Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013,
                           All Rights Reserved
                          U.S. Data Repository

    Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page:
                <http://www.us-data.org/fineprint.html>

Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/
=========================================================================
U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced
in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization.
Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain
the consent of the transcriber prior to use.
Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so.
=========================================================================
Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded.
===========================================================================
Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa
W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889

[page 627-628]

    JAMES JOHNSON - Cherokee County may well feel flattered to be chosen
    as the home of one whose travels cover almost the entire face of the
    earth.  From Colorado on the west to the islands of New Zealand on the
    east, one has indeed a wide range from which to select a habitation.
    JAMES JOHNSON was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, September 10, 1842,
    and is the son of ROBERT and ISABELLE (RAY) JOHNSON.  He is next the
    youngest of twelve children, five sons and seven daughters.  At an
    early age he was engaged in that most trying labor, coal mining, which
    he continued until he was twenty years of age.  Then began his wander-
    ings.  He emigrated from his native land to the islands of New Zealand,
    and for four years was engaged in gold mining.  At the end of that time
    he returned to Scotland, where he spent six months.  He then came to
    America, and after landing did not stop until he had reached Colorado;
    he did not find his expectations realized, and in a few months went
    back again to Scotland.  Eleven months later we find him again in
    America, locating in Boone County, Iowa; there he lived one year, and
    then came to Cherokee County, taking a homestead in Cedar Township,
    where he made his home until 1884.  He then purchased 120 acres of
    land on which he now lives; this was wild and unimproved, but he has
    reclaimed it from the state of nature in which the red man left it,
    and has reaped the abundant harvests which the earth is ready to yield
    to her industrious children.  His improvements are of the best kind,
    and he has every convenience for raising live-stock; for the latter
    industry the farm is admirably adapted by a fine brook flowing through
    the land, furnishing an abundant supply of water.  Mr. JOHNSON was
    married June 15, 1870, to Miss AGNES SMITH, a native of Lanarshire,
    Scotland, and a daughter of ALEXANDER and JENNETTE (MURDOCK) SMITH.
    they are the parents of four children: ROBERT J., born May 13, 1871;
    ALEXANDER STUART, born January 25, 1873; DELLA, born December 12, 1874,
    and AGNES J., born November 3, 1877.  In politics Mr. JOHNSON
    affiliates with no party, but is independent.  Mrs. JOHNSON is a
    member of the Presbyterian Church of Cherokee.

===========================================================================