Johnson County, Kan., was established by Kansas Territorial government on Aug. 25, 1855, in honor of the Rev. Thomas Johnson.

Rev. Johnson and the Rev. Alexander McAlaster, the presiding Methodist elder of the Cape Girardeau Missouri district, met with representatives of the Shawnee Indians in November of 1830 to gain permission to establish a mission among their people. By Dec. 1, Rev. Johnson returned with his bride, Sarah T. (Davis), to begin building the mission. He was 28. She was 20.

The Methodist mission was located on a wooded bluff overlooking the Kansas River, approximately three-quarters of a mile southeast of present-day Turner, Kan. The Chouteau brothers’ American Fur Company was about a mile away (just north of presentday Turner).

Alexander McAlister Johnson was born to Sarah and Thomas Johnson at the Shawnee Methodist Mission on July 18. 1831, but sadly only survived until Aug. 15, 1831. The following year, a second son Alexander Soule Johnson, was born on July 11, 1832. Four more children were born by 1839.

In 1838 Thomas began planning for a new Shawnee Methodist Mission and Indian Labor School. Rev. Johnson persuaded the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church to provide $75,000 to build the new mission and labor school.

Traveling to Washington, D. C. he then induced the government through the Commission on Indian Affairs to grant 2,400 acres for service in training in agricultural arts. The new location was six miles south of the mouth of the Kansas River and one-half mile west of the Missouri border (the present Shawnee Indian Mission Indian Historic Site)

By February, 1839, 40 acres had been fenced, comprising 12 acres of young apple trees, the first orchard planted in Kansas, and 176 acres prepared for planting corn in the spring. Cattle, hogs, and horses were run on the surrounding prairie.

Forty Indians were employed to cut fence rails and construct the buildings. Bricks for the buildings were produced on site in brickkilns. Lumber was sawn on site with their own saw mill. Everything to ensure sustainability was provided, from blacksmiths and shoemakers to a waterpowered flour mill. The large dining hall could serve 200 to 300 people at a time.

The school was attended by more than the Shawnees. Delawares, Chippewas, Gros Ventres, Peorias, Pottawattomies, Kansas, Kickapoos, Munsees, and Osages attended the mission school in the first year.

In 1855 the first territorial legislature convened in the main building at the mission after its initial assembly at Pawnee, Kan. Rev. Johnson was elected president of the upper house of the legislature.

Territorial Gov. Andrew Reeder and his staff were quartered at the mission throughout 1855. The pro-slavery legislature was deemed the “Bogus Legislature” by Free Staters and soon failed. Even so, Rev. Johnson, being one of the most prominent men in Kansas Territory, was honored by the organization of Johnson County in 1855.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Rev. Johnson was forced to come to grips with his support of slavery. He was a Virginian by birth; however, his close ties with the federal government had been beneficial to the success of the mission and his personal success as well. He had moved in 1858 to the Davenport House, a colonial-style mansion near Westport. When Kansas entered the Union as a free state Johnson turned away from his southern friends to support the Union.

His shift of allegiance infuriated former pro-slavery colleagues. Treachery was around every corner. The evening of Jan. 2, 1865, a large number of horsemen approached the house at about 11 p.m. Going to the door Johnson asked what they wanted. The men said they were looking for a drink of water, to which, they were directed to the well behind the house. But they were cold and wanted to come in to get warm by the fire. But the fires were no longer blazing and not wanting to disturb his sleeping family he denied them entry.

By that time the family was gathering near the door. His wife urged him to close it, and as he did a bullet splintered the wood, striking Johnson in the chest. A volley of bullets struck the house as family members defended themselves with firearms stored within the house. The back porch was set on fire but doused with water from the kitchen. The standoff lasted over an hour when Mrs. Johnson shouted to the raiders that her husband was dead.

His body was taken to the mission cemetery the next day. The marble shaft that marks his grave declares that Rev. Thomas Johnson had built his own monument. “A Monument of Good Works” on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.