A native of Greene County, Ohio, was born August 22, 1841, a son of Abijah and Elizabeth (Bailey) Johnson. When a youth of thirteen years, he accompanied his parents on their removal to Indiana and supplemented his preliminary educational privileges by study in Wabash College, and in Battle Ground Institute, therein completing his literary course. He afterward entered the law department of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, where he attended one winter. In 1865 he came to Oskaloosa and entered the office of J. R. Barcroft as a law student. Subsequently, he continued his studies in the law school at Des Moines and in 1867 was admitted to the bar. He then went to Eddyville, Iowa, where he formed a partnership with Henry N. Clements, a fellow student at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Not long after taking up his abode in Eddyville he was appointed by the council of that village to the office of city attorney, which position he filled until his removal to Oskaloosa in 1868. Here he formed a law partnership with George W. Lafferty, with whom he continued actively in the practice of his profession until his election to the bench in 1883. In I869 he had been appointed city attorney and the next year was elected to the office. Not only was he connected with the execution of the laws but also become a factor in framing them, for in 1879 he was chosen by popular suffrage to represent his district in the state senate and was a member of the eighteenth and nineteenth general assemblies of Iowa, acting as a member when the amendment for prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors was framed and submitted to the people. In the nineteenth general assembly he was chairman of the committee of the constitutional amendments. In 1882 he received his party's nomination of the sixth judicial district and in 1886 was re-elected on the republican ticket, at which time the democrat and greenback parties refused to put up a candidate against him. In 1890 he was re-nominated and re-elected. He was ardently devoted to his profession and was an orator of recognized ability. On the 27th of April, 1871, Judge Johnson was married to Miss Ann E. Gruwell, who was born in Columbiana County, Ohio. Judge Johnson was a genial, courteous gentleman, a pleasing, entertaining companion, and had many stanch and admiring friends among all classes of men. As an energetic, upright and conscientious lawyer, a jurist and a gentleman of attractive, social qualities, he stood high in the estimation of the entire community.

Native of Greene County, Ohio, was born August 22, 1841, a son of Abijah and Elizabeth (Bailey) Johnson. When a youth of thirteen years, he accompanied his parents on their removal to Indiana and supplemented his preliminary educational privileges by study in Wabash College, and in Battle Ground Institute, therein completing his literary course. He afterward entered the law department of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, where he attended one winter. In 1865 he came to Oskaloosa and entered the office of J. R. Barcroft as a law student. Subsequently, he continued his studies in the law school at Des Moines and in 1867 was admitted to the bar. He then went to Eddyville, Iowa, where he formed a partnership with Henry N. Clements, a fellow student at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Not long after taking up his abode in Eddyville he was appointed by the council of that village to the office of city attorney, which position he filled until his removal to Oskaloosa in 1868. Here he formed a law partnership with George W. Lafferty, with whom he continued actively in the practice of his profession until his election to the bench in 1883. In I869 he had been appointed city attorney and the next year was elected to the office. Not only was he connected with the execution of the laws but also become a factor in framing them, for in 1879 he was chosen by popular suffrage to represent his district in the state senate and was a member of the eighteenth and nineteenth general assemblies of Iowa, acting as a member when the amendment for prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors was framed and submitted to the people. In the nineteenth general assembly he was chairman of the committee of the constitutional amendments. In 1882 he received his party's nomination of the sixth judicial district and in 1886 was re-elected on the republican ticket, at which time the democrat and greenback parties refused to put up a candidate against him. In 1890 he was re-nominated and re-elected. He was ardently devoted to his profession and was an orator of recognized ability. On the 27th of April, 1871, Judge Johnson was married to Miss Ann E. Gruwell, who was born in Columbiana County, Ohio. Judge Johnson was a genial, courteous gentleman, a pleasing, entertaining companion, and had many stanch and admiring friends among all classes of men. As an energetic, upright and conscientious lawyer, a jurist and a gentleman of attractive, social qualities, he stood high in the estimation of the entire community.