Alameda County
Biographies
JOHN JOHNSON
JOHN JOHNSON. On the 9th of July, 1900, there passed from
the society of Eden township, Alameda county, John Johnson, a citizen known
throughout that community for the many sterling traits of character which
distinguished his life in this section of the state. He was foreign born and
bred and after spending the younger part of his life up to the time he was
forty-two or three years o1d among the excitement and dangers of a seafaring
existence, settled down upon a ranch, and before passing from the scenes of his
earthly labors had amassed a fortune which left his family in comfortable
circumstances and proof against all future want.
A native of Hamburg,
Germany,
Mr. Johnson was born March 14, 1818, and in childhood lost all of his
family except an elder sister through fire. This sister preserved his life and
he made his home with her until attaining the age of thirteen years, when, with
the self-reliance instilled into the life of the German youth, he sought and
found employment, shipping as a cabin boy on board the brig Louise Field.
He followed a seafaring life for a period of twenty years. On his second voyage
he met with shipwreck in the Skagerrak, an arm of the North
Sea, when all but himself and one companion were lost. He engaged
in the coast trade until March, 1833, when he shipped on a voyage to Greenland, after whales and seals, following this later
with others of the same character. Besides carrying cargoes of various
merchandise, he was once a member of a crew that took two hundred and forty
negroes from the coast of Africa to St. Thomas.
In the course of his travels it is probable that Mr. Johnson touched at
every port in the world of any importance. In 1849 he sailed in the ship
Louise Field for California, and the
following year entered the Golden Gate for the
first time. He located in San Francisco and
worked for a time as a stevedore, after which he went across the bay to the
present location of the city of Oakland
and there began burning charcoal. Coming then to Mount Eden,
he took up his residence in that location, embarking in the manufacture of
salt, and for the greater part of the time since continuing so engaged. One of
his chief pleasures in the early days of the state was hunting, as wild animals
of all kinds abounded. It would be impossible to give all the adventures of
Mr. Johnson’s life, for both on sea and land he met with many exciting
experiences, his good judgment as well as good fortune helping to bring him
safely through.
On July 4, 1855, Mr. Johnson married Augusta
Lorentz, a native of Hanover, by whom he had two children, namely: August and
Johannah Sophia.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 22 September 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages
789-790. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.
ALAMEDA
COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
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