San Joaquin County
Biographies
WILLIAM B. JOHNSON
W. B. JOHNSON.--Among the
pioneers of California who have reached prominence and affluence in this
State since the days of “’49,” is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch,
one of the most substantial citizens of San Joaquin County. He was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, on the 25th of February 1812, his parents
being William and Mary Johnson, the former a native of Virginia, and probably of English ancestry. Both parents afterward
died in Kentucky.
In 1830, the subject of this sketch left
home, and went to Louisiana, having hired out to drive horses for a Dr. Scott. In
the spring of 1831 he went to Missouri, locating at Booneville, Cooper County. Six years later he moved to Howard County, in the same State. There he was engaged in
agricultural work until 1849, when he decided to join the tide of emigration
than setting for California. He started from Booneville in August, went to Santa Fe by wagon, and from there packed through to the coast.
His route took him through to Tucson,
Arizona, where there was at that time but one house. The
winter came on early and wet, and while yet in the South, some parties tried to
buy their mules, telling them they could not get through to their destination
with them. They held on to their mules, however, and proceeded on their journey
north. They passed through Los Angeles,
and thence proceeded to the Mariposa mines. After about three weeks there, Mr.
Johnson went to Washington Flats, on the Merced river, where he mined for ten months. Having got ahead
about $1,200 he went back East via Nicaragua, to buy cattle. He remained in the East about a year,
and, in company with two others, picked up a drove of 500 head of cattle, and
drove them across the plains, bringing them to San Joaquin County, and selling them in this valley. Afterward Mr. Johnson
and Major Bradley had their cattle together, and they lost a lot of them that
winter. In the spring of 1852 they went back East, and brought out another
drove of cattle. Mr. Johnson also drove up bands of cattle from Los Angeles,
and made a success in that business, in which he has been more or less engaged
ever since. He bought a tract of land consisting of between 600 and 700 acres,
where he now lives, in 1862, and he has since added to it until he now has 1,440 acres in that tract, located
along the river. Above there, he has another ranch of 1,280 acres. In 1889 he
sold a tract of land on Union Island, consisting of 317 acres. He has 3,500 acres of land
in Fresno County, part of which is in cultivation, and the remainder
utilized in grazing. When Mr. Johnson located at his present home, there was a
house upon it, the frame of which came around Cape Horn. He added to it, and it is still a part of the house in which he
lives.
Mr. Johnson has been one of the most
intelligent workers that have ever been identified with San Joaquin County. And while he has accumulated a fortune, it has been
entirely due to his own efforts, and through straightforward and honorable
methods. Besides the landed interests heretofore mentioned he has considerable
property, including some of the best located business blocks in the city of Stockton. He is also a stockholder in the San Joaquin Valley Bank.
Despite his pronounced success in life,
Mr. Johnson is a modest, unassuming man, affable and genial, possessing
strength without display.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 335-336. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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