John Liver Eating Johnston

P.O. Box 33842
Granada Hills, CA 91394
dormannelson@JohnLiverEatingJohnston.com

GENEALOGY

Johnston came west. No one asks a man where he was from or what he was. He is. Johnston didn't say much until signing up for the Union in 1864. He stated he had been in the Navy.

This led to searching government papers and gathering information on his family.

Family names are Garrison, Tillman, Lake, Baker, and more.....

I have traced Johnston's family tree and no one now living had known they were related to the Liver Eater. Quite a surprise.

Johnston's closest sister's line died out in 1952.....other family members never seemed to pass on his history. He was listed as "Lost at sea"......or was he?

WILD WEST SHOW

In 1884, Johnston, Calamity Jane, Thomas Hardwick, Tom LeForge, Curly and Crow men women and children, traveled from Billings on a tour to Chicago.

Thomas Hardwick was one of the founders of the show.

He knew all the players from his years on the plains. He was a hard man, but known for his way with animals. Born in Missouri he was a Confederate during the War of the Rebellion, then went west to trap, hunt and trade. He was tortured by the Arapaho, from then on, maintaining his dislike for the natives, although he "married" a Blackfoot woman near Browning, Montana.

Virgil Hoftiezer is a distant relative who is collecting information on Hardwicks. He can be reached at vhoft2@verizon.net

Do write in if you think you are related.

There are rumors that:

A rancher named Johnson south of Billings, Montana is related.

Two Johnsons were there at the reburial in 1974.

Many folks have visited the grave, museums, libraries, and archives with Johnston materials and have indicated they were related.

The Crow reservation has some folks that might be related.....

There are books out now with family trees so new lines can be followed.......