Joel Hills Johnson

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Joel Hills Johnson

Birth
Grafton, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA
Death
24 Sep 1882 (aged 80)
Johnson, Kane County, Utah, USA
Burial
Johnson, Kane County, Utah, USA Add to Map
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FATHER-MISSIONARY-PIONEER-COLONIZER-POET-CHURCH LEADER

Joel Hills Johnson, eldest son of Ezekiel and Julia Hills Johnson was a LDS Church leader, missionary and colonizer and the author of poems and sacred songs. He is best known as the author of the well-known anthem of the Restoration "High on the Mountain Top."

Joel Johnson was also a Primitivist Seeker and a Millennialist and as such sought an organization that included the charismatic gifts of the New Testament Church and proclaimed the eminent return of the Savior. The year before his death he wrote:

"I was so carefully instructed by a pious mother, that I dared not do anything that would displease the Lord or my parents. As soon as I could read, she gave me a small New Testament, which I carried in my pocket. I neglected few opportunities of studying it, and often committed some of it to memory.

"My attention was early drawn to the ancient ordinances and blessings of the Church. I believed, as far as my limited comprehension allowed, in baptism for the remission of sins, in laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and in signs following the believer... I sought among the sects for it, but found it not."

In Mormonism however his search ended and his odyssey began. Once converted to the doctrines of the Restoration he never looked back or wavered from the course he believed God had set before him.

Notes by Carl Wallace McBrayer, Great-great grandson.

Thanks to one of my many cousins, Sandra Gwilliam for her sponsorship of our Great-Great Grandfather's page.
FATHER-MISSIONARY-PIONEER-COLONIZER-POET-CHURCH LEADER

Joel Hills Johnson, eldest son of Ezekiel and Julia Hills Johnson was a LDS Church leader, missionary and colonizer and the author of poems and sacred songs. He is best known as the author of the well-known anthem of the Restoration "High on the Mountain Top."

Joel Johnson was also a Primitivist Seeker and a Millennialist and as such sought an organization that included the charismatic gifts of the New Testament Church and proclaimed the eminent return of the Savior. The year before his death he wrote:

"I was so carefully instructed by a pious mother, that I dared not do anything that would displease the Lord or my parents. As soon as I could read, she gave me a small New Testament, which I carried in my pocket. I neglected few opportunities of studying it, and often committed some of it to memory.

"My attention was early drawn to the ancient ordinances and blessings of the Church. I believed, as far as my limited comprehension allowed, in baptism for the remission of sins, in laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and in signs following the believer... I sought among the sects for it, but found it not."

In Mormonism however his search ended and his odyssey began. Once converted to the doctrines of the Restoration he never looked back or wavered from the course he believed God had set before him.

Notes by Carl Wallace McBrayer, Great-great grandson.

Thanks to one of my many cousins, Sandra Gwilliam for her sponsorship of our Great-Great Grandfather's page.

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