MATTHEW F. JOHNSON
       

       Judge Matthew Fontaine Johnson, at the time of his recent death, occupied the bench of the second district of the superior court of California, and as a lawyer and judge he stood among the foremost.  It requires unusual qualities of mind, heart and character to rise into conspicuous prominence as a member of a judiciary like that of California, which has contained and still contains some of the most brilliant men that the legal profession has ever produced, and to do so ought to be sufficient to satisfy the greatest ambition.  The profession and the public acknowledge that Judge Johnson was eminently qualified for the high position named and upon the rolls of California's judicial history his name is deeply and honorably engraved.

       A native of Hempstead county, Arkansas, he was born December 31, 1844, a son of James G. Johnson, who was born in Maine and became a minister of the Presbyterian church.  He was also a successful teacher, and along the lines of intellectual and moral progress his efforts were most effective and beneficial.  His father, Samuel Johnson, was a native of Scotland, and served under General Jackson in Florida throughout the Seminole war.  He married Miss Moody, who was born in the north of Scotland.  Their family included Rev. James G Johnson, who on attaining his majority married Miss Paulina K Fontaine.  His death occurred in Fulton, California at the age of sixty-three, and his wife, who was born in Arkansas, died in Lake County California at the age of fifty-one years.  They became the parents of eight children, six of whom are yet living, two being successful teachers in Sacramento.  Mrs. Johnson was the daughter of Matthew Fontaine, and her mother in her maidenhood bore the family name of Johnson.  She was a native of Kentucky, while Mr. Fontaine was born in Virginia, and both spent their last days in Arkansas.  He belongs to one of the old historic families of France, connected with the Huguenots, and was a cousin of Commodore Fontaine.

       Judge Johnson was born on the old family homestead in Arkansas and came with his parents to California in 1852.  His preliminary education was acquired in the common schools and supplemented by a course at the Methodist Episcopal college in Vacaville, California, which he entered at the age of sixteen years.  He was graduated in 1865 and afterward engaged in teaching for a year.  On the expiration of that period he came to Sacramento and took up the study of law, under the direction of Mr. Cofforth, a prominent legist of this city.  In 1867 he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court, and the following year, when General Joe Hamilton was made attorney general of California, the subject of this sketch was appointed deputy in his office.  When General Hamilton was again elected to the position in 1875, he once more served as deputy, during the latter part of the second term.  He has served as a member of the board of education and also a term as trustee of the state library and was one of the freeholders who framed the present Sacramento city charter.  He was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Judge Van Fleet on the bench of the superior court. At that term he filled the office for four years and was then re-elected and was serving his second term at the time of his death June 30, 1900.  Judge Johnson was always a Democrat in his political affiliations, casting his first presidential vote for Seymour in 1868.  He was a veteran member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also belonged to the Ancient Order of Druids, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.  In his religious faith he was a Methodist.  On the bench he won a most enviable reputation.  His decisions were models of perspicuity, of judicial learning and fairness.  Ready at all times faithfully to discharge all the obligations of life, whatever they may be, he was exemplary in his private career and the soul of honor and fidelity in official positions.

       In 1871 he was married to Miss Clara J. Jones, who, with her two daughters--Rita Emily and Pauline Fountaine--survive him.