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File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
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Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890

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The Biography of John Henry JOHNSON 

Pages 473-475, transcribed in full by Danni Hopkins 

[Surnames: CATTERTON, CLARKE, COFFEE, FOLTZ, JOHNSON, McKEE, MEADOWS, NORTON, ORGAN, WEST, WHITNAH] 

    
JOHN HENRY JOHNSON. This gentleman has had a very successful career since he established himself in London Mills in the drug business in May, 1885. He has a large store, 22x50 feet, tastefully arranged and supplied with a very full stock of goods. These include the articles generally to be found in a first-class pharmacy. He usually carries from three to six hundred ounces quinine and cinhona, a large variety of plush goods in their season, and a heavy stock of tobacco and cigars. He carries as high as forty-five butts of tobacco, from seven to eight thousand cigars, fifteen to twenty pails fine cut and three hundred pounds of smoking tobacco. He does not sell a drop of liquor and never keeps it on hand. His is probably the only strictly temperance drug store in the county. He manufactures his own tinctures and within twenty-four hours after the alcohol comes in, he has it made up. He saves from fifteen to thirty cents per pint on these preparations, sending only for what he needs of the required ingredients. 
    
Mr. Johnson is a grandson of the Rev. Richard Johnson, a native of Kentucky and a minister in the Christian Church. He emigrated from his native State to Illinois, being one of the earliest settlers in Knox County. He bought and improved what is known as the Mound Farm near Abingdon, but after some years moved across the line into Warren County but still near Abingdon. There he resided until his death, preaching the Gospel as well as operating his farm. He was one of the organizers of the Christian Church in that part of the county. 
    
The father of our subject was Patton Johnson, who was born in Kentucky and removed to this State when quite young. He was reared in Knox County and after his marriage removed to Warren County where he settled on a farm. After a time he removed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but after residing there a few years returned to this State, located at Prairie City and was a contractor for stone work seven years. He had picked up the mason's trade, being apt in mechanical work. For a few years following he carried on a farm here, then returned to the city and remained two years. In 1865, he took up his abode in Abingdon, working at his trade as a contractor until 1875, when he spent a short time in Galesburg. 
    
We next find Mr. Johnson in Monmouth, beginning the practice of the Thompsonian system of medicine and meeting with success. He was a fine botanist, well acquainted with the properties of herbs and roots, from which he prepared his medicines. In 1879 he went to Vona, Col., took up a claim and lived there until his death, in 1889. He was an active and consistent member of the Christian Church. In politics he was a Democrat. 
    
The mother of our subject was born in Kentucky and bore the maiden name of Sarah Meadows. She was a lineal descendant in the maternal line of Martin Coffee, who came from England to America and died in Kentucky at the age of one hundred and one years. A large estate in England was left by a member of this family but the record is not sufficiently complete to prove the claims of our subject's family upon it. Her father, Henry Meadows, likewise a native of the Blue Grass State, was one of the early of Warren County, near Abingdon. He bought land and engaged in farming, finally becoming the owner of a large tract of land from which he gave each of his children a farm. He was a carpenter by trade and helped to build the old court house at Knoxville. He built his own rude log house and other buildings, gradually improved his dwelling, putting on clapboards, plastering it, etc. He was quite a hunter and one of the most hospitable among the pioneers with whom hospitality was a prominent virtue. No stranger nor hungry man passed his door without being entertained. He was a very active man in church matters, a leader among the people, and before a church was built, had services held in his house. He and grandfather Johnson built the first Christian Church in that section, located at Meridian. Mrs. Johnson is now living at Abingdon, in quite poor health and fifty-six years old. 
    
The parental family included Althea, who died in childhood; Mary E., Sarah J. and Martha A., who live in Abingdon; John Henry; Minnie I., whose home is in Peoria; Erastus R., of Denver, Col.; Artie, who died at Prairie City when a child; Charles W., in the employ of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad at Peoria; Milicent Z., who lives in Galesburg. 
    
The natal day of our subject was January 11, 1856, and his birthplace Cedar Rapids, Linn County, Iowa. When six months old he was brought to Prairie City, Ill., which was his home until the age of nine years. He then went to Abingdon and at that early age began working his own way. He labored on a farm in the summer, and attended school in Abingdon in the winter until he acquired a good education. Early in January, 1875, he began clerking for F. P. Foltz, the pioneer merchant and leading pharmacist of Abingdon, from whom he learned the drug business and the art of compounding medicines. So skillful did he become that during the last four years of the seven which he spent in Mr. Foltz's employ he had charge of the store. He was registered as a pharmacist in 1881. 
    
In the spring of 1882, Mr. Johnson took a trip to Kansas City and Topeka but returned to this State in the course of a month and in April came to London Mills. The Fulton County Railroad had just been completed and the town then had but four stores and a mill. Our subject took charge of the drug store of H. C. Whitnah, carrying it on three years. He then bought a new stock of drugs worth $1500 and opened his own establishment. The first year he rented a building, 19x23 feet, but as the rent was high and the room too small for his growing trade, he determined to build. He bought lumber on nine months' time and put up the structure he now occupies. He was able to pay his bills in five months, as his increasing popularity, close application to business and pharmaceutical skill added continually to his custom. His location is the best in the town and he is undoubtedly the most prosperous dealer there. He owns one-eight of a block of land with a store and residence, and is also interested in Chicago lots in what was formerly the suburb of Englewood. He and his wife carry ten years; endowment policies to the amount of $6,000 in the Etna Life Insurance Company. 
    
The marriage ceremony which united the lives of John Johnson and Mary Catterton was performed by Judge Dennis Clarke, uncle of the groom, in Galesburg, October 15, 1883. The grandfather of the bride was Dilar F. Catterton, a native of Virginia and of Welsh descent. He was an early settler in Kentucky where his son, James R., father of Mrs. Johnson, was born. The last named gentleman came to Lawrence County, Ill., in 1820 and farmed there for a number of years. In 1850 he located in Elba Township, Knox County, where he has successfully pursued his calling and now owns two hundred and three acres of fine, improved land. He was a soldier in the Mexican War, and in 1862 enlisted in the One Hundred and Second Illinois Infantry, serving as a private three years. During that time he was injured by a team in a wagon train and was transferred to the invalid corps. Although seventy one years old he is still actively engaged in his business. He is a strong Republican and a member of the Church of Christ. 
    
The mother of Mrs. Johnson is of English ancestry and grand-daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. Her father, Daniel Organ, a Captain in the Black Hawk War, died in Lawrence County, this State, whence he had removed from Kentucky. Mrs. Sarah Catterton is still living and is now sixty-one years old. She is the mother of seven children, three of whom are still living. These are, Mrs. Aurora McKee of Summit; Mrs. Johnson; and Mrs. Lura Norton of Bloomington. 
    
Mrs. Johnson was born in Elba Township, Knox County, and has a practical education. After having attended Abingdon College two years she engaged in teaching, afterward spending three months more at her Alma Mater. She held five certificates from Mary Allen West who has been so prominently identified with the educational work of this country during the past few years. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson one child has been born, a charming little daughter, Stella Fay. 
    
Mr. Johnson was Treasurer of London Mills one term, the second year after the incorporation of the town. He has since declined office as he is too busy in conducting his store to properly discharge duties of a public nature. He belongs to London Lodge, No. 734, I. O. O. F., and Mrs. Johnson is a Rebecca. The lodge with which she was identified is now extinct. She is an active member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, an expresident in the society, and is a believer in prohibition as a party measure. Mr. Johnson is a stanch Republican. Both are active members of the Church of Christ. Mr. Johnson is now Deacon and Treasurer and his wife Assistant Superintendent in the Sunday-school. They move in the best circles of society and are highly regarded for their mental culture, useful and energetic lives and Christian characters. As will be seen, Mr. Johnson is self made both as to education and finances. For years, even when but a salaried clerk, he supported his mother, to whom he still lovingly gives of his abundance. 
    
The attention of the reader is directed to a lithographic portrait of Mr. Johnson, presented on another page. [Sorry, not available at this time --Alice.]