CHILDHOOD AND EDUCATION 7 



man of large means for tliat day, who lived at Kings- 

 boro' in the then new country of Northern New York 

 State. Gradually the rest of Jacob the second's family 

 came to live near them and her parents lie buried in 

 the old cemetery at Kingsboro'. 



Being childless, Daniel and Amelia, "Uncle and 

 Aunt Potter," as they were called, brought up 

 and practically adopted her young brother, Abner 

 Adolphus, the twelfth of Jacob and Esther Johnson's 

 family. In time, Abner Adolphus Johnson succeeded 

 his brother-in-law, Daniel Potter, as a merchant in 

 Kingsboro', New York, where he also kept the tavern 

 and owned and managed a large farm. At the age of 

 thirty-two he married Annah Wells Gilbert, like him- 

 self descended from pure colonial stock. She had 

 been brought, when two years old, to New York State 

 by her parents, who emigrated with a band of kins- 

 folk and neighbors from Hebron, Connecticut. She 

 trained her family in accordance with the best tradi- 

 tions inherited from Puritan ancestors, teaching them 

 to value character and to feel a deep responsibility for 

 the use they made of their time and opportunities. 

 In the names of her eight children she commemorated 

 her own lines of descent — Gilbert, Wells and Brain- 

 erd — and Samuel Johnson's name was first given him 

 in honor of his grandfather. Judge Samuel Gilbert; 

 later in his boyhood the middle name of William was 

 added in remembrance of the many of his father's kin 

 who had borne the names of Samuel and of William. 



Abner Adolphus Johnson lived in Kingsboro' until 

 1834. Then, his wife not being strong and he himself 

 suffering from nervous ills brought on by a too seden- 

 tary life, he retired from business and went back to 



