John E. Johnson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 374-377 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				JOHN E. JOHNSON. 

	John E. Johnson, residing on section 28, Logan township, owns an 
entire section of valuable land in one body and has long been numbered 
among the foremost agriculturists and leading citizens of Minnehaha 
county. He has also served as a member of the board of county 
commissioners for the past eight years and has made a splendid record 
in this connection. His birth occurred in Norway on the 22d of 
December, 1847, his parents being Johan and Isabelle (Erickson) 
Johnson, who emigrated to the United States in 1859. They located first 
in Winneshiek county, Iowa, and the following year removed to Fillmore 
county, Minnesota, where the father settled on a piece of school land 
of which he acquired one hundred and twenty acres. At the end of 
thirteen years, residence in the Gopher state he came to South Dakota 
in 1872, leaving our subject on the home farm in Minnesota. Here he 
preempted a quarter section, one hundred and twenty acres of which lay 
in Edison township and forty acres in Sverdrup township. After proving 
up on this place Johan Johnson homesteaded a quarter section lying in 
sections 29 and 30, Edison township. He also took up an eighty acre 
tree claim on section 3 1, so that his holdings embraced four hundred 
acres. He remained a resident of Edison township until within a short 
time prior to his demise, spending his last days in the home of a 
sister at Grafton, North Dakota. His death occurred in 1905, when he 
had attained the age of eighty-three years, while his wife was called 
to her final rest in 1885, when about sixty-five years old. 

	John E. Johnson was reared under the parental roof and attended 
the common schools in the acquirement of an education. After attaining 
his majority he devoted his attention to farming, working a part of the 
time for neighbors and the remainder of the time for his father. In 
1872 he undertook the management of the home farm in Minnesota, where 
he carried on agricultural pursuits for another year. In 1873 he 
followed his father to South Dakota and took up a preemption of one 
hundred and sixty acres, comprising the northwest quarter of section 
34, Logan township, Minnehaha county, proving up on this place. The 
following spring he entered the southeast quarter of section; 28 as a 
homestead and subsequently took up a tree claim of one hundred and 
sixty acres comprising the northeast quarter of section 33, while later 
he purchased the northeast quarter of section 28. In 1877, on account 
of the hard times and lack of funds, he sold his preemption for four 
hundred dollars in order to procure sufficient money to replace his old 
sod house with a more habitable abode, erecting a two-room frame 
dwelling. In 1901 he bought back his preemption, paying five thousand 
dollars for the same land which he had sold for four hundred dollars. 
He now owns an even section of fertile, productive land in one body. In 
1901 he removed to the state of Washington and in association with his 
only brother, Thomas Johnson, erected a shingle mill. The venture 
promised to be very profitable, but his brother died, and in 1902 Mr. 
Johnson of this review returned to his home in South Dakota. His 
undertakings as an agriculturist have been attended with a gratifying 
and well merited measure of prosperity and he is also a stockholder in 
the Farmers Cooperative Lumber Company of Dell Rapids. 

	On the 4th of June, 1876, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to 
Miss Sarah Gilbertson, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Ole and 
Helga Gilbertson, who were born in Norway and came to the United States 
as children. Our subject and his wife have three children, as follows: 
Stella A., who is the wife of Adolph Anderson, of Valley Springs; Gisle 
J., who operates the home farm; and Lulla T., who gave her hand in 
marriage to George Bieber, of Jasper, Minnesota. 

	Mr. Johnson is a republican in politics and for many years has 
been a dominant factor in the local ranks of the party. He served as 
district clerk prior to the organization of the township and was 
subsequently elected township assessor, acting in the latter capacity 
continuously until 1906. In that year he was chosen county commissioner 
and has since discharged the duties of that important office in a most 
creditable and commendable manner. His religious faith is indicated by 
his membership in the Lutheran synod, to which his wife also belongs. 
The period of his residence in Minnehaha county covers four decades and 
his record is that of one of its best known and most esteemed citizens.