Born: Ap­ril 20, 1826, in a log­ging camp on the west bank of the Pe­nob­scot Ri­ver in Town­ship No. 2 (about 60 miles up­ri­ver from Bang­or, Maine).

Died: June 16, 1909, Walt­ham, Mass­a­chu­setts.

Buried: Jack­son Cor­ner Cem­e­te­ry, Jack­son, Maine.

Erastus was the third of 13 child­ren of Cyrus and Hep­zi­bah Hunt Page John­son. At age 17, he be­came a school teach­er in Ma­chi­as, Maine. At 26, he sailed on the bark Gold Hunt­er to join some of his bro­thers in the Cal­i­for­nia Gold Rush; he re­mained in the San Fran­cis­co area for about eight years. Mov­ing to Pitts­burg, Penn­syl­van­ia in 1860, he stayed there 24 years, work­ing in the oil bu­sin­ess. He then moved to Jack­son, Maine; to Wash­ing­ton state; and last­ly to Walt­ham, Mass­a­chu­setts.

Hymns

  1. The Rock That Is Higher Than I