A Big Happy Birthday to Nelson Johnson From Us Here at TCN! Nelson's Birthday is on 15th of September.

Many people have seen and heard of Zippy, a nickname derived from Zipporah, the wife of Moses in the Bible. Our Zippy, like many women of her era, was named after a biblical story. Our family's Zippy was Zipporah Johnson, a woman who remained unmarried and lived for 81 years, from March 3, 1838, to December 4, 1919, in the Yellow Creek area of Tishomingo County.

Zippy inherited considerable wealth from her parents, Samuel and Elizabeth Johnson. She was the proprietor of a hotel situated above Zippy Creek/Bay, where her sister, Salena, and nephew, Sidney Bugg, worked alongside her. Zippy had a unique policy at her hotel, accepting only gold or silver coins, as she was known to distinguish counterfeit coins by biting them. Undoubtedly, she thrived as a successful businesswoman during a time of bustling steamboat travel on the river.

Zippy, her sister Salena, and her nephew buried their gold and silver coins in quart-sized fruit jars. At the time of her passing, she bequeathed her fortune to Sidney Bugg and Charlie Johnson. Charlie converted many of the coins from the fruit jars into paper money and was known for carrying a large suitcase filled with it. It is said that a large suitcase could hold 88 lbs. of $100.00 bills, equivalent to one million dollars weighing 22 lbs. Thus, Charlie's suitcase is believed to have contained four million dollars from 1919 when he inherited the money until 1938 when he tragically died in a car accident on Hwy. 72 in Iuka. Most of Charlie's family resided in Oklahoma, where he owned property.

Zippy's land and the Johnson family land were situated on the peninsula bordered by Pickwick Lake, the Tenn-Tom Waterway, Yellow Creek, and Zippy Creek.

The Johnson Cemetery, where Zippy and her family are interred, is located near the old Walter Jones homeplace. Over the years, the area surrounding the cemetery had become overgrown, making it difficult to visit. However, with the assistance of the 1st District Supervisor, Eric Booker, county workers, and Johnson family members, significant efforts have been made to clear the cemetery and establish an accessible road. A memorial sign in memory of Zippy now stands at the site.

According to the Tishomingo County Cemetery book, surveyed by Billy Johnson several years ago, the directions to the old cemetery are as follows: turn right at Hubbard Salem Church and continue to the old Walter Jones homeplace (abandoned inside the state buffer zone). Then, take a right on the second road to the right and proceed to the river's edge. The cemetery's coordinates are Township 1S, Range 10E, and Section 13. Those buried in the cemetery include Nancy Johnson Bugg, wife of Sidney Bugg, who passed away in 1870; Sidney Bugg, who passed away in 1889; Alfred Johnson, who passed away in 1888; Elizabeth Johnson, wife of Samuel Johnson, who passed away in 1897; Jesteran Johnson, daughter of Alfred and Mary Jane Johnson, who passed away in 1869 at only 9 months old; Mary Jane Johnson, who passed away in 1898; Nancy Caroline Johnson, who passed away in 1880; Parilee Johnson, daughter of Alfred and Mary Jane, who passed away in 1872 at the age of 10; Presley Johnson and Nancy Dickerson Johnson, both still living in 1880; Salena Johnson, who passed away in 1919; Samuel Johnson, who passed away in 1875; Susan Johnson, who passed away in 1874; Zipporah Johnson, who passed away in 1919; and Mary South, born in 1833 and passed away at the age of 33.

Based on the cemetery stones, Zippy passed away just two days after her sister, Salena. If you have any "interesting family history" to share or possess a photo of Zippy Johnson, please contact Charlotte at 662-423-2211 or Mr. Johnson. It would be a wonderful discovery to find a photograph of Zippy and her sister, Salena.