Bio of JOHNSON, Ernest W. (b.1875), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 175-176
ERNEST W. JOHNSON
Ernest W. Johnson is branch manager of the Worthington Pump & Machinery Company
at Minneapolis and is known and esteemed as a progressive business man. He was
born in Swedeburg, Nebraska, on the 3d of November, 1875, a son of N. H. and
Katherine (Florrison) Johnson. The mother's father was for many years a
prominent minister in the Methodist churches of Pennsylvania.
The district schools of Nebraska afforded Ernest W. Johnson his early education
and in due time he was graduated from the high school at Omaha. He then took a
two-year business course in the Omaha Business College, receiving a diploma from
that institution. He also took a course in engineering in the International
Correspondence School. Upon putting his textbooks aside he entered the Omaha
Union Pacific shops and there learned the mechanic's trade. In 1898 he left
Nebraska and worked in Chicago and in St. Louis, Missouri, during the World's
Fair. In 1905 he was made chief engineer of the Hunkins-Willis Lime & Cement
Company, a large concern of St. Louis, so serving until 1907. when he became
associated with the Foos Gas Engine Company of Springfield, Ohio, and St. Louis,
later traveling out of St. Louis for that concern. In the spring of 1909 Mr.
Johnson came to Minneapolis as special representative of the Foos Gas Engine
Company, but in 1911 he severed his connection with that company and became
branch manager of the Worthington Pump & Machinery Company. He has been a prime
factor in the growth and development of this branch and he has been actively
connected with many other important projects which have figured in the
upbuilding and material development of Minneapolis.
In December, 1902, at St. Louis, Missouri, was celebrated the marriage of Mr
Johnson to Miss Ida M. Smith, a daughter of Robert Smith of Henderson, Kentucky.
The Smiths are representatives of an old Kentucky family, Smith Mills having
been named in honor of an ancestor. Robert Smith was a colonel in the Union army
throughout the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have four children: Frank L.,
eighteen years of age; Helen, six years of age; Grace M., aged four and one-half
years; and Margaret L., eighteen months old. Mrs. Johnson is a true southern
gentlewoman, cf charming personality, and is socially prominent.
Since attaining his majority Mr. Johnson has been a strict adherent of the
repub­lican party and the principles for which it stands. Fraternally he is a
Master Mason, holding membership in Minneapolis Lodge, No. 19, and he is
likewise identified with Minneapolis Lodge, No. 44, Benevolent Protective Order
of Elks. The religious faith of the family is that of the Methodist Episcopal
church and Mr. Johnson is a generous contributor to its support. He is an active
member of the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Association, the Calhoun Commercial
Club and the Rotary Club, and is also identified with the Minneapolis Society of
Fine Arts. During the World war Mr. Johnson gave generously of his time and
means in the furtherance of the government's interests. He was head of all
Liberty Loan drives in his district and was active in the promotion of the Red
Cross drives and other worthy causes, being an officer. Mr. Johnson's public
spirit is a stimulus and inspiration; his patriotism, locally and generally, is
genuine, practical and intense, and he is liberal to all worthy agencies at work
for the good of his community.