What began as a list of names, a box of documents, a number of family Bibles, and idle curiosity gradually evolved into a book about the settlement of Virginia and the western conquest of the great Valley of the Shenandoah, the birth of the New River settlements, and the emergence of the Watauga and Holston pioneers on the western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. Placing the generations into a format of historic events began to bring these fugitives from the European wars and catastrophes into focus as real people. Since this story concerns the early foundation of this nation, the author did not choose to go back beyond the immigration from Europe. In a few cases, however, where the material was available and explanatory, it was incorporated into these pages. This does not mean that the more remote history of others was not available. It just did not contribute to the integrity of this book. The book is not a genealogy although it uses that structure to build the generations. And it is not simply a history. It is a perspective of history, demonstrated through the genealogy and migrations of one family. The whole is dependent upon each life among the hundreds of those who made this family possible. Make no mistake about it! The loss of a single onejust one!and the people that followed would never have been born! The relations are carefully delineated. Children are named where it is possible. To this extent, it is hoped other lineages may find the book useful. The appendix contains copies from books and papers that might be difficult or impossible to obtain. It is important to realize that as the reader goes backward in time, the numbers of people become fewer. This means that the chances of interrelations increase as the two hundredth year marker of the past is approached. All of us share a kinship in the origin and the destiny of the United States of America!

During Chattanooga's post-Civil War industrial boom, A.M. Johnson subdivided land inherited by his wife, Thankful, from her industrialist father, James Whiteside. Located on the eastern side of Lookout Mountain, south of Chattanooga, Johnson named his new community St. Elmo after the title of the popular novel by Augusta Evans, who had visited the area before the war and used it as a setting for her book. By 1900, the community had grown to over 2,000 residents and was the home of wealthy industrialists, as well as small business owners and factory workers. Known as Chattanooga's first suburb, the St. Elmo neighborhood is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Issac Johnson (b. ca. 1722) was in the Shenahdoah Valley of Virginia about 1745, and claimed land there in 1749. Descendants lived throughout the United States.

A record of literary properties sold at auction in the United States.