Butte County
Biographies
WILLIAM JOHNSON
WILLIAM JOHNSON.—A native son, who
has inherited the high ideals and excellent principles apparent in the
conscientious administration of his delicate and important office, is William
Johnson, the present county coroner and public administrator of Butte County.
He was born at Cherokee, on December 23, 1862. His father was Andrew Johnson, a
native of Belfast, Ireland, and a pioneer of Scotch descent. When he crossed
the ocean, he settled for a while at Columbus, Ohio, after which, in the early
fifties, he moved still farther westward, reaching San Francisco, and finally
Oroville, Butte County. Afterwards he was at Oregon City, and then at Cherokee,
at each of which places he tried his luck at mining; and having been a
stationary engineer, he tended the flume for the Cherokee Mining Company. In
that vicinity, while still a mining man, he died. Mrs. Johnson was Miss
Mary McNeeley before her marriage. She was a native
of Glasgow, Scotland, and came as a girl to Cherokee in the early fifties, with
her father, Wm. McNeeley, who was a miner; and there
she also died, the mother of five boys and two girls, all of whom are still
living.
The eldest of the children, William
Johnson was educated in the public schools, and early went to work in the
mines. He learned to be a tool sharpener, and also learned blacksmithing and
similar general work required in hydraulic mining, and was accounted apt and
skillful; but when nearly twenty-two years of age, he met with a painful
accident, in which his left arm was caught in the pinion of the water-wheel,
and he had to have his arm amputated. After that he was time-keeper under Louis
Glass for the Cherokee Mining Company, and later was in the drug business in
Cherokee. He was a school trustee sixteen years, was
constable and deputy sheriff for many years, and was assistant superintendent
and druggist at the I. O. O. F. Home at Thermalito
for a year. During the construction of the post office at Seventh and Mission
Streets, San Francisco, he was for thirteen months night officer under the
foreman, John Campbell. Thereafter he returned to Cherokee, and then went to
Bangor, where for four years he was associated with C. A. McCloud in
stock- and cattle-raising.
In 1914, Mr. Johnson was elected county
coroner and public administrator; and in January, 1915, he took the oath of
office, to the satisfaction of a large number of well-wishers. He has his
office at 525 Second Street, Chico. An active Republican, he nevertheless
allows no party lines to affect his stand on issues of a strictly local
character. He is a Past Grand in Cherokee Lodge, No. 92,
I. O. O. F., and belongs to Cherokee Rebekah
Lodge, No. 18.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
23 October 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1054-1055, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte
County Biographies