San
Joaquin County
Biographies
ALBERT G. JOHNSTON
Prominent among the popular
fraternal society men in San Joaquin County is Albert G. Johnston, the
efficient secretary of the Loyal Order of Moose, No. 391, whose headquarters
are the Moose Club, 538 East Market Street, Stockton. He was born at Half Moon Bay, San Mateo
County, on March 13, 1870 the son of John and Mary H. (Carter) Johnston, early
settlers of California, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Buffalo, New
York, respectively, the father crossing the plains in an ox-team train in
1849. They followed agricultural
pursuits and had a family of eight children:
William H. is in the lumber business at Cotati; Mrs. Belle M. O’Connor
died in San Jose; John E. is with the Standard Oil Company in San Jose; James
G. is with the San Jose Transfer Company; George F. is with the Standard Oil
Company at Brentwood; Albert G. is the subject of this article; Frank B. died
in San Jose in May, 1921; Elsie M. is Mrs. Charles Caple
of Brentwood. It thus happened that
while he enjoyed the advantages of a comfortable home, Albert commenced his
schooling in attending the local school at Half Moon Bay.
Later he continued his studies at
San Jose, and then in Fresno; he attended Fresno Commercial College, his father
having removed to that city in the late ‘70s, to establish there a hardware and implement business. From 1883 to 1890 he was with his father in
the hardware trade, and in the latter year he and George H. Roundey
bought the business and conducted the same under the firm name of Roundey & Johnston.
In 1893 he sold his interest in the concern and took up farming in San
Benito County, and later he removed to San Francisco, where he was connected
with the San Francisco Laundry Association, in which business he remained until
1906. The same year he located in
Stockton and built the New Method Laundry; and after running that for seven
years he sold it and became associated with the Exclusive Laundry for three
years as its foreman.
In June, 1917 he was appointed
secretary of the Moose Lodge. He joined
that organization five years before, so that he is now an honorary past
dictator, and with experience, loyalty and enthusiasm, and a fortunate
personality, he has been very successful in the administration of the lodge’s
affairs. He also belongs to the Stockton
Knights of Pythias, the Pohono Red Men at Stockton, and Hesperian Parlor No.
137, N. S. G. W., at San Francisco.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1347-1348. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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