George F. Johnson Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 927

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

	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


GEORGE F. JOHNSON, a substantial business man and prominent citizen of 
Redfield, Spink county, where he deals in general hardware and sporting 
goods, is another one of those whose energy, honesty and business 
ability has placed them to the front. Our subject was born in Middlesex 
county, New Jersey, June 5, 1843. The first record of this family dates 
about the time of the early war. He was the third child of a family of 
five born to Franklin and Rispah (Compton) Johnson. The family moved to 
Waseca county, Minnesota, where our subject attended school and 
assisted his father, who operated a mill at that place. 

At the breaking out of the Civil war our subject became enthused with a 
desire to serve his country, and in the spring of 1863 he enlisted in 
Company K, First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. He was sent at once to 
Washington, and from thence to the works in front of Richmond, and 
there lay in the entrenchments three weeks. He was engaged in the 
following battles: Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, 
Petersburg, and the campaign up to the final surrender. From a private 
he was promoted in rank and was mustered out as sergeant. Returning 
from the service he became proprietor of a hotel in Janesville, 
Minnesota. He went to Huron in the spring of 1881, and thence overland 
to Spink county, where he located on a farm near Redfield. In July of 
the same year he stocked a small store with hardware, which he took 
overland from Huron. He now enjoys business prosperity, and his stock 
is complete and of the best grade. 

Our subject was married in 1869 to Miss Laura E. Storrs, a native of 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the parents of two 
children: Florence G., now Mrs. H. W. Bartlett, of Fort Smith, 
Arkansas, and Harry E., who is in partnership with his father. He is a 
young man of 
good education, a student of Vermillion University of South Dakota, and 
a master of the tinner's trade, which he learned in Minnesota. 

Our subject is one of the public-spirited men of his locality, and 
takes an active interest in the welfare of Spink county. He has held 
various offices of trust, and has built for himself an enviable 
reputation for genuine integrity. He was the first auditor of the city 
of, Redfield, and is city treasurer and a member of the city council. 
He is also a member of the Episcopal church, the Masonic fraternity, 
and the G. A. R. In political views he is a Republican, favors high 
license and equal suffrage.