Author: Johns, James
Biography:
Johns, James (1797-1874: Hollis)
He was born in Huntington VT, the son of Jehiel and Elizabeth (Sexton) Johns, and lived most of his life as a farmer there. Though he had only a rudimentary education, he became an enthusiast for local history. In his teens he began creating documents by pen-printing--manuscripts made to look like printed works--which he gave away, sold, or traded in the district. There was even a "newspaper," the Vermont Autograph and Remarker, produced from the 1830s to the 1870s. In 1857 he purchased a small hand press in order to publish broadsides and pamphlets. Abby M. Hemenway commissioned him to write the Huntington section of her Vermont Gazetteer (1867). In 1868 he moved to Starksboro, where he died six years later. (J. Kevin Graffignino, "Johns, James," The Vermont Encyclopedia [2003] 171; ancestry.com 20 June 2019)