Tiny Johnson is related to us several times thru our Johnson line. Our first direct Johnson relative is Anna/Amy Johnson who was married to Elder William "Preacher Billy" Tackett. Their daughter, Sarah, married Richard Hall. Their son Enoch Mahlon married Nancy Hampton. Their son, Joseph, married Lettie Craft. Their daughter, Nancy Alice, married Otho Bentley.
James "Jim" Johnson is also related to us going back to Thomas Johnson (Anna/Amy Johnson's father) his line coming down through Amy's brother, William Payne "Mander" Johnson and Lucy Akers. Next his line is through their son William Varner Johnson and Matilda Mullins, the daughter of Moneymakin' Sol. Finally, their son Harvery Johnson and Clarissa Rucker whose son William married Charity "Chat" Bentley.
Tina is my second cousin 3 times removed. Jim is my fourth cousin once removed.
Jim was born February 13, 1893 in Pike county Kentucky to Chat Bentley Johnson. On September 13, 1923 Jim married Tina Mae Johnson, who was known as Tiny. She was born on April 3, 1904.
On June 26, 1925 Tiny had a son who was named Arlen Johnson.
Usually the story goes on with more children and they lived happily ever after.
Instead one of Tiny's brothers shot and killed Jim. It was a pistol shot to the heart. I don't know the details of what caused this action. Tiny was left a widow on January 27, 1926.
That in itself is a terrible story, but I found the rest of the story of Tiny not in the census records, but from newspaper records.
In 1927 Tiny married again to John Smith. It was her second marriage and said to be his fourth.
Here are the articles I found from the Floyd County Times which tell what happened to Tiny after her marriage to Mr. Smith.
The first is from January 30, 1931.
LEFT BEAVER CREEK WOMAN SLAYS HUSBAND; CLAIMS HE ATTEMPTED TO HANG HER
Mrs Tiny Smith, 34 yrs old , shot and instantly killed her husband, John Smith, 35, late Sunday night at their home on Abner Fork, this county, when , she alleged, he attempted to hang her According to Mrs Smith's story, as related here by persons acquainted with the killing, her husband was drunk and attempted to hang her by looping his belt around her neck. Throwing him upon the bed she seized a .30 caliber Luger pistol and shot him through the heart . The couple was alone in the home, it is said . Mrs Smith was arrested following the shooting, but had not been brought here Thursday. Mr and Mrs Smith had been married about five years, it is said and are portrayed as never having had previous trouble. The wife is the daughter of Daniel R. Johnson. The victims ancestors are not known.- 5-6-1932, Floyd Co Times
Two days before she was to have been taken to the state reformatory at Frankfort to begin serving a five year sentence for the slaying of her husband , John Smith , . Mrs Tina Johnson Smith, 30 yrs old, was shot and killed by her father , Daniel R. Johnson, aged Floyd Co man, at the Johnson home on Abner Fork of Left Beaver Thursday morning of last week. Her aged father shot Mrs. Smith three times, It is claimed , while he lay in bed unable to move as a result of injuries sustained at her hands a few days earlier , and as she advanced upon him throwing stones threatening him with an ax, . He had suffered three broken ribs at his daughter's hands and was unable to be moved here immediately after the shooting it is claimed. It was held probable this week that the grand jury would not make an indictment in the case. Mrs. Smith killed her husband in January, 1931, and pleaded self-defense in circuit court here, claiming that he was trying to hang her, using his belt as a noose when she shot him. She was given a five-year prison term but had taken the case to the court of appeals which affirmed the verdict recently.
6-10-1932 , Floyd Co Times- PROSECUTION OF AGED MAN , WHO SLEW DAUGHTER, AIDED BY TWO SONS OF THE DEFENDENT
The unusual spectacle of a father, charged with the murder of his daughter, fighting for his freedom ,while his sons arrayed themselves with the prosecution in an effort to send him to the penitentiary , presented itself in the Floyd Circuit Court last Friday. Daniel R. Johnson, 63 yr old Abner Fork Citizen , testified that he shot and killed his daughter , Mrs Tina Smith, to save his own life. His two sons, Eli and Charles, testified against him, alleging that he shot his daughter three time as she entered his room without offering any threat to his safety .
Receiving the case at 3 o'clock Friday afternoon, the jury deliberated till 11 o'clock Saturday morning and returned a verdict sentencing the aged man to five years in the pen. The defendant testified that Mrs Smith had thrown a rock into the room and that she was advancing upon him , brandishing a hatchet , when he fired . His step-daughter , Mrs Owens, appearing in his behalf, stated that both Mrs Smith and her brother , Eli Johnson, were drunk when they came to their fathers home and that she attempted to dissuade them from going inside. While she was gone after an officer, the killing took place .
Stating that his sister was shot for no valid reason , Eli Johnson admitted that he threw a stone at his step -mother and ran. The shooting followed soon thereafter . Mrs . Smith was killed within two days of the date she was to have been taken to the penitentiary for the killing of her husband , John Smith.
2-23-1934 FLOYD COUNTY TIMES / Friday, February 23, 1934- AGED FLOYD MAN GRANTED FREEDOM
Daniel R. Johnson, 65 year old Left Beaver man, who was convicted in June, 1932 of the slaying of his daughter, Mrs. Tina Smith, at the Johnson home on Abner Fork a few months earlier, was granted executive clemency Saturday by Governor Laffoon, who comutted his sentence from five to one and one-half years, thus rendering him eligible for immediate release.
Seven of the juriors who convicted Johnson, former Circuit Judge C.B. Wheeler, who presided at the trial, and Commonwealth's Attorney C.P. Stephens, who proscuted Johnson, recommended commutation of the sentence, stating that the prisoner is an old man and his further confinement would serve no good purpose.
Johnson shot and killed his daughter on the night before she was to have been taken to the penitentiary to begin serving a sentence given her in court here for the slaying of her husband.
The child, Arlen, was taken in and raised by by K-boy and Josephine Johnson.
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