Lewis J. 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 920-921

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

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LEWIS J. JOHNSON, whose pleasant farm in Riverside township has been 
acquired by dint of persistent efforts and an indomitable will, is one 
of the early settlers of that region and has been a potent factor in 
the advanced state of civilization to be found there at the present 
time. 

Mr. Johnson was born in Minnesota in 1855, and was the son of Lorens 
and Anna (Christine) Johnson. The father was born in Sweden and came to 
America in 1854, settling in Chisago county, Minnesota, where our 
subject was reared, the fourth in a family of nine children. He 
received a common-school education and worked out some before he 
acquired his majority, but all his earnings prior to his twenty-first 
year he turned to his parents. He remained at home five years after he 
became of age, and rented the home place, which he conducted, and in 
1882 went to Brown county, South Dakota, and took up the southeast 
quarter of section 2, township 124, range 60, and had some breaking 
done. He worked in the pineries and lumber woods of northern Minnesota 
for nine years, thus earning money with which to make his start in 
South Dakota, getting one hundred and thirty dollars per month, with 
board for himself and team of four horses. 

In the spring of 1883 he went with his wife to the new home, and 
erected a 16 x 24-foot house, and a barn of the same dimensions. He had 
three horses, and his first crop was poor, yielding little over four 
bushels per acre. Three times severe hail storms have visited his farm, 
and on one occasion made a total failure of crops. He now owns six 
hundred and forty acres of land and operates one thousand one hundred 
acres annually, and is one of the most extensive farmers of the 
township. His residence, erected at a cost of three thousand dollars, 
is one of the best in the county, and his outbuildings, wells, 
windmills, etc., are of the best and evidence the thrift of the 
possessor. He engages mostly in grain raising, but is interested to 
some extent in the raising of cattle. He began the threshing business 
in 1883, and had the first steam threshing rig in that section of the 
country, and has threshed every season since that time. He now has his 
third engine and fourth separator, and has always had a partner until 
1899. He now owns his rig and is his own engineer, and when short of 
help he runs both the separator and engine. He does his own repair work 
and personally superintends the farm and threshing work. 

Our subject was married in 1881 to Miss Anna Brooberg, a native of 
Sweden who came to America when a girl, and was raised on a farm in 
Minnesota. Mrs. Johnson was the daughter of Samuel Brooberg, a 
prosperous farmer of Minnesota. The following children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson: Joseph Arthur died in 1885; Bertha Rosalie 
Mabel; Edith;Arthur; Clarence; Helen; Richard, deceased; Richard and 
Ludwig Ruben. The family are members of the Swedish Lutheran church, 
and Mr. Johnson is a member of the Ancient Order of United Woodmen and 
Modern Woodmen of America. He has filled numerous local offices of 
trust, including seven years school treasurer, assessor four terms, is 
at present township treasurer, and has served on the board of 
supervisors. Politically he is a Republican, and has attended as 
delegate numerous county conventions. He is an influential citizen 
whose labors have been extended for the benefit of his fellow men, by 
whom he is held in the highest esteem.