BIO: Watson Lowery JOHNSTON, Clearfield County, PA
 
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From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,
and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr.,
Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 720 & 721.
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  WATSON LOWERY JOHNSTON, of the firm of W. L. Johnston & Son, real estate 
dealers, with quarters in the McEwen building, DuBois, Pa., is one of the early 
residents of this borough and one of its representative men.  He was born in 
Indiana county, Pa., September 4, 1851, and is a son of Matthew and Jane 
(Barclay) Johnston.
  Matthew Johnston was born in Center county, Pa.  He married Jane Barclay, who 
was born in Ireland and was an infant when her parents, Watson Lowery Barclay 
and wife, came to Center county.  Eight children were born to Matthew and Jane 
Johnston, the only survivors of the family being Watson Lowery and an older 
brother, J. A. Johnston.
  Watson Lowery Johnston was reared on the home farm and attended the district 
schools.  In 1873 he came to DuBois, or to Rumbarger, which was the early name 
of what was then a little lumber settlement.  He opened a small grocery and 
confectionery store, one of the early business houses, and later engaged in 
building and contracting and by 1895 saw the wisdom of going into the real 
estate business which he expanded into so important an enterprise that in 1903 
he admitted his son, George W. Johnston, as a partner.  The firm subsequently 
bought the building in which they have ever since maintained their offices.  As 
an additional business line, Mr. Johnston has been an auctioneer for many years 
and in this capacity is known all over this part of the state.  He was one of 
the organizers of the first fire company at DuBois, in 1881, and served four 
years as its president.  In 1889 the company was reorganized as the Union Fire 
Company and he served two years as president, and when the DuBois Volunteer Fire 
Department was organized in 1893, he again served one year as its presiding 
officer.  It was through his public spirited efforts that the Firemen's 
Convention assembled at DuBois, August 21, 1894.  Appreciation of his efforts 
was definitely shown, when, in 1895, he was elected president of the Central 
District Volunteer Fire Department.
  Mr. Johnston was married June 9, 1875, to Miss Wilhelmina Wise, a daughter of 
Michael Wise, and five children were born to them, three of whom survive, 
namely:  George W.; Catherine M., who is the wife of Dr. Hugh Morehead, of Erie, 
Pa.; and Nellie B., who married John C. Carson, of DuBois, and they have one 
son, Daniel L.
  George W. Johnston, the junior member of the firm of W. L. Johnston & Son, was 
born at DuBois, April 13, 1876, and obtained a common school education.  When 
fifteen years of age he became a clerk for J. C. Merriss, with whom he continued 
for five years and then learned the carpenter trade, which he followed until 
1903, when he entered into partnership with his father.  Both members of this 
firm are able business men and both popular citizens.  W. L. Johnston is a 
Prohibitionist.  He is identified fraternally with the Heptasophs.  With his 
family he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, in which, for some years, 
he was a local preacher.