Microfilm of annotated extracts from the diary and autobiography of William D. Johnson, Jr. Includes a daily record of his accompaniment of the Major Powell Company down the Colorado River in 1872, as well as autobiographical descriptions of his life in Utah, his travels to Mexico in 1885 (at the urging of Erastus Snow, who told Johnson to go "on account of polygamy"), and his appointment as a Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico in 1886. A printed facsimile of the manuscript is included with FAC 1667 (Charley Woods and the Clanton boys). All inquiries about this item should be directed to the H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator of Western Historical Manuscripts at the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Microfilm. San Marino, Calif. : Huntington Library Photographic Dept., 1950. 1 microfilm reel : negative 35 mm. Forms part of the Manuscripts Department's Mormon file, c.1805-1995. William Derby Johnson (1850-1923) was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He lived in Council Bluffs and Winter Quarters until 1860, when he crossed the plains to Utah. He lived in Salt Lake City, was a volunteer during the Black Hawk War, and received a diploma in bookkeeping from Deseret University (University of Utah). He later settled in Kanab and participated in John Wesley Powell's explorations of the Colorado River. In 1885 Johnson moved to Mexico to avoid polygamy charges, and served as a bishop in Colonia Juarez until 1811. He died of Bright's disease in Tucson in 1923.
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