Biography of William C Johnson, Greene Co, AR

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Submitted by: Michael Brown
        Date: 5 Sep 1998
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
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Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas

page 150

William C. Johnson has been identified with the farming and stock dealing
interests of Friendship Township, Greene County, Ark., since 1856, and in that time
he has proven himself to be a man of intelligence and enterprise. He was born in Knox
County, Tenn., in October, 1821, and is the eldest of five children born to Pleasant
M. and Ellen (Thompson) Johnson, who were born in Virginia, and at an early day
emigrated to Tennessee, where they were married. They were engaged in farming in West
Tennessee until 1858, when they moved to Dunklin County, Mo., where the father died
in 1861, aged sixty-four years, his wife's death having occurred in Tennessee, in
1854. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. His mother was Mary Hancock, a niece of
John Hancock, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. William C. Johnson was
educated in the district schools near his home in Tennessee, and was married in
Madison County, of that State, in 1842, to Amanda C. Sanders, a native of Lincoln
county, Tenn., a daughter of Samuel and Linnie (Looney) Sanders, who were
Tennesseeans, and prosperous farmers of that State. They moved to Ozark County, Mo.,
in 1854, where they were engaged in farming until their respective deaths in 1857 and
1887. Mr. Johnson and family emigrated to Lawrence County, Ark., in 1854, where they
entered a tract of 120 acres and remained two years, moving thence to his resent farm
in Greene County. He first entered 156 acres, which he proved up in 1861, and has
added to this land until he now owns 197 [p.150] acres, with nearly 100 acres under
cultivation. Besides this he owns forty acres of land in Clark Township (twenty-two
acres in cultivation), the most of his tillable property being devoted to cotton and
corn. He has aided in the organization of Friendship Township, and assisted in
building the county road. He has always affiliated with the Democratic party, and has
helped largely in increasing the number of Democratic voters in his section. He has
been one of the foremost men in developing the resources of the county, and has
always been an active supporter of schools and churches, being ordained in 1874, by
Thomas D. Lloyd and David Thorn, a minister of the Missionary Baptist Church. He has
expounded the gospel since that time and has been instrumental in converting some
people to Christianity. He and wife are the parents of three daughters and ten sons:
Permelia Lane and Emerentha Virginia (deceased); Linna Elender, wife of A.M. Shearer,
living near Halliday; W. S. C., married and residing in Greene County; John H.,
married and resident of Halliday; David Pleasant and James Monroe (deceased); Ben.
Franklin, also deceased; Alfred Jefferson, single; Christopher A, also married; J.
N., P. G. and L. L.