Buried in Blair Cemetery.

JAY D. JOHNS

Jay David Johns, son of Samuel J. and Caroline Firsley Johns, was born on the twenty-seventh day of February 1866, at Belvidere, Winchester county, Tennessee, and departed this life on the second day of March 1933 at the age of 78 years and 8 days. Death came at about six o’clock A.M. at the home of his daughter, Florence, who resides with her husband and family on the homeplace southeast of Blair.

Mr. Johns had been failing slowly for the past several years. This natural toll of years was very greatly augmented by the passing of his beloved wife on Sept. 9th. Grief stricken and sorrowing, Mr. Johns sank rapidly from that date until his death.

In the early part of the Civil War Mr. Johns moved with his parents from Tennessee to Indiana, where the father passed away. In 1856 they came in a covered wagon to Washington County, where the widow took a homestead, west of Blair. It was here that the deceased grew to manhood and on June 19, 1881 he was united in marriage to Ida C. Peak, who has preceded him in death by five months and 23 days.

To this union were born nine children, four girls, Mrs. Naomi French, Arlington; Mrs. Margaret C. Baxter, Blair; Mrs. Edith M. Grabe, Omaha; and Mrs. Florence E. Loftis, Blair; and five boys, Samuel J., Wichita, Kansas; J. Anson, Harrison, Nebr.; Arthur H., Omaha; Perry T., Carleton, Nebr.; and Ralph C. of Blair. These with thirty-five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren survive. His death marks the passing of a family of fourteen children, all of whom are numbered among the pioneers of the middle west.

On June 1, 1931, Mr. and Mrs. Johns celebrated their Golden wedding anniversary, marking many years of happy wedded life.

Funeral services were held at the Baptist church Sunday afternoon, with Thomas J. Reese, pastor in charge and interment was made in the Blair cemetery.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

FindaGrave #110525785