Isaac Johnson: From Slave to Stonecutter

Isaac Johnson's life changed abruptly when he was seven years old. While his father was away, the sheriff came to the farm in Kentucky and took him, his mother, and brothers and sold them as slaves. Isaac never saw his family again.Isaac experienced all the cruelties of slavery. After the Civil War began, he ran away and joined the Union Army. Once the war ended, he made his way to Canada where he became an accomplished stonecutter. Churches, bridges, and other structures he designed and built still stand on both sides of the St. Lawrence River.Isaac Johnson married and had a large family. He wrote the story of his life as a slave to earn money to send his children to college. Hope Irvin Marston has based her account of Isaac Johnson on his book, Slavery Days in Old Kentucky, on extensive research about his life after slavery ended, and on contact with his descendants.