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Cornell University Library 1993.BUFFALO’S FIRST MAYOR,
DR. EBENEZER JOHNSON.
PAPER READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 12, 1877.
BY F. M. INGLEHART.
Dr. Ebenezer Johnson was born in New England on the 7th
day of November, 1786. His father, Captain Ebenezer Johnson,
was born May 9, 1760. The latter was married to Deborah
Lathrop, the mother of Dr. Johnson, August 13, 1783. The
following, copied from the fly leaf of an old family Bible, shows
the vigorous and eventful life of Dr. Johnson’s father:
The life of Captain Johnson, an old sea captain, was. full of extraordinary
vicissitudes. During the Revolution he narrowly escaped the massacre at
Fort Groton, having been refused admittance into the last boat which left for
the shore, it being already overloaded. He was fired at in company with four
others, while retreating from New London, after it was taken by the enemy.
His companions were all killed, and he escaped with seven ball holes through
his clothes. During part of the Revolutionary War he was employed as
deputy commissary for the New England forces. He was engaged in sixteen
actions at sea during the Revolution, was seven times taken prisoner, and was
confined three months in the Jersey prison ship, where as is well known,
incredible hardships were endured, and few survived to relate their sufferings.
On one occasion, while a prisoner, he and his comrades, being driven to des-
peration by their sufferings, Captain Johnson secured a light, and making his
way to the magazine of powder, threatened to fire it unless the officers would
pledge him their honor to grant the prisoners some relief and not injure him
for what he had done. The officers, knowing his determined character,
acceded to his terms.56
BUFFALO'S FIRST MA YOR,
He assisted in boarding vessels of the enemy at seven different times, and
once he, with four others, having sprung on board an English vessel, a heavy
sea separated the ships, preventing any more of the American crew from com-
ing to their assistance; but they carried the vessel, which was a transport
loaded with prisoners, before their own ship could again be laid alongside the
prize.
At another time, when in command of a privateer off the West Indies, he
came across an English vessel. A severe encounter ensued, which continued
until darkness and high winds separated them. At daybreak no enemy was to
be seen, and on mustering the survivors it was found that forty-seven only were
alive out of a crew of one hundred and nine.
Captain Johnson greatly distinguished himself when a sailor before the
mast, at a capture of a prize loaded with arms and ammunition, by his extra-
ordinary strength and courage, at the head of the boarders, carrying the ves-
sel in five minutes. He was several times wrecked, and once after losing his
ship, and all his men save one, traveled eighty miles, bare-foot and almost
naked, under the burning sun of the West Indies, his feet torn by thorns, be-
fore he could find a human habitation.
In the severe winter of 1780 he was taken almost lifeless from the snow,
and was with difficulty restored.
To recount the “ moving accidents by flood and field,”
which occurred in his eventful life, would take a volume. It
was indeed a miracle of Providence that he should have escaped
such multiplied dangers to die in his bed at the advanced age of
81 years.
Captain Johnson left the sea soon after the close of the Revo-
lutionary War but always retained many of the peculiarities of a
sailor and a deep interest in the welfare of seamen. He never
forgot the mariner’s phraseology, and during his last words, in
his momentary delirium, he uttered the command which was
familiar to his youth, “Bear down, boys, and prepare to board!”
He was a member of the Episcopal Church and expressed in his
last moments his reliance upon the Saviour for happiness here-
after.
Dr. Ebenezer Johnson studied his profession with the cele-
brated Dr. White of Cherry Valley, in this State. Intending
to settle in Buffalo, at the age of 23, he brought a letter of
introduction to Mr. Erastus Granger, of which the following is a
copy :DR. EBRNEZER JOHNSON.
57
Cherry Valley, Aug. 31,1809.
Erastus Granger, Esq.,
Dear Sir :—The bearer of this letter (Dr. Johnson) is in pursuit of a place
in order to settle himself in his professional business. I have directed him to
call on you as the most suitable person to advise him of the propriety or im-
propriety of settling in Buffalo. Dr. Johnson hath been a student with Judge
White before and ever since my partnership with the Judge, and it is but
doing my duty to Dr. Johnson to state that he is a young man of unblemished
morals, well read in his profession, and justly entitled to the patronage of the
public.
I remain with respect and esteem, your much obliged friend,
HEZEKIAH GRANGER.
Of his first appearance in Buffalo it has been said :	“ Among
the new comers was another of the big men, who by strength of
brain and will, and almost of arm, fairly lifted Buffalo over the
shoals of adverse fortune.” Tall, broad-shouldered, fair-faced
and stout-hearted, young Dr. Ebenezer Johnson entered on the
practice of his profession with unbounded zeal and energy in
the fall of 1809, and for nearly thirty years scarcely any man
exercised a stronger influence in the village and city of his
adoption.
It is not certain that Dr. Johnson presented the letter above
referred to till late in 1810, at which time it is believed he came
permanently to Buffalo and entered upon the practice of his
profession, but not without encountering some obstacles to his
immediate success. Dr. Cyrenius Chapin had already estab-
lished himself as a practicing physician and had opened a drug
store, through which means he had nearly the monopoly of busi-
ness. Dr. Johnson was young and without capital, and he
applied to Mr. Ellicott, the agent of the Holland Land Com-
pany, to aid him by a loan of a few hundred dollars to enable
him to open an opposition drug store, representing to Mr. Elli-
cott that his settling in Buffalo to practice medicine, had already
reduced the expense of medical attendance to the inhabitants at
least one-third, and that the establishment of another drug store
would reduce the price of the articles he proposed to keep in the
same proportion. His letter to Mr. Ellicott is dated January 4,
1811, and closes with saying: “ I shall be on my way to Albany
the first sleighing, and will do myself the pleasure to call on you at58
BUFFALO'S FIRST MA YORt
your office.” Whether the application was successful or not does
not appear from the correspondence; but from the fact that on
the breaking out of the war Dr. Johnson accepted an appoint-
ment from the State as assistant surgeon of volunteers, which he
held to the close of the war, it is inferred that he did not imme-
diately carry out his design of opening a drug store. He con-
tinued in the practice of medicine up to the close of the war.
We take the following from an old copy of the Buffalo Com-
mercial Advertiser, bearing date October 8, 1849 :
The death of the Hon. Ebenezer Johnson, late of this city, has already
been noticed in the Commercial, but something more is due to the memory of
one of our oldest citizens, who was for many years connected with all the
important interests and events of this city. Dr. Johnson became a resident of
Buffalo before the commencement of the last war with Great Britain, and was
for several years a practicing physician, having an extensive ride through the
then sparsely settled country in the vicinity of Buffalo.
He was for a time connected with the army as a surgeon, and was absent
from his family on this duty at the time the village was destroyed by the British.
After the war Dr. Johnson left his profession and entered into mercantile
business in connection with the late Judge Wilkeson, and was engaged for
many years in an extensive and lucrative business. He was an exceedingly
prompt and energetic business man, distinguished for his punctuality and
industry, and was, until the reverses of 1836, one of the wealthiest citizens in
Western New York. He filled several offices with credit, among which was
that of Surrogate of the County of Erie.
He was the first Mayor chosen under the city charter, and was subse-
quently elected for a second term. It is no disparagement of many excellent
officers who have administered the affairs of the city to say that a more active
and efficient chief magistrate never presided over the Corporation of Buffalo.
He was a man very rigid in the enforcement of business obli-
gations, but had nothing of a narrow or contracted spirit. He
was ever ready to contribute both time and money to the inter-
ests of this city, and was generous to a fault.
The act to incorporate the City of Buffalo was passed April
20, 1832. The Common Council were elected upon the 26th
day of May of that year, and held their first meeting for choice
of Mayor upon the 28th of May. In addition to the office of
Mayor, Dr. Johnson held also during that year, the then respon-
sible and honorable position of President of the Buffalo Literary
and Scientific Academy.DR. EBENEZER JOHNSON.
59
A gentleman well known in this city and one who was inti-
mately acquainted with him in business, as well as socially, thus
tersely describes him :	“ He was generous and social in nature,
pleasing in countenance, commanding in appearance, frank in
expression, decided in his conclusions, self-reliant, a strict discip-
linarian and obeying all laws of City, State and Country, except-
ing the law against usury and shaving notes.” Another old
resident of the city, speaking of Dr. Johnson says: * ‘‘I knew
him well. He was a man perfectly honest and straightforward
in all his dealings with men.” He would frequently say, “ To
do this is clearly mv duty, and when my duty is clear it is per-
emptory.” He never swerved from what his conscience and
judgment dictated, either to shield a friend or harass a foe.
Take him all in all he was a man pre-eminently fitted to fill
positions of public trust and honor.
His first purchase of real estate was in 1814, although his
name appears as an applicant for lots in the books of the Hol-
land Land Company in 1811 and 1812. He purchased inner
lot No. 63 on Main Street in 1814, upon which he built a
wood dwelling, where he resided until he built the stone cottage
on Delaware Street, now occupied by the Buffalo Female
Academy. He purchased outer lot No. 30 in 1814, and subse-
quently bought the whole block of land on Delaware Street,
extending from Chippewa to Tupper Street, bounded westerly
upon the State Reservation line, or the south line of the South
Village of Black Rock, making in the aggregate about twenty-five
acres. He enclosed a considerable portion of it as a park with
a high picket fence, within which he had a fish pond, and kept
water fowl, deer, and other wild animals. A porter’s lodge
guarded the front gate on Delaware Street. The splendid elms
in front of the property were originally planted by him. He
afterwards bought inner lots Nos. 95 and 96, also inner lots Nos.
100 and 101. Becoming associated with Judge Samuel Wilke-
son in general business, they bought a great number of village
lots together in different parts of the city.
Dr. Johnson’s business qualifications were of the first order,
and after giving up his profession he engaged actively in business
in which he was very successful and accumulated a large fortune.60
BUFFALO'S FIRST MA YOR,
He was esteemed one of the wealthiest men in the city. In all
his public duties he devoted himself with untiring industry and
fidelity, and to the universal satisfaction of his fellow-citizens.
But like most of our active business men of that day his affairs
were not exempt from the ordinary vicissitudes of the financial
revolutions of the time, and his ample fortune was swept away
and he was driven to seek support for himself and family in a
distant State, by working some iron mines, which, in the course
of business, had come into his possession.
I have jotted down a couple of well-known incidents con-
nected with Dr. Johnson, which I think, will survive as long as does
his memory. At the time when the matter of opening and laying
out Lloyd Street was before the Council, the Doctor was the
owner of a piece of property upon the canal, which would be
taken for the street if a certain resolution should be passed. In
those days, I am advised, the City Charter provided that no
property could be taken by the city for the purpose of opening a
street, if upon the property there was a building of the value of
fifteen hundred dollars or upwards. About the time the lot I
have referred to was to be taken, in order to avail himself of this
clause of the Charter, Dr. Johnson employed ail the men he
could find and hastily erected a brick building upon the premises.
The night prior to the day upon which the Council were to pass
upon the question of opening the street, the walls of the structure
were up ready for the roof, and the Doctor was congratulating
himself upon the manner in which he had outwitted the city
fathers. Upon the night in question a stiff Buffalo zephyr arose
and the Doctor in the morning, to his chagrin, found the build-
ing level with the ground. The Council, not slow to avail
themselves of this fortuitous circumstance, on the following day,
to the no slight disgust of Dr. Johnson, passed their resolution
opening the street through the property. Many a hearty laugh
was had thereafter at the Doctor’s expense.
At another time and during his term of office as Mayor, and
also during the time he was in the exchange and banking busi-
ness, in partnership with Philander Hodge and his nephew
Mortimer F. Johnson, a little incident occurred showing not
only his keen sense of humor but his determination to have theDR. EBENEZER JOHNSON.
61
city laws obeyed under his administration by all, whether his
intimate friends or entire strangers. The two youngest members
of the firm, Hodge and M. F. Johnson, had purchased a trotting
horse, and riding out one afternoon, in coming down Main Street,
for the purpose of showing to Dr. Johnson the metal of their
animal, they passed the banking office at a much greater rate of
speed than under the city ordinances was permitted. After
finishing their ride the two gentlemen returned to the office
praising the fine qualities of the horse. They had scarcely
seated themselves at their desks when a constable appeared and
summoned them both before the magistrate for violating the
ordinances regulating fast driving, on account of which violation,
at the suggestion of the presiding officer, both gentlemen dona-
ted to the city the sum of ten dollars. It subsequently trans-
pired that the complaining witness in the case was Dr. Johnson,
the senior member of the firm.
In January, 1822, an agent of an Eastern company came to
the village to select a place to build a steamer and make a con-
tract for the work. He was directed to build at Buffalo unless
he should be satisfied that its harbor was not available. He
went to Black Rock first and its people soon satisfied him that
the Buffalo harbor was useless, laying special stress on tfce asser-
tion that it would remain filled with ice after the lake was clear
in the spring. The agent therefore made arrangements to build
at Black Rock and came to Buffalo to have the papers drawn.
The public spirit of Dr. Johnson and his constant solicitude for
the interests of the village are shown by the active part he took in
this competition between the two villages.
The Buffalonians heard what was going on and an excited
crowd gathered around the hotel where the agent was staying.
To have it decided that the harbor was not fit to build a steam-
boat in might be ruinous. It was rumored that the agent was
about to return East and no time was to be lost. Dr. Johnson
and Judge Wilkeson were deputed to wait upon him. Their
only instructions were to get the steamboat. “ Make any
arrangements you think necessary/’ said the citizens, “ and we
will stand by you. ’ ’
The committee entered the agent’s room, introduced them-62
BUFFALO'S FIRST MAYOR,
selves and asked why he did not intend to build at Buffalo as his
principals expected. That gentleman gave the reason which had
prompted his action, naming especially the danger that the
steamer would be detained by ice.
Either Dr. Johnson or Judge Wilkeson promptly replied:
“ We will furnish timber at a quarter less than Black Rock prices,
and give a judgment bond with ample security providing for the
payment of $150 for every day the boat shall be detained in the
creek on account of the ice beyond the 1st of May.”
The offer was at once accepted, the necessary arrangements
were made, a contractor was found for the timber, and the bond
agreed upon was signed by nearly every responsible citizen. The
building of the vessel soon began and went steadily forward. As
spring approached the citizens looked for a freshet to clear out
the loose sand, gravel, etc., which still remained in the harbor.
A freshet did come, but as there was a large bank of ice at the
mouth of the creek the high water carried an immense amount of
sediment upon it, making a formidable dam. Several expedients
were tried for removing it but without avail. Meanwhile the 1st
of May was approaching and it was evident that extraordinary
exertions must be made or the citizens would be saddled with a
bill for damages on their bond, which at that time would have
been enormous. A subscription of $1,361 was raised—a little in
cash, the rest in goods or labor. Dr. Johnson subscribed the
largest sum—$100—“in goods at cash prices.” The other
amounts ranged from $100 down to $2. One man subscribed
“a certain brown cow with a white head,” to be appraised by
the harbor commissioners.
By the energetic use of the aid this provided, a channel was
cut through by the 1st of May. On that day, although the chan-
nel was dangerous, the steamer passed safely through, and the
bond was cancelled.
During the time that Dr. Johnson was Mayor, what was in
those days not an unusual occurrence among the Irish, a riot,
occurred in the district bounded by the canal, Main and Com-
mercial streets. The Mayor, hearing of the fracas, drove with
all speed to the scene of disturbance. Alighting from his chaise,
brandishing his cane in all directions, he pressed into the midstDR. EBENEZER JOHNSON.
63
of the rabble, and as an eye-witness has said, “ seemed by the
very force of his presence to quickly restore order.” All who
knew or saw him at times like these, when public interests were
at stake, could not but feel that his was a positive character, and
although at all times gentlemanly, his fire and energy would at
times break forth, and his imposing appearance and iron will
would make him master over occasions piled high with diffi-
culties.
At another time, when the city was inadequately supplied
with fire engines, Dr. Johnson as Mayor issued his manifesto
that no fireworks or firearms should be used upon the Fourth of
July. A number of young men of the city, some of whom are
now grey-bearded gentlemen of this Society, deeming the above
order altogether too arbitrary and tyrannical and urged on by feel-
ings of patriotism, or, more likely, love of fun, determined in
spite of the Mayor’s proclamation properly to celebrate the day.
The Mayor hearing of their plan, provided with horse, chaise,
whip, cane and dog, stationed himself on Main Street near
Niagara ready to enforce obedience to the laws. Soon the street
near where the Mansion House now stands seemed all ablaze with
the old-fashioned fire balls. The Mayor was soon on the spot,
but not a boy could be seen. Simultaneously another display
was started in front of the old Eagle Tavern, near Court Street.
Hither the Doctor quickly drove, but all was quiet and not a
boy in sight. Then near the Mansion House the display was
renewed. Thither he drove in all haste, but as before the
patriotic youths were invisible. Then again the balls were flying
in front of the Eagle Tavern. How long the joke was continued,
or how long the chief city official kept driving between the two
points does not appear, but we are told that for about an hour
he was constantly violating the ordinance regulating the rate of
speed while on Main Street.
One of our old residents says :	“ I became acquainted with
Dr. Johnson as early as 1812. He established his office in the
village and while he was yet a bachelor. Upon one occasion he
was called upon by one of his Eastern friends and while having
a social chat with him the Doctor sent out for a bottle of whis-
key with which to entertain his friend. The messenger soon64
BUFFALO'1 S FIRST MAYOR,
came back without the whiskey. The money not having accom-
panied the bottle, the store-keeper refused to trust the young
Doctor as he doubted his responsibility. From this time for-
ward he was determined to establish a credit and show the peo-
ple that Ebenezer Johnson’s credit was good not only for one
quart of whiskey but for whatever else he wished to buy. He
persevered in his practice, was prudent in his expenditures and
was so successful that he soon became one of the prominent men
of the village. ”
The Doctor, in after years, frequently said that the above
occurrence so mortified him, that it ever afterwards was a power-
ful incentive to hard, laborious study, and had much to do in
making him a persevering, energetic business man.
Shortly after his marriage he became the owner of a large
frame dwelling house on Main Street, near where the North
Church now stands. His premises were large and extended back
to Pearl Street. His fruit and vegetable garden was quite ex-
tensive. In front of his house was a large red cedar hitching-
post, which remained for a long time a relic in the family by
reason of its having several bullet holes through it, made when
the village was burned on the 30th of December, 1813.
At one time he was enclosing, with a high, tight board fence
a few acres of land where the stone cottage now stands, intend-
ing to let the spot for a public garden. The boards were pur-
chased from countrymen as they passed the house on their way
to the market down town. In this connection an acquaintance
of his says :	“ I was in at a book-auction one evening on the
east side of Main Street just above the Mansion House, as the
auctioneer was holding up a book and crying, ‘ How much for
the life of Dr. Johnson ? ’ Several bids were made, the highest
of which was seventy-five cents. Just then the door opened and
in walked a tall, stout, clumsy back-woodsman with his ox-whip
in his hand.
“ ‘ Seventy-five cents,’ cried the auctioneer, ‘who will bid
more for the life of Dr. Johnson? ’
“ ‘ One dollar ! ’ shouted the countryman. ‘I sold him a
load of boards today and I want to read his life.’ ”DR. EBENEZER JOHNSON.
65
Now I feel constrained to turn aside for a little time, from
my narration to perform a most unwelcome task. Were it mot
for the assurance I have that the august members of this Society
are lovers of historical fact and truth rather than of exciting
scenes and thrilling stories, I should hold my peace and leave
unsaid that which none but the devotees of Clio would willingly
hear. There are several things to which the average Buffalo-
nian clings as tenaciously as did Ephraim to his idols. He
knows that Delaware Avenue is finer than Euclid Avenue. He
loves his Park, the “ most beautiful in the world,” and as he
drives the innocent stranger from New York along its well-kept
roads, he loves to tell him as he points to Dr. Lord’s house,*
how the minister who used to live there was once a young law-
yer ; ran away, yea, eloped with her who became his wife ; yes
and upon the young woman’s writing-table, after her departure,
the enraged father found only these words:	“The Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the
Lord.”
Never have I heard my late lamented uncle deny this story,
for he was not one to snatch such a treasure from the hands of
the multitude, unless it were absolutely necessary. He always
smiled when it was told in his presence, even when, as some-
times happened, he was represented as standing at midnight
under Miss Johnson’s window arrayed in the black hat and long
sweeping feather of the Italian bandit, while upon his boots were
heavy spurs and against his side hung a jeweled sword, the gift
of Captain Kidd—according to some—purchased, so said others
—with money which Mr. Lord and some young legal friends
had collected at a service in Canada when upon a spree they
had preached and passed the plate. So attired he was made to
sing to the accompaniment of his guitar, “ Oh fly with me, my
love! ” whereupon the window is raised and Miss Johnson, in
‘‘ black velvet and pearls’ ’ comes hand over hand down a
knotted rope at least a hundred feet long. A carriage with four
pure white Arabian steeds awaits them, and together they fly to
his villa on “Lake Erie’s distant shore.”
*This was a picturesquely-gabled frame house on Delaware Avenue opposite
Forest Lawn, and hidden among trees. In the spring of 1894 the old house was
demolished, the trees cut down ana a street opened through what were once ample
grounds. Dr. Lord died Jan. 21, 1877.—Ed.66
BUFFALO'S FIRST MA YOR,
Such a story, giving full liberty to the imaginative powers of
all, is a priceless inheritance for any people, so that I can hope
for nothing more sympathetic than forbearance, as I narrate the
unembellished facts.
Dr. Johnson wished his daughter to marry a young man of
wealth and position in the then village of Buffalo, but his
daughter, with a strange obstinacy which has sometimes been
discovered in the sex, said she wouldn’t, for she knew there was
a young lawyer, John C. Lord, by name, who cared a good deal
for her, and she thought a great deal more of him than she did
of the rich young man. Dr. Johnson gave a large party to
which all who were considered anybody in the village were
invited. Mr. Lord, who was very well known as a rising young
man, received an invitation. This brought about a climax.
One afternoon soon after as Miss Johnson sat upon the porch
with her mother, a boy handed her a note which read about as
follows :
“ Will you marry me, and will you marry me at seven o’clock
tonight?”
The mother looked suspicious, but Miss Johnson, in the most
unconcerned way imaginable, said to the boy: “Oh—you may
say—Yes.”
Precisely as the clocks were striking seven Miss Johnson
quietly walked out to the gate where she met Mr. Lord with his
carriage. Now comes the strangest part of this remarkable
elopement. The carriage was driven by a gentleman, a friend
of the family, who is still living in our city, while two of the
most respected citizens of the village accompanied the young
couple to the minister’s, where they were made husband and
wife. Thence they were driven to the house of a friend where a
large company had gathered to offer their congratulations. In
fact, there were more form and dignity about the runaway match
than any we have happened to hear of.
When Dr. Johnson was told the news late in the evening he
was not overjoyed, neither did he break the furniture nor tear his
hair in vexation. He took it very quietly as did also Mrs.
Johnson, who soon called upon her daughter and invited her to
come home, but as the invitation was made so as to exclude herDR. EBENEZER JOHNSON.
67
husband, we are right when we imagine that it was not accepted.
So everything continued for a time. The final reconciliation
came about in a very unromantic way.
Dr. Johnson was very fond of fishing. So was Mr. Lord, or at
least he always thought he was, when the father of Miss Johnson
gave the invitation. The Doctor started out on a fishing excursion
early one morning. Just a little way ahead of him, going to his
law office, was an early bird, that sure enough was just about to
catch a very large worm. It was Mr. Lord. The Doctor re-
membered the pleasant excursions they had had together. He
wanted a companion. He began to relent, and the next moment
the young lawyer heard a voice crying out, “Lord—don’t you
want to go a-fishing?”
Less poetical surely, than the conventional 44 Bless you, my
children ! ” of the irate father who has at last forgiven the man
who ran away with his daughter; but it meant the same thing,
and we need scarcely add 44 they all lived happy ever after-
wards.”
For many years Dr. Johnson was one of the leading and
most influential citizens of Buffalo. His name was connected
with every enterprise of importance, and his wise counsels and
good judgment in all emergencies contributed in a great degree
to the success of those projects which developed the resources
and business of our city. In his person were united in a rare
degree those characteristics of mentals and physical energy,
which, in a larger sphere of action, would have gained the ad-
miration of a nation. He was a man of imposing personal
appearance, grave and dignified in demeanor, but alert and reso-
lute in action and possessing that indomitable will, which allied
to mental power, achieves success in the walks of life.
These traits of character were particularly manifested in the
discharge of the duties of the office of Mayor in 1832. The sum-
mer of that year witnessed the advent of that unknown and
dreadful scourge—the Asiatic cholera. Dr. Johnson was
appointed Mayor in June, upon the organization of Buffalo as a
city, and the first and momentous matter to which his attention
was directed as the chief magistrate, was the threatened visita-
tion of the pestilence. It had already developed at Quebec,68
BUFFALO'S FIRST MA YOR,
and other cities upon the St. Lawrence, and its progress was cer-
tain along the water courses and highways of travel of our coun-
try. Medical science was baffled as to any proper mode of re-
sisting or even palliating its terrible effects; business was
paralyzed, society depressed and the community appalled as the
shadow of the mysterious scourge began to fall. But Dr. John-
son at once devoted himself to the work of preparing for the
dreadful emergency. The city was distracted and an organized
system of purification and cleansing undertaken and carried out,
which beyond all doubt, prevented the pestilence from assuming
larger proportions. And when it did come it was met bravely
and cheerfully by the Mayor and Board of Health, whose labors
were untiring and whose counsels contributed to allaying popu-
lar apprehension. His devoted labors and untiring energy
in the emergency earned for Dr. Johnson the respect and admira-
tion of all our citizens and at the conclusion of his term of
office, the Council ordered his full-length portrait to be painted,
which happily portrayed his commanding presence. This pic-
ture, by Jackson, was destroyed by the conflagration of the city
buildings a few years since, when several other portraits were
lost of some of our most venerable citizens.
An anecdote has been told in connection with the building
of the cottage on Delaware Street, which will bear relation. In
those early days it was customary at the close of every term of
court, when regular business was finished, for the presiding
judge to call the bar to order for the purpose of allowing a free
discussion of the trials and incidents of the term, and a general
interchange of opinion upon all subjects. Upon these occasions
the lawyers indulged in sallies of wit and humor, and in remarks
upon current matters which produced much merriment and
solaced the graver cares of bench and bar. At one of these
meetings convened about the time of the erection of the cottage,
when it stood a huge and conspicuous pile of stone amid the
open fields of Delaware Street, that prince of wags, Counsellor
John Root was dilating at length in his humorous manner upon
the growing importance of Buffalo. He finally spoke in a sub-
dued and melancholy tone of the transitory nature of all earthly
glories and pictured its situation, when, after many centuries hadDR. EBENEZER JOHNSON.
69
elapsed, the future antiquarian should visit the ruins of our city
as we now do the ruins of Thebes or Nineveh or Persepolis. As
he wandered along our docks he would say “ Here were the
wharves where the commerce of the world once centered, now
desolate forever.” And coming to the old market-place he
would exclaim, “and here where all is silence, the people
gathered to exchange and buy and sell.” He would soon stop
at the ruins of the Court House, and sorrowfully remark, “Here
was the Temple of Justice, the forum where law was adminis-
tered to a people who vainly thought their institutions immortal.”
And then proceeding in his search for the remains of an antique
age, he would notice the ruins of churches and edifices unpeo-
pled for many an age; and finally extending his researches and
explorations to the open plains of Delaware Street, he would
come upon an immense pile of stone where Dr. Johnson’s cot-
tage stands, and say, “And here, beyond all doubt, was the
stone-quarry where the people quarried all their building-stone.”
Dr. Johnson was twice married; his first wife was Sally M.
Johnson. They were married January 25, 1811, at Cherry Val-
ley, by Dr. Joseph White. Of this union three children were
born—William, Sally Maria, afterwards Mrs. Dr. Inglehart, of
Cleveland, Ohio, and Mary E., wife of the late Dr. Lord, of
Buffalo, the latter being the only one now surviving.* December
7, 1835, Dr. Johnson and Lucy E. Lord were married at
Millersville, Madison County, N. Y., by Rev. John Lord, father
of the late John C. Lord, of this city. The only children now
living of this marriage are Mrs. Horace Utley and Herbert
Johnson.
Dr. Ebenezer Johnson will long be remembered by our older
citizens as one of the pioneers of Western New York, to whose
industry, ability, energy, public spirit and perseverance Buffalo
is largely indebted. He died at Tellico Plains, East Tennessee,
of dropsy on the chest on the 23d day of September, 1849, at
the age of 62 years.
*Mrs. Lord died May 26, 1885.—Ed.