Sam Ealy Johnson, Sr.

Sam Ealy Johnson, Sr.. . After the Civil War, Lyndon B. Johnson's grandfather, Sam Ealy Johnson, Sr., brought his bride Eliza to this place to live in a "Dog-trot" cabin. Sam and his brother, Tom, bought cattle on speculation to drive in great herds over the Chisholm Trail to the railhead in Kansas., The legendary cattle drives were long and hard and sometimes deadly; Tom drowned at a river-crossing in 1877. But equally long and hard were the days for families left behind on this isolated frontier. With the men gone on the long drives, Eliza faced constant difficulties and dangers, including Indians who still resisted the white man's invasion. On top of the occasional danger, however, was the plain backbreaking work of it all; to survive on this frontier demanded seemingly endless daily toil and sacrifice., In 1871 the cattle market collapsed - too many cattle - and Sam and Eliza Johnson moved to Hays County, near Austin. Later they returned to this area to settle near Stonewall on land that would one day become part of the LBJ Ranch. There they lived to see the birth of their grandson, a future president of the United States.