Walter L. Johnson Biography


	This biography appears on pages 552-553 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				WALTER L. JOHNSON. 

	Walter L. Johnson has devoted the greater part of his life to 
newspaper publication and is now the owner and editor of the Standard 
of Sisseton. He was born in Jackson, Minnesota, August 20, 1885, a son 
of John K. and Susan (Swenson) Johnson. The father was born in Norway 
in 1835 and was married in Houston, Minnesota, in 1854 to Miss Swenson, 
whose birth occurred in Sweden in 1846. He had been brought to the 
United States by his parents when eleven years of age and has always 
been identified with the middle west. His wile came with her parents to 
the new world when eight years of age, the family settling in Houston, 
Minnesota. Mr. Johnson, however, was reared in Racine, Wisconsin, but 
afterward removed to Minnesota. He has devoted his entire life to 
farming and he homesteaded land near Jackson, Minnesota, living upon 
that place for fifty-two years. He still owns the property but has now 
retired from active life and resides in Menahga, Minnesota. Success in 
substantial measure rewarded his well directed efforts. At the time of 
the Civil war he put aside all business and personal considerations and 
offered his aid to the government, joining the First Minnesota Mounted 
Rangers, with which he served for fourteen months He was on active duty 
in Dakota territory in fighting the Indians but became ill and was in 
the hospital for three months, after which he was mustered out. He 
lived in Minnesota at the time of the grasshopper scourge and he worked 
in shops in order to earn money to enable him to make payments upon his 
farm, for the insects destroyed his crops to so large a degree that 
there was nothing to be sold from his fields. He has been a lifelong 
member of the Lutheran church and his political opinions are in accord 
with the teachings and principles of the republican party. 

	Walter L. Johnson was the twelfth in order of birth in a family 
of thirteen children, of whom ten are yet living. In the acquirement of 
his education he attended the Jackson high school, where he studied for 
two years. He was reared upon the home farm to the age of sixteen years 
and afterward began learning the printer's trade at Battle Lake, 
Minnesota, assiduously applying himself to his task until he had become 
an expert worker in that line. In the fall of 1905 he established a 
paper, the Nome Tribune, at Nome, North Dakota, which he edited for two 
years. He then purchased his brother's paper at Battle Lake, Minnesota, 
where he remained for three years, after which he removed to White 
Rock, South Dakota, where he edited and published a paper for four 
years. In September, 1914, he arrived in Sisseton and purchased the 
Standard, which has a circulation of thirteen hundred He also does a 
nice job printing business and his paper has become an excellent 
advertising medium. He has installed a new outfit and has a thoroughly 
equipped and modern printing plant which enables him to do excellent 
work. 

	In 1910 Mr. Johnson was married to Miss Sarah Henson, of Battle 
Lake, Minnesota. They are well known in Sisseton and the community 
where they reside and have gained a large circle of warm friends. Mr. 
Johnson is a member of the Presbyterian church, and his wife belongs to 
the Lutheran church. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern 
Woodmen and with the Masons and his political allegiance is always 
given to the republican party, in the support of which he edits his 
paper. He deserves much credit for what he has accomplished and for the 
success which he has won, for he started out in life with a capital of 
but fifteen dollars. He has always devoted his attention to the 
printing business and in his chosen field of labor has made steady and 
commendable progress.