Gentile & Johnson Families

Greetings from Clovis, CA.

I don't think I am related to the Gentle's (if so, I've not discovered it yet) but I am related to the Johnson's. Depending on the year(s) "my Johnson's" were in Huntsville, Lim Rock and and other Jackson Co towns near by. Earlier decades find them in surrounding counties.

My great grand mother Dean was the former "Mrs. Dicy Ann Johnson" who had several older children when she married my great grandfather. My grandfather was born when they were ages 56 & 45, in 1877 and Dicy Ann had grown children and grand children by then..

Dicy Ann Johnson's oldest son Albert ended up in Lim Rock, as did part of his family. (I'm skipping details for now.)

Albert Johnson is buried in the "JOHNSON CEMETERY" in Lim Rock. A small cemetery with 7 marked graves and 8 unmarked graves.

The Gentle name appears on two of the headstones
1. Myrtle E. GENTLE,
b. Jun 12, 1909 d. Oct 16, 1947

2. ROUSSEAU
Dora Gentle Charlie C.
b. April 23, 1900 d. Feb 13, 1929 b. April 13, 1894 d. Nov. 28 1932

This information is found in "Cemeteries of Lim Rock", by Marlin Tucker

In this book he states that there are 2 other cemeteries associated with the Gentle name:
1. "...the Gentle Cemetery is in current use...", and
2. he makes reference to the Leslie Ridge Cemetery as "Some local people say Gentle Cemetery on Leslie Ridge". I don't have copies of those pages, only a copy of the Johnson Cementery.

The former County Historian Carlus Page once told me that Lim Rock was settled by 3 famlies, one of which I can't recall at present, but the other two were Gentle and Rousseau. Both of those names are in the Johnson Cememtery as you see above.

It would be interesting to know if your Johnson line goes back to Dicy Ann Johnson. She is found in Jackson, Madison and Marshal Counties going back to 1860. Her husband was Guilford Johnson and does not show up in 1870 and is presumed a victim of the Civil War.

Dicy Ann married my great grandfather Benjamin Dean in Woodville in 1876 and in the 1880 census they are found north of Huntsville. According to the family story, Benjamin died about 1880 when my grandfather was age 4, and Dicy Ann died about 6-8 years later. My grandfather was in the Paint Rock and Lim Rock area, and exactly when is part of the puzzle, but I believe he lived with a Johnson relative circa 1890 when he ran away to Texas about age 14.

Do we have any Johnson connections?*

Hope some of this helps

Stephen Dean
Clovis, CA

* PS: in the 1990's I was in contact with a "Johnson" from Huntville who was doing genealogical research and we are related. Dicy Ann was his grandmother, and she was my great grandmother.

I have his correspondence "somewhere" but don't recall his name, or any of his kin. I do recall that he said that a building on the U. of AL campus was named for one of his Johnson relatives. I also recall that he said that no one else in his family was interested in genealogy.

I tried to find him a few months ago, but was unsuccessful. Are you related to him?