Northumberland County PA Archives Biographies.....JOHNSON, William F. 1851     

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          Author: Biographical Publishing Company

        WILLIAM F. JOHNSON, who has been serving in the   responsible position 

of inside-foreman at Buck Ridge Colliery since 1888, enjoys the distinction of 

having   traveled extensively throughout Europe, Australia, and India. He is a 

son of Matthew and Martha (Foster) Johnson, and was born July 6, 1851, in 

Cramlington, Northumberland County, England. 

       When two years old our subject was taken to Australia by his parents 

where he was reared and   educated in the common schools. In 1867 he returned to   

England, but shortly afterward located in Westphalia, Germany, where he was 

engaged in what was termed "sinking" in connection with coal mining. He remained   

in Germany until 1873, at that time immigrating to this country and locating in 

Bear Valley, Northumberland County, Pa. In 1875 he accepted a position at 

Reynoldsville, Jefferson County, Pa., as foreman for Heim & Goodwill, where he 

remained until 1876; returning to Bear Valley, he continued to work there until 

the company sold out to the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company, after 

which he was inside-foreman at the same colliery until 1888, when   he was 

transferred to his present position at Buck Ridge. Deeds speak louder than 

words, and the fact that he has retained his position for the past ten   years 

is high tribute to his ability and worth.

        Matthew Johnson, father of our subject, was never in America, but left 

England for Australia in 1853,   located in Ballarat, and engaged in mining 

gold. He returned to England in 1867 and remained there until his death, which 

occurred in 1874, at the age of forty-eight years. He had a family of five 

children, whom he named: John, formerly a miner, now a merchant in Shamokin, 

Pa.; Matthew, now a gold miner in the mountains of Colorado; Susan, wife of 

Thomas Graves, and resides in England; Martha, who is a head-nurse in an asylum 

in England; and William F., the subject of our sketch.

        We now return to our subject, who was united in marriage with Margaret 

Jane Goodwill, daughter of John Goodwill and niece of Robert Goodwill, whose 

sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Our subject and his   estimable wife 

are blessed with a family of six boys:   Matthew, who married Elizabeth Jones, 

resides in Shamokin, and is a water-tender in the employ of the   Philadelphia & 

Reading Coal & Iron Co., at Buck Ridge Colliery; John, who married Agnes Daniels 

and is a   miner at Buck Ridge; Robert, a pump engineer at the same mines; 

Franklin, Sidney and William, who are at home preparing themselves for the 

battle of life by getting a good education. Politically our subject is   an 

earnest Republican and believes the principles of that party will best advance 

the interests of his country.

           Additional Comments: 

    Extracted from:          Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth 

Congressional District 

    Published by      Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and 

Buffalo, NY (1899)