R. Osburn Johnson Biography Hancock County, WV ********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ********************************************************************** Submitted by Valerie F. Crook The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 273-274 Hancock County R. OSBURN JOHNSON while a young man learned and worked at the plumbing and heating trade in all branches. That is a business he knows from every standpoint. Some years ago he became a traveling representative for one of the largest and most exclusive houses manufacturing and distributing plumbing goods and supplies, the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company of Pittsburgh, and for this company he established a branch jobbing house at Huntington, of which he is the manager. Mr. Johnson is a native of the famous Blue Grass District of old Kentucky, born in Woodford County, January 29, 1889. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, Van Johnson, was born in Kentucky in 1838, and spent nearly all his life in Woodford County. He was a distiller by trade, and in that capacity he was in the service of the Old Crow Distillery in Woodford County for a half century, until finally pensioned by the company. He died in Wood- ford County in 1912. His wife was a Miss Jennings, who was born in Kentucky in 1840 and died in Woodford County in 1910. William P. Johnson, father of the Huntington business man, was born in Woodford County, was reared and married there, and was a merchant in the county until 1903, when he removed to Lexington and continued in busi- ness in that city until his death in 1907. He was a demo- crat, a member of the Baptist Church and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. William P. Johnson married Clara Williams, who was born in Woodford County in 1863 and is now living at Lexington. She was the mother of three children. Ola is the wife of George Compton, a bookkeeper for the Second National Bank of Lexington. R. Osburn is the second in age. Sampey is .the youngest, and is asso- ciated with his brother at Huntington as warehouse superin- tendent. He enlisted at Lexington as a mechanic in the navy, was stationed at the Great Lakes Training Station and then at Hampton Roads, became a second-class seaman and was in the service two years before his honorable discharge. R. Osburn Johnson attended rural schools in Woodford County, but left school at the age of sixteen and for three years was clerk in a dry goods store at Lexington. For two years he was bookkeeper for Buford A. Graves, cement contractor at Lexington, and then took up the business in which he has made his real success. For seven years he was in the employ of J. J. Fitzgerald, a plumbing and heating contractor at Lexington, and while with him he acquired every detail in the practical and technical knowledge of heating and plumbing as a business. Mr. Johnson went on the road as a traveling representa- tive for the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company on February 15, 1915. His territory was West Virginia and portions of Virginia and Kentucky, with headquarters at Huntington. His success in building up business for the company led to the opening of a branch jobbing house at Huntington in 1918, with Mr. Johnson in charge as man- ager. The offices and jobbing house are located at tlie corner of Second Avenue and Tenth Street. Through this house an extensive business over the adjacent territory is transacted in plumbing, heating, mill, mining and factory goods, supplies and machinery. Mr. Johnson regards himself as a permanent factor in Huntington's business affairs. He has acquired a home here at 525 Seventh Avenue and the business building at 612 Third Avenue. He is a democrat, a member of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, the Guyan Country Club, the Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce and the Credit Men's Association. In March, 1911, at Georgetown, Kentucky, Mr. Johnson married Miss Grace Bice, a native of Fleming County, Kentucky, and a graduate of Hamilton College, Lexington.