C. A. Johnson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1878-1879 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	C. A. JOHNSON was born in Springville, Erie county, New York, and 
is a scion of sturdy Puritan stock, the name which he bears having been 
identified with the annals of American history from the early colonial 
epoch. The subject was a lad of about nine years at the time of the 
family removal to Wisconsin, and there he was reared to the sturdy 
discipline of the homestead farm, while he received such educational 
advantages as were afforded in the common schools of the locality and 
period. At the age of seventeen years, Mr. Johnson entered the Elroy 
Seminary, at Elroy, Wisconsin, where he completed a three-years course 
of study. His financial resources were limited and in order to 
accomplish his ambition to thus further prosecute his educational work, 
he entered the office of one of the leading physicians of Elroy, and by 
his services in the connection defrayed the expenses of his board in 
the home of the doctor. He was compelled to borrow money to pay his 
tuition in the seminary, and this kindly loan he promptly repaid with 
his first earnings. For a number of years after leaving school Mr. 
Johnson was successfully engaged in teaching in the public schools of 
Wisconsin, and his ability and judgment led him to make a number of 
excellent investments in land; in the connection it is a significant 
fact that practically every real-estate venture in which he has 
embarked has been brought to a successful issue. In 1884 he moved to 
Wood Lake, Nebraska. At that time there was nothing located at that 
station on the Elkhorn Railroad except a section house and a claim 
shanty. Mr. Johnson rented the claim shanty and started a general 
store, established a postoffice, and became the first postmaster of 
Wood Lake. In 1886 he established the Wood Lake Bank. In 1892, through 
the efforts of Orion Porter, Mr. Johnson made a visit to Fairfax, South 
Dakota, and the resources of Gregory county so impressed him that he 
located several business enterprises. Those at Fairfax were dealing in 
general merchandise and lumber. On the Missouri river, at Porter's 
Landing, he established the Johnson Lumber and Grain Company, which he 
operated for five years and which made necessary the reestablishing of 
the boat line between that point and Running Water. In 1893 he 
established the Fairfax State Bank, which is the strongest banking 
institution in Gregory county. Mr. Johnson's business transactions in 
Gregory county since starting business here aggregate over a million 
dollars. He has always been a successful investor in real estate and 
his dealings in that direction have become so numerous that the C. A. 
Johnson Realty Company was formed to conduct that branch of the 
business. The company owns the most desirable of the additions to the 
towns of Fairfax and Bonesteel, as well as much other of the most 
desirable realty in the county. Mr. Johnson is the owner of large 
tracts of land in this county, the same being utilized principally for 
grazing purposes. He is president of the Fairfax State Bank and also of 
the Citizens' Bank of Bonesteel. In politics he gives a stanch 
allegiance to the Republican party, and is identified with the Masonic 
fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks.

	Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Martha Chandler, and 
they have two children.