Page:One of a thousand.djvu/354

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34Q JOHNSON. JOHNSON. Hampshire and Vermont ; their Unions, Secessions and Disunions." August 16, 1880, he delivered the centennial oration in His native town. On the 4th of July, 1888, he delivered the poem at the laying of the corner-stone of the town hall and high school building in Southbridge. Mr. Jillson still resides in Worcester, and is now collecting material for a history of his native town. JOHNSON, Edward Francis, son of John and Julia A. (Bui finch) Johnson, was born in Woburn, Middlesex county, Octo- ber 22, 1856. He attended the public schools of his native town, and graduated at the high school as valedictorian of his class in 1874. He graduated from Harvard College in 1878, and after a year's rest, partially spent abroad, entered the Harvard law school and graduated in 1882, with the degree of I.L.B. He was admitted a mem- ber of the Suffolk bar in 188 1, and began practice after leaving the law school. He was appointed clerk of the 4th district court of eastern Middlesex at its estab- lishment in 1882, and held the position until he resigned in July, 1888. September 26, 1882, at Woburn, Mr. Johnson was married to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Edward and Mary (Tidd) Simonds. Their children are : Harold Bendexter and Kenneth Simonds Johnson. In April, 1887, Mr. Johnson was elected town treasurer of Woburn, and was re- elected the following year. In December, 1888, he was elected the first mayor of Woburn. He is a direct descendant of Edward Johnson, who, having been the first town clerk and chairman of the first board of selectmen in Woburn, has been called " The lather of the Town." All of Mr. John- sun's ancestors were natives of Woburn, and he was named after Edward Johnson ami Francis Kendall, who was another of the early settlers of Woburn, and one whose descendants have intermarried with the Johnsons. Willi the exception of Hon. Klisha Bartlett, who was elected mayor of Lowell at the age of thirty-one, Mr. John- son is the youngest first mayor of any of the twenty-seven cities which have been incorporated in Massachusetts. Mr. Johnson is a man fond of outdoor sports, and a champion tennis player. Being a Republican in politics, his election as mayor by a plurality of six hundred votes in a city strongly Democratic is a sufficient attestation of the popular esti- mation of his worth and ability. JOHNSON, GEORGE W., was born in Boston, December 28, 1827. He was edu- cated at the Latin and Chauncy Hall schools of his native city. He resides in Brookfield and is a practicing lawyer of Worcester county. He sat in the state Senate of 1870, and was a member of the House of Representatives in 1877 and 'So. He was a delegate to the national Republican convention at Chicago in 1S68, and is chairman of the board of trustees in the state primary and reform schools. He was elected to serve as a member of the executive council of Governor Ames in 1887, and has twice been re-elected to the same position. JOHNSON, Henry Augustin, son of John and Harriet Bates Johnson, was born in Fairhaven, Bristol county, February 17, 1825. His early education was at the Friends' Academy in New Bedford, and he prepared for college with Henry W. Torrey, then of New Bedford, but now of Cam- bridge. In August, 1840, he entered Har- vard College, and graduated in the class of 1844. Subsequently he became a student at the Harvard law school, was admitted to the Suffolk county bar in 1848, and, after an absence of two years in Europe, began the practice of law in Boston in the autumn of 1S52. In 1S55 he formed a co-partner- ship with Robert Codman of Boston, which has continued ever since. Their business at present is principally in probate matters and trusts. Mr. Johnson has never had any disposi- tion for political life, but attends closely to his professional duties in Boston, passing his leisure time on his farm in East Brain- tree. He served on the school committee for several years, and is one of the original trustees of the Thayer public library. In January, 1859, he was married to- Elizabeth Swift, daughter of the late Henry H. Hitch, of Pernambuco, Brazil, who died in 1S82, leaving him with six children : Laurence H. H., Elizabeth, Lesly Angus- tin, Harriet Everard, Reginald Hathaway, and Erik St. John Johnson. JOHNSON, Henry Harrison, son of Samuel and Mary (Emery) Johnson, was born in Haverhill, Essex county, March 24, 1840. The common and high schools furnished the means of his early education. When fifteen years of age he entered a shoe- shop to learn the business ; remained until 1S62, when he enlisted in the 50th regiment, Massachusetts volunteers, and went to the front. He served in the Gulf department