Bio of JOHNSON, Charles (b.1865 d.1918), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
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
========================================================

Vol III, pg 512-515
CHARLES JOHNSON
Charles Johnson, a factor in the manufacturing circles of Minneapolis, his
business not only covering American but also foreign territory, exemplifies in
his life the possibilities of attainment through individual effort and the
utilization of opportunity. He was born in Finland, of Swedish parentage, in
1865. He attended school irregularly in his native country and came to America
in 1882, at the age of sixteen years. After a brief time spent in Michigan he
arrived in Minneapolis and this city has been his home for forty-one years. He
could speak no word of English when he crossed the Atlantic, but while working
he attended the night sessions of the Franklin school and rapidly acquired a
good knowledge not only of the English tongue but of various branches of
learning, thus laying a good foundation for his later progress. In those early
days he worked at railroading, in the woods, in connection with the lumber
business, in the copper mines and even in a blast furnace works, in order to
gain a start. While thus employed he saved his money, so that before the
beginning of the twentieth century he and Arnold Mereen established the
Mereen-Johnson Machine Company. They began making box factory machinery, but
later extended the scope of their business to include the manufacture of other
woodworking machinery, in which line the company is still engaged. At the
beginning C. A. Smith was president, with Arnold Mereen as vice president and
Charles Johnson as treasurer. They incor­porated the business with a capital of
twenty-five thousand dollars, which has been increased from time to time until
the capitalization is today one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In 1914 Mr.
Mereen withdrew from the company and Charles Johnson has since been president.
The business of the corporation extends not only over the entire United States
but also into England, Japan, the Philippines, Alaska, Mexico and Canada, and
almost each passing year has chronicled an increase in the trade of the house,
the steady development being built upon the substantial basis of enterprise,
progressiveness and reliability.
On the 24th of August, 1896, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Sarah
Martin-son and they have a family of four children: Arthur B.; Ruth Josephine,
now the wife of Walter W. Whitney; Carl E.; and Roy E. All three sons and the
son-in-law enlisted for service in the World war. Arthur B. Johnson was an
ensign in the navy for two years He entered the training school in Chicago and
was commissioned at Pelham Bay, New York. Carl E. Johnson was in the aviation
service, stationed at Montauk Camp, Long Island. Roy E. was in the military
service and was stationed at the Exposition building in Minneapolis, while W. W.
Whitney was a lieutenant in active service in France for eighteen months.
Scarcely a family can show an equal record for one hundred per cent active
service.
In Masonic circles Mr. Johnson is well known. He has membership in Plymouth
Lodge, A. F. & A. M , of Minneapolis; Mounted Commandery, K. T.; Minneapolis
Consistory, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish
Rite; and Zuhrah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also an Odd Fellow and an
Elk and he belongs to the Minneapolis Civic & Commerce Association, to the
Citizens Alliance, to the Manufacturers Club and to the North Side Commercial
Club, associations showing
the extent of his activity and interest along lines of social and public
benefit. His history is one that may well be perused with profit by native-born
as well as adopted citizens of this land. He arrived in America with but a
dollar and a half in his pockets. He knew no one and could not speak the English
language. The first thing he did was to pay a dollar for a pair of shoes. Then
he started out to make his fortune in a strange country with fifty cents as his
initial capital and he accomplished his purpose. Today he stands as one of the
prominent and prosperous manufacturers of Minneapolis a living example of what
may be done in "the land of the free" through industry and square dealing with
all men.