Biographical Sketch of Joseph W. Johnson - Andrew County, Missouri

>From "History of Missouri, Andrew & DeKalb County" Published 1888

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Transcribed by: Penny Harrell (Incog3678@aol.com)

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Joseph W. Johnson, a farmer of Lincoln Township, is a native of Pulaski
County, KY., born May 3, 1840.  He is the elder of two sons born to
Andrew R. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Johnson.  The former is a native of
Virginia, the latter of Kentucky.  They are now living in Wayne County,
KY., engaged in agricultural pursuits.  Our subject spent his boyhood
days as a laborer on the farm, and at the Hudson coal mines in Kentucky.
He received a common-school education, and in 1858 came to Andrew County,
MO., and engaged in farming as a renter.  In August, 1861, he entered
the Confederate army, enlisting in Company C, of Sanders' regiment of
infantry.  His command first operated in the West, but was soon trans-
ferred to the East.  He was in the engagements at Pea Ridge, Iuka, and
Corinth, at which place he received a severe wound in the leg, and was
left on the battlefield.  After being disabled about six months, he
re-entered the service at Jackson, Miss., and was in the battle of
Champion's Hill, and the siege of Vicksburg, where he was captured and
exchanged the following November.  He rejoined the army at Meridian,
Miss., and took part in all the battles from Dalton to Atlanta; 
accompanied Hood in the Tennessee campaign, and was at the battles of
Franklin and Nashville.  He was engaged in the battles of Fort Blakeley
opposite Mobile, and was captured the day Lee surrendered.  At the
close of the war he was on the ship Ireland, in the Gulf of Mexico, as
a prisoner of war.  He was paroled at Jackson, Miss., in May, 1865,
and had to work on the railroad to get money to come home, which he
reached June 15, 1865.  On November 29, 1866, he wedded Miss Amanda V.
Walker, a native of Andrew County, MO., and daughter of Joseph and Mary
Walker.  She was born in 1849, and died February 6, 1869.  He chose for
his second wife, Mrs. Susan J. Jackson, widow of Martin P. Jackson, and
sister of his first wife.  He is the father of three children born as
follows:  Dora J., born July 24, 1870; Albert, born June 9, 1872; and
William Z., born April 6, 18??.  He has been a life-long Democrat, and
he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.