OBIT: Robert L. JOHNSTON, 1890, Ebensburg, Cambria County, PA

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Morning Tribune
Altoona, Pa.
Wednesday, October 29, 1890


HON. R. L. JOHNSTON.
SUDDEN DEATH OF THE JUDGE OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
Stricken With Apoplexy Yesterday Afternoon He Dies at 8 O'clock Last 
Night - He was a Native of Williamsburg, Blair County, But Had Made 
Cambria County His Home for Years.
HE WAS A MAN WHO HAD MANY FRIENDS
Of Kindly Disposition and a Pleasant Word for Every One He Will be 
Greatly Missed.

Special to the Tribune.
  Ebensburg, Pa., October 28. - Hon. Robert L. Johnston, president 
judge of this county, was stricken with apoplexy this afternoon and 
died at 8 o'clock this evening.

  The announcement of the sudden death of Judge Johnston will be news 
of sorrow to many people in Altoona, where the deceased was well known 
and where so many former residents of Cambria now live.  The deceased 
was a native of Williamsburg, Blair county, and was aged about 76 
years.  He was admitted to the Huntingdon county bar (Blair county had 
not then been formed), on April 13, 1841.  He removed to Ebensburg some 
time between 1848 and 1850, and ever since that time made his home at 
the county seat of Cambria county.  Originally an old line whig in 
politics, he afterward became a democrat.  In 1862 he was nominated by 
his party for congress, but was defeated by Hon. A. A. Barker.  When 
Cambria county was taken from Blair county and formed into a separate 
judicial district in 1883 the deceased was nominated for the judgeship, 
to which position he was elected and was therefore the first judge of 
that county.  His opponent was Hon. George M. Reed.

  Judge Johnston was twice married, his second wife being the widow of 
Mr. Edward Glass, of Evensburg [sic].  His wife survived him, as does 
also one son.  Kind and genial in his manner, the friend of the poor, 
he was known and beloved throughout the county in which he had lived so 
long.  Judge Johnston was a member of the Catholic church.



Morning Tribune
Altoona, Pa.
Thursday, October 30, 1890

THE LATE JUDGE JOHNSTON.
His Funeral Will Take Place To-Morrow at Ebensburg.

  The Johnstown Tribune of last evening says: "The obsequies attending 
the burial of Judge Johnston's remains will be participated in by the 
Cambria County Bar association in a body.  A meeting of the association 
will be held at the court house before the funeral, and appropriate 
action will then be taken concerning the judge's death.  The funeral 
will take place on Friday.  The hour has not yet been positively 
decided upon, but it will probably be at 10.30."

  The same paper contains the following sketch of his life: "Robert L. 
was the son of William Johnston, who came from Ireland - county 
Fermenagh - in 1801, located at Milesburg, Centre county, and in 1804 
married a Scotch lady, Jane Ramsey.  He was a school teacher, and 
followed his avocation in Centre and Huntingdon counties.  At 
Huntingdon Furnace, in the latter named county, the subject of this 
notice was born on the 8th day of January, 1815, the day of the battle 
of New Orleans, a fact which he more than once mentioned to his 
friends.

  "In 1837 the Johnston family moved from Huntingdon to Indiana county, 
where the father afterward died.  His children had received from him 
and from the local schools such information as circumstances afforded, 
and Robert L., at the age of 19 years, began teaching.  He followed 
this occupation in Huntingdon, Blair and Indiana counties until about 
1839, when he located in Ebensburg and became an instructor in the 
academy.  Meanwhile he read law in the office of Michael Dan Magehan 
and was admitted to practice by Judge White at the March term, 1841.

  "A year or so after his admission to the bar he was chosen the first 
superintendent of public schools of Cambria.  This condition he held 
but a year, however, as his physical condition was unequal to the 
exposure incident to the work.  In 1845 he was elected county treasurer 
on the whig ticket, and served until 1847.  In 1849 he was defeated for 
the state senate by Augustus Drum, of Indiana.  From 1851 to 1854 he 
was prothonotary of the county.  In the latter year, knowing to the 
know nothing scare, he changed his allegiance from the whig to the 
democratic party.  In 1864 he ran, as a democrat, against Hon. A. A. 
Barker for congress, but was defeated.  In 1866 he was again defeated 
for the same office, his opponent in this fight having been the late 
Hon. D. J. Morrell.  From this time until 1883 he followed closely the 
profession of the law, although taking an active interest in political 
affairs.  In 1883 he was elected over George M. Reade, esq., president 
judge of the courts of Cambria county.  He took his seat on the 7th of 
January, 1884, the county then having attained the dignity of a 
separate judicial district.

  "Mr. Johnston was twice married.  His first wife was a Miss Rodrigue, 
sister of Dr. Rodrigue, at one time a resident of Ebensburg, but 
afterward of Hollidaysburg, where he died.  To her he was married soon 
after his admission to the bar.  She bore him one child - a daughter - 
who afterward became the wife of Mr. John Scanlan, the well known 
lawyer.  Both she and Mrs. [sic] Scanlan are dead.

  Mrs. Johnston died about fifteen years ago.  Several months after 
that even the judge married the widow of Edward Glass and she survives 
him.  By her he had one child - a son, Robert L., now about 13 years of 
age.  Besides his wife and son the judge leaves three step-daughters - 
children of Mrs. Glass to her first husband - Maggie, wife of Phil 
McDonald, of Altoona, and Misses Maude and Irene, at home.  He also 
leaves an adopted daughter, the wife of E. C. Parrish, of Ebensburg.  
His grandchildren by the daughter of his first wife are Robert L., John 
and Mary Scanlan.