Minnie Bell Johnson
Minnie Bell Johnson is daughter of Edwin (Eb) Johnson and Sarah (Sallie) Carter Duncan (sometimes spelled Dunkin).
Edwin (Eb) Johnson was born February 02, 1857 in Honey Grove, Fannin Co., Texas, and died 28 Jan 1944 in Mexia, Limestone Co., TX. He was the son of Samuel Johnson (Texas Revolution and Texas Rangers veteran) and Malinda Kitchings (sometimes spelled Kitchens). Eb had three known wives: 1) Sarah (Sallie) Carter Duncan; 2) Mary Elizabeth Jolley (widow of Eb's brother William); 3) Emma Lee Jackson. He fathered children with all three wives. He is buried in Mexia City Cemetery in Limestone Co., TX.
Sarah (Sallie) Carter Duncan is believed to have been born 1854 in TX. She was the daughter of Mathew W. Duncan (Dunkin) and Alserrenia (or Algerine - correct spelling unknown) Carter. Based on US Federal Census records, Mathew Duncan was from GA and Alserrenia Carter from MS. Her parents are believed to have married 24 Nov 1850 in Cherokee Co., TX.
Although Sallie's date of death is unknown, it is possibly sometime after 1900. According to personal memories of Minnie's daughter Robbie Fleming Scearce, Sallie attempted to visit her daughter Minnie in 1900. Minnie, however, refused to see her. (Aulena Scearce Gibson research)
Eb Johnson and Sallie Duncan married 31 Dec 1874 in Fannin Co., TX. The 1880 Federal Census shows they are married and living in Falls Co., TX. They have two children, Minnie age 4 and son Alfred age 2. Sallie left her husband Eb sometime after 1880, leaving her children in the custody of their fraternal grandparents (Samuel and Malinda Kitchings Johnson) who raised them. Eb filed a suit for divorce in Fannin Co., TX. The Divorce Decree was granted Mar 1883. (Eb Johnson vs. Sarah C. Johnson: Fannin Co TX; Minute Book, p. 301 #2853, 3) Following the divorce, Eb married second wife Elizabeth Jolley in the in the spring of 1882. (Aulena Scearce Gibson research)
Family legend is that Sallie was a Cherokee Indian and a source of embarrassment to her in-laws, since a generation earlier her in-laws had been plagued with Indian problems, including the murder of John Kitchings, brother of mother-in-law Malinda Kitchings. In May 1848, John Kitchings and a friend were killed and scalped by a tribe of hostile Indians. Narratives of this incident and about the Johnson/Kitchings families are documented in various historical references, including Fannin County Folks & Facts (Bonham Public Library Apr. 2002), available online at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txfannin/index.htmlFannin County. (TXGenWeb, hosted by rootsweb.com)
Research show that family legends about Sallie's Cherokee Indian heritage to be false. Neither parent was Native American or ever lived on an Indian Reservation. US Federal Census records provide a trail of both families for many generations. Further, in April 2004 Sallie's great granddaughter Aulena Scearce Gibson had DNA testing from Family TreeDNA to prove Native American descent. Test results showed her to be 100% European.
Minnie Bell Johnson Fleming
