Butte County
Biographies
WILLIAM R. JOHNSON
WILLIAM R. JOHNSON.—The enterprising and successful young farmer,
William R. Johnson, was born on the ranch he now operates, the
Gallatin Moore Johnson ranch north of Nord, Butte County, Cal., on December 12,
1875. His father, Gallatin Moore Johnson, now seventy-eight years of age, was
born near Platteville, Grant County, Wis., on June 24, 1840. The grandfather,
John, was a native of Birmingham, England. When he first came to the United
States, he settled in Pittsburg. From there he went to Fredericktown, Mo.,
where he married; and afterwards he moved to Grant County, Wis., where he was a
lead miner. Tiring of this occupation, in September, 1848, he crossed the
Mississippi River and moved onto a farm between Fort Atkinson and McGregor,
Iowa; and in 1850 he moved onto the Iowa River near Decorah, Winneshiek County,
where he farmed. In 1864 he sold his possessions and came across the plains to
California, locating on a ranch north of what is now Nord. This ranch he
afterwards sold, and thereafter lived on an adjoining place until he died, at
the age of seventy-eight years. His wife, Amelia (Moore) Johnson, a native of
Missouri, also died in Butte County. Of their nine children who grew to
maturity, Gallatin Moore Johnson is the eldest now living.
Gallatin Moore Johnson was educated in the
public schools of Iowa, and learned farming on the home farm. When twenty-one
years of age, he began farming on his own account. He was married in Iowa to
Miss Martha Arbuthnot, a native of Allegheny County, Pa., and a daughter of
Samuel and Trephena (Toogood)
Arbuthnot, natives of England. She came to Iowa as a young woman in 1864. In
1868, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson took passage on the Santiago de Cuba from New York
to Aspinwall, and on the Oregonia from Panama
to San Francisco, whence they came to Butte County. Mr. Johnson worked in the
pine woods for two seasons, and afterwards engaged in farming. In 1869 he
located on his present ranch of eighty acres, which he homesteaded. Later he
engaged in farming, improving the place and meeting with success. He was school
trustee of Rock Creek district, and also of Nord district. In the family of
Gallatin and Mary Johnson three children grew up, and are now living; namely:
Millie May, now Mrs. Jamison, residing at Cana and the mother of nine children;
Lucy, Mrs. Linley, residing in Stockton, who has five children; and William R.,
of this review.
William R. Johnson spent his early life on
the home ranch, meanwhile attending school in the Nord district, after which he
learned the trade of a bricklayer with Holt and Gregg, at Redding. After
learning the trade, however, he took up lumbering for a time, and spent two
seasons as engineer for the Sierra Lumber Company, at Lyonsville.
In 1907 he returned to the home farm, which he has operated since, also leasing
land adjoining. He is operating three hundred twenty acres, devoted to the
raising of grain and hay, and is meeting with success. He uses a Samson
ten-horse-power engine for plowing and putting in the crops. In 1917 he built a
new modern comfortable residence on the place, which he has also improved in
many other ways. Mr. Johnson is a member of Great Oak Camp, No. 136,
W. O. W., in Chico. He was one of the incorporators of the Farmers’
Elevator Company of Nord, and is a member of its board of directors. The
company is planning a twenty-thousand-dollar concrete grain elevator.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
16 July 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1215-1216, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies