A prominent resident of Willow Township, Section 36, Crawford County, Iowa, was one of the soldiers in the Civil War. He resided in Willow Township since 1880. He was born at Cumberland, Guernsey County, Ohio, June 11, 1842, and was the son of William Johnson of Harrison County, Ohio, who also was a son of William Johnson, a soldier of the War of 1812 (a descendant of English ancestors). The mother of Abiram Johnson was Hannah Collins, a native of Cumberland, Ohio, a daughter of Finley Collins who was a soldier in the Indian Wars at Fort Defiance, OHIO. Abiram had a brother (Ira M. Johnson) and a sister (Emma). Abiram's father was a harness maker by trade, and a fine and capable workman. Abiram served an apprenticeship to the trade with his father, and received his education in the common schools. During the Civil War, he enlisted, December 8, 1861, in Co. F, 78th Ohio Infantry Volunteer, and he was under fire at Fort Donelson - where he got so wet that he captured the haversack of a rebel soldier and put on those clothes to get dry. In this way he was taken for a rebel and carried off to Chicago as a prisoner of war. He had to get papers from the State before he would be returned to his regiment, but he got back in time to take part in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, Jackson, Hatcher's Run, Champion Hills -- where Abiram fired 138 rounds -- the siege of Vicksburg, and returned home on veteran furlough. He was with the army of General Sherman at Lost Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Jonesboro, and at the 2 battles of Atlanta, and when brave General McPherson was killed at Atlanta. Then the regiment marched through Georgia and the Carolinas, and took part in the grand review at Washington City, District of Columbia, and was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., and discharged at Chicago. Mr. Johnson returned to Guernsey County, Ohio, where he remained until 1879, when he came to Crawford County, Iowa, and in 1882 he settled upon a farm. This was wild land with no improvements of any kind. Then he eventually had 200 acres, well improved, with groves, as well as, cultivated fields. His residence was 22 x 28 ft., one and a half stories, very comfortable, and surrounded with all of the buildings pertaining to a first-class farm where he fed and raised horses, cattle, and hogs. He married December 7, 1867, to Miss O. Downey, a woman of intelligence and education. She was the daughter of Merriman and Jennie Van Horn Downey, Zanesville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had one son, Clyde M., born October 15, 1874. Abiram was a member of the G.A.R. of Dow City Post, and was a member of the Independent order of Odd Fellows.