Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Johnson, Andrew 1867 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 23, 2007, 10:48 pm

Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

ANDREW JOHNSON.

    Andrew Johnson, mayor of the town of Vermillion, proprietor of an extensive
lumber business at that place and also connected with various other business
enterprises there and at Axtell, treasurer of Noble township, former clerk of
Murray township and a substantial landowner of Marshall county, is a native of
the kingdom of Sweden, but has been a resident of this county since the days of
his early childhood and is thus as thoroughly identified with the affairs of
this region as though "native and to the manner born." He was born on February
10, 1867, son of Peter and Margaret (Pearson) Johnson, also natives of Sweden,
who came to this country with their family in the spring of 1870 and proceeded
on out to Kansas, locating in the northern part of Marshall county, near the
present site of the town of Summerfield, right on the Nebraska line. There Peter
Johnson homesteaded a tract of land and proceeded to develop the same, making
his home there until 1878. when he bought a farm two miles south of Axtell in
Murray township. He did well in his farming operations and eventually became the
owner of three hundred and twenty acres. He had been trained to the trade of
stone mason in his native land and followed that trade to a considerable extent
after coming here, building the foundations for many of the early buildings in
the northeastern part of the county, including the foundation for the first
Catholic church at Axtell. His father-in-law, Andrew Pearson, who with his wife,
accompanied the Johnsons to this country from Sweden, was a carpenter and
actively followed that trade for some years after coming here. He and his wife
made their home with the Johnsons. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were among the charter
members of the Swedish Lutheran church in the Swedish settlement in Lincoln
township and were influential members of that community. They lived to see their
family well established and the community into which they had come when this
region was an open range populated and prosperous, with flourishing towns and
villages and farms improved to the very last word in agricultural development.
Peter Johnson died on January 22, 1914, and his widow survived him a little less
than two years, her death occurring on January 2, 1916. They were the parents of
ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others
being as follow: Jonas, who is now living retired at Kackley, this state;
Gustave, who is living on a farm south of Axtell; Frank O., a banker at
Courtland; William, a merchant at Axtell; Mrs. Minnie Floberg, of Lincoln
township; Victor and Edward, who have remained on the old home place in Murray
township, and Dena and Rosa, who are also living on the old home place.

    Andrew Johnson was but three years of age when his parents came to Marshall
county and he grew to manhood as a farmer, assisting his father until he was
twenty-two years of age. As a lad he herded cattle on the open range on land now
occupied by the town of Summerfield and he has been a witness to the development
of the county from the days when the homes of the settlers were few and far
between. After his marriage in 1889, he then being twenty-two years of age, he
engaged in the mercantile business at Courtland and was thus engaged at that
place for four years, at the end of which time he sold out there and moved to
Axtell, where he engaged in the mercantile business. Two years later he sold his
store and took up the feed and mill business, continuing engaged in that line
for five years, at the end of which time he took up the hardware business and
conducted a hardware store there for five years. He then moved to Vliets, where
he opened a lumber yard and was there engaged in the lumber business for seven
years, or until 1912, when he moved to Vermillion, purchased an extensive lumber
establishment at that place and has since been engaged in that business there.
Mr. Johnson has done well in his business engagements and.has made some
excellent real-estate investments, being the owner of a farm of two hundred and
forty acres in Murray township, which is being operated by his eldest son; the
east half of the southeast quarter of section 36 of that township and a quarter
of a section across the road in the adjoining county of Nemaha, and also owns an
"eighty" a mile and a half north of the village of Vliets. He also continues to
own his old home place in Axtell. During his residence in Axtell, Mr. Johnson
was one of the most active business men there and he is still retained as a
member of the board of directors of the Axtell Telephone Company and a member of
the board of directors of the Citizens Bank of Axtell. Mr. Johnson is a
Republican and has for years taken an active part in local political affairs.
For years he was a member of the council at Axtell and also served as clerk of
Murray township during his residence there. While at Vliets he served for seven
years as a member of the school board and is now treasurer of Noble townhip. In
1914 he was elected a member of the council of Vermillion and is now mayor of
the city of Vermillion.

    On July 11, 1889, Andrew Johnson was united in marriage to Christine
Pearson, who was born in Sweden, daughter of Per Pearson and wife and who came
to this country with her parents when she was sixteen years of age. To this
union three children have been born, namely: Ernest G., who is working his
father's farm in Murray township; Arthur W., who is assisting his father in the
lumber business at Vermillion; Leonard A., who is a student at Wesleyan Business
College at Salina. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are members of the Swedish Lutheran
church in Lincoln township and have ever given their earnest attention to
community good works, helpful in promoting all measures having to do with the
advancement of the common welfare.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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