrs. T. T. Parrish

Bob Newsome, Johns researcher, sent me the following with regards to this letter:

Hi Susan,

Thanks for sending the text of the Willie Parrish letter.  I have seen this letter before, as well as some others from Mrs. Parrish.  Who was Mrs. Lemly?

I am sure that Mrs. Parrish was well intended, but I give her credit for much of the confusion on the John Johns line.  At some point, she submitted the names and dates of birth for John Johns' children for publication (don't know where it was published for the first time).  Unfortunately she did not mention that she added Edmund Winston Johns to the list and that his name was not in the original bible record.  She later admitted this in a letter and justified her decision to add his name.  John and Elizabeth Johns may have had a son named Edmund Winston Johns, but he is not the Edmund that she included in her list and from whom she descended.

The Edmund Johns from whom Mrs. Parrish descended was a minister in Campbell Co. VA.  He was married to Susannah Bullock (Bullock was her maiden name). Rev. Johns' grave is in Campbell Co. and is marked with the following dates:  May 24, 1767-Dec 29, 1836.  From a Campbell Co. deed, it is clear that Rev. Edmund Johns was the son of William Johns.  The deed clearly states the relationship.  This William Johns was the son of William and Ann Johns of Buckingham Co.  By the way, Rev. Johns' name never appears as anything other
that Edmund Johns.  I have never found "Winston" or the initial "W" associated with his name.

I need to review my records, but as I recall Mrs. Parrish's grandmother, Martha Johns, was the daughter of Edmund Johns, Jr. (son of Rev. Edmund Johns).  Edmund Johns, Jr. is buried next to his father with the following
dates:  1788-1840.   Edmund Johns, Sr. and Susannah Bullock did not have a daughter named Martha.  Mrs. Parrish's letter mentions Hobson Johns as being her grandmother's uncle.  This is accurate.  Hobson Johns and Edmund Johns, Jr. were brothers and the sons of Rev. Edmund Johns.

I have never seen the original bible record which gives the names and dates for John and Elizabeth Johns' children.  I would love to see it.  Do you know of a copy?

Mrs. Parrish also put forth the information that John Johns was married three times:  to Miss Glover, to Miss Gordon and to Elizabeth Winston (daughter of Judge Edmund Winston).  This information was way off the mark, but unfortunately has often been quoted as fact.  I believe that John Johns' wife was Elizabeth Glover, although there is no proof of this.  Elizabeth Winston (daughter of Judge Winston) was married to Bennett Moseley and she was a contemporary (in age) of John Johns' children.  Mrs. Parrish was partially correct.  John and Elizabeth Glover John's son, John Johns, Jr. (1784-1867) was married to Martha G. Gordon on 17 Dec 1810.  He was married for a second time to Mary Elizabeth Winston (who was probably a niece of Judge Winston).

I don't know about the accuracy of the McCormick connection.  I have never been able to confirm or refute it.  The information about the marriage of Judith Johns to Gov. Winston of Alabama is absolutely incorrect.

Have you ever come across anything that might indicate that the name of your ancestor Glover Johns (son of John and Elizabeth Glover Johns) might have been Edmund Glover Johns?  The reason that I ask is because one of his nephews was named Edmund Glover Johns.  I am probably grabbing at straws for a reason that
Mrs. Parrish believed John and Elizabeth Glover Johns had a son named Edmund (even though it did not appear in the bible record).

I hope this helps.  I love your website.  The John Jay Johns diaries are fascinating.

Best regards,

Bob Newsome