Jane was the 4th of seven children born to Samuel Johnson and Mary F. Polly Wheeler. Her siblings: Zalmon, Fanny, Hannah, Joel, Lemira and Mary

In about 1831, when she was just 16, Jane married Frederick Dent Messenger, son of Grove Messenger and Pamelia Gibbons. They had 12 children: John Ecard, Clark, Mary Adelia, David Grove, Dennis Burris, Samuel Johnson, Royal Hastings, Virgil, twins Orlin and Rollin, Hyrum and Martha Amelia. Clark, Hyrum and Martha all died young.

The couple most likely first lived in Knox Co., Ohio and they are found there in the 1840 census with four children [the children would be John Ecard, Mary Adelia, David Grove and Dennis Burris].

In 1850 they were living in Chester township, Morrow Co., Ohio with nine children [the children noted above, plus: Samuel Johnson, Royal Hastings, Virgil, and twins Orlin and Rollin].

Shortly after this, Frederick and Jane moved their family to Wayne County, Iowa. We know this because their eldest daughter, Mary Adelia, was married there in 1853 (one of the first marriages in the county according to the local newspaper). And because Frederick purchased land there in March and August of 1854 totaling 120 acres. 40 more acres were purchased in June, 1856. Some of the land purchased abutted her sister's farm [Isaac and Lemira Van Ausdle, also Vannausdle] and it's probable the two families helped each other, especially after Isaac's untimely death in 1858.

Two more children were born after they came to Iowa (Hyrum and Martha Amelia), however neither of those little ones survived.

Jane remained in Iowa after Frederick's death in 1871. She is found in the 1880 census, 66 years old, her son, Orlin living with her. At this point, she had buried her husband and 6 of her 12 children*. Her sister had remarried and moved to Washington territory where her children John, Mary and Dennis were also living. It is not known exactly when she made the trip but she is found living with her son, John and his wife in the 1889 Washington Territorial census.

*Three children died young: Clark, Hyrum and Martha, two children, Samuel J and Virgil, died as a direct result of their Civil War service and Rollin died in 1873.