8 LETTER-Fn.ES OF S. W. JOHNSON 



the soil, investing his property for the most part in 

 farm lands in the fertile valley of the Deer River in 

 Le^^'is County, New York, then recently opened for 

 settlement. Here he lived in patriarchal manner, his 

 hospitable roof covering not only his large immediate 

 family, but nephews and nieces, brothers and sisters, 

 distant kinsfolk and hired laborers. "Uncle Abner's 

 Mansion" was home to many, and all were welcome 

 inmates. This house at Deer River was built when 

 his third son, Samuel, whose life-work is followed in 

 this volume, was four years old; and for thirty j^ears 

 it was home to an ever increasing family circle, united 

 by unusually strong bonds of mutual affection. The 

 daily life was simple and frugal, all were industrious, 

 much store was set on things of the spirit; there was 

 deep love of truth and much seeking for broader 

 knowledge. 



Educational opportunities were eagerly embraced; 

 we find Samuel Johnson at the age of eleven a pupil 

 in the same classes with his elder brothers and sister 

 at the Low\dlle Academy, where for fully fifteen years 

 some one or more of this large family was in attend- 

 ance. Lowville, although only a few miles from home, 

 was too far to go and come daily, so the children 

 boarded there during term time, returning in vacations 

 to Deer River. They were all good students, and 

 Samuel was allowed to keep pace with the others as 

 far as he was able. 



In 1842 Samuel Johnson was a small, dark-haired boy 

 whose eyes, as yet unhelped by the powerful lenses he 

 used in later years, gave him little information about 

 objects more than a few feet away. Any and every 

 thing in print on which he could lay his hands he mas- 



