Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/125

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JOHNSON


JOHNSON


repeatedly a clerical deputy from South Carolina to the general convention of the Protestant Epis- copal church. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from the University of the South in 1891 and that of LL.D. from Charleston college in 189(5. Ho is the author of : The Defence of Charles- ton Harbor lSU3-€5 (1890), and various contribu- tions to local periodicals.

JOHNSON, John Butler, educator, was born at Marlboro. Ohio, June 11, 1850 ; son of Jesse and Martha (Butler) Johnson; grandson of Denipsey and Margaret (Harrison) Johnson ; and a descendant on both sides of Virginia Quakers who emigrated to Ohio about 1820. He was prepared for college in the public schools of Ohio ; was graduated from the University of Michigan, C.E., 1878 ; served as a civil engineer on the U.S. Lake and Mississipjji River surveys, 1878-83, and was professor of civil engineering at Washington university, St. Louis, Mo., 1883-99. He conducted a^ large testing laboratory at Washington university, St. Louis, in which all the U.S. timber tests were made ; this work was started by the U.S. Forestry bureau in 1891. He was cliosen dean of the College of Mechanics and Engineering at the University of Wisconsin in 1899. He was elected a member of the Amer- 1;;an Society of Civil Engineers in 1886 ; the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1831 and the Institution of Civil Engineers of Tiondon in 1892. He was president of the Amer- ican Societj' for the Promotion of Engineering Education in 1898 and was active in extending "technical and commercial education in America. He was married. Nov. 12, 1879, to Phoebe E. Henby, of Wabash, Ind. He superintended the index department of the Journal of the Associa- tion of Engineering Societies from its organiza- tion in 1884, and published two volumes of index notes to engineering literature (1892). He is the autlior of: Theory and Practice of Surveying (1886); Modern Framed Structures (1892); En- gineering Contracts and Sjiecifications (1895); The Materials of Construction (l'<97). and numerous contributions to current engineering literature.

JOHNSON, John Milton, physician, was born in Smithland, Livingston county, Ky., Jan. 15, 1812 ; son of Col. Robert Johnson, and a descend- ant of Thomas Johnson, who came to America in 1700. He was educated at liome by his father, studied medicine with a physician of Madison- ville, Ky., and began practice in 1833. Wlien the epidemic known as the "milk sickness" was prevalent in western Kentucky, 1840—45. he was successful in the treatment of the disease and his notes upon it were publislied in the London Lancet and other medical journals. At the out- break of the civil war he was made surgeon of the post at Atlanta, Ga.. was later medical di-


rector for General Hardee's division, and served under General Bragg in all his engagements. After the close of the war he settled in Atlanta, Ga. He was elected president of the Atlanta Academy of Medicine, 1875, and was professor of pliysiology and patliological anatomy in Atlanta Jledical college, 1868-72. He died in Atlanta, Ga.. May 18, 1886.

JOHNSON, John Trimble, representative, was born in Great Crossings. Ky., Oct. 5, 1788 ; son of Col. Robert Johnson, one of the early settlers and defenders of Bryan's Station. Ky., and brother of Richard Mentor Johnson. He was educated as a lawyer. He volunteered in the war of 1812 as an aide to Gen. William H. Harrison. He was five times elected a representative in the state legislature and was a representative in the 17th and 18th congresses, 1821-25. On Dec. 20, 1826, John Trimble resigned as judge of the new appellate court and Frederick W. S. Grayson was appointed to fill the vacancy. Grayson refused the position, as did James D. Breckenridge, and Johnson was appointed, serving nine months. He subsequently united with the Christian church and devoted liimself exclusively to the spreading of the gospel. He was one of the lead- ers of this denomination, and contributed to its support. He died in Lexington, Mo., Dec. 17, 1856.

JOHNSON, John Wesley, educator, was born in Westport, Mo., March 22, 1836; son of Charles and Keziah (Trapp) Jolinson ; grandson of John Johnson, the pioneer settler of Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 10, 1825 ; and a great-grandson of Alexander Jolmson, who was born in North Carolina and moved to Nashville, Tenn. John Wesley removed with his father to Oregon in 1850, di-iving an ox team across the plains. His early education was procured at the jjioneer dis- trict schools, and he was graduated from Yale in 1862. He was married, July 3. 1805. to Helen Elizabeth, daughter of William Lysander Adaiu> of Yamhill county, Oregon He organized the high school of Portland, Oregon, and in 1876 he was asked bj- the state legislature to organize the University of Oregon. He was its first president and professor of Latin, continuing in office for seventeen years, when he resigned the presidency, but retained the professorship until his death. He was a leader in organizing educational institutions in Oregon. He died at Eugene. Ore.. Sept. 14, 1898.

JOHNSON, Joseph, governor of Virginia, was born in Orange county, N.Y., Dec. 19, 1785. When he was fifteen years of age his father re- moved to Bridgeport, Harrison count)-. Va., and Joseph acquired what education he could in the evenings when the farm work was done. He