Pickett-Wilson-Robertson County TN Archives Biographies.....Johnson, Turner L. 1844 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com October 30, 2005, 4:05 am Author: Will T. Hale TURNER L. JOHNSON, M. D. Other men's services to the people and the state can be measured by definite deeds, by dangers averted, by legislation secured, by institutions built, by commerce promoted. The work of a doctor is entirely estranged from these lines of enterprise, yet without his capable, health-giving assistance all other accomplishment would count for naught. Man's greatest prize on earth is physical health and vigor: nothing deteriorates mental activity so quickly as prolonged sickness,—hence the broad field for human helpfulness afforded in the medical profession. The successful doctor requires something more than mere technical training,—he must be a man of broad human sympathy and genial kindliness, capable of inspiring hope and faith in the heart of his patient. Such a man is he whose name initiates this article. Dr. Turner L. Johnson has been engaged in medical work for more than forty years and during two decades of that period has been a resident of Green Brier, Tennessee. Dr. Turner L. Johnson was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, the date of his nativity being November 11, 1844. Both his parents, Duncan and Bettie (Lawrence) Johnson, were natives of Tennessee, where the former was born in 1814 and the latter in 1818. The father died in 1888 and the mother passed to eternal rest in 1892. Duncan Johnson was reared to adult age in Wilson county and there was a prominent and successful farmer during the greater portion of his active career. He was a member of the Christian church and in politics owned allegiance to the Democratic party, in the local councils of which he was an active worker. He was magistrate for many years and during the Civil war was conscript officer in the Confederate ranks. He was captured by the Union forces and confined to prison for several months. His father was Duncan Johnson, Sr., who came to Tennessee in an early day. Mrs. Johnson was a daughter of John Lawrence, who was a native of DeKalb county, Tennessee. She was a zealous member of the Baptist church and was widely renowned for her charity and hospitality. The fifth in order of birth in a family of ten children, Dr. Johnson was reared to maturity on his father's farm, in the work and management of which he early became an active factor. He received his early educational discipline in the public schools of New Middleton, Tennessee, and in 1868 was matriculated as a student in the University of Nashville, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1870, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He entered upon the active practice of his profession in Smith county and maintained his home and office at Grant for the ensuing twelve years. For one year he was in the revenue service and for two years conducted a drug store at Nashville. In 1890 he came to Green Brier, where he has since resided and where he immediately gained distinctive prestige as a talented and well equipped physician and surgeon. Although now sixty-eight years of age, Dr. Johnson retains in much of their pristine vigor the splendid mental and physical qualities of his prime. He is a man of kindly disposition and his generosity and loyalty command to him the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. His religious faith is in harmony with the tenets of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and in politics he is a stalwart Democrat. He is a member of the Robertson County Medical Society and is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic order. The doctor entered the Confederate army in 1862, enlisted at Murfreesboro under Colonel Ellison and served in battles of Shiloh, Missionary Ridge and all the battles around Chattanooga. He was in the infantry at Shiloh and at Missionary Ridge and during the remainder of the time in cavalry. He was wounded while under General Wheeler at Waynesboro, Georgia. The doctor entered the army at the age of sixteen. He was twenty years old when wounded and he was in the hospital at Augusta, Georgia, when the war closed. In 1869 was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Johnson to Miss Lucy A. Johnson, a daughter of William Johnson, a prominent farmer and tobacco raiser in Smith county during his active life. Dr. and Mrs. Johnson have no children, but are rearing two of their nieces, Julia Alice and Ella. Additional Comments: From: A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities by Will T. Hale Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/pickett/bios/johnson267nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/tnfiles/ File size: 5.1 Kb