Edwin Johnson : Short Biography

Edwin JOHNSON was born in County Wicklow on November 2, 1817. He later described County Wicklow as a place "where all of the great orators came from."

Edwin Johnson's father was a "wealthy copper mine owner in Ireland," employing "about 1400 hands."

Having some schooling in his early years, at 16 years of age, Edwin took up the seafaring life and became a cabin boy for three years on ships traveling between Ireland and the United States. He later described the experience as "a dog's life."

At the age of 19 or 20, Edwin found work stateside in a tunnel in Cumberland, Maryland, USA. After an explosion in the tunnel in which he was injured, he went to Baltimore to see relatives and then traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana.

About 1836 in he stayed in a hotel in Hagerstown, Maryland, USA, where the Indian Chief Blackhawk was staying with about 100 of his men. They were all sleeping on the floor.

In 1836 Edwin went back to Ireland on an extended visit and married Miss Elizabeth Johnson in Dublin about 1839. The couple soon settled in Belmont, Lafayette County, Wisconsin, USA, where Edwin became a farmer and later owned 1,000 acres. The couple had a family consisting of six sons and four daughters, including Richard, John, Mary Katherine, Abigail, and Samuel Johnson.

He used to play cricket with Charles Parnell, father of the labor agitator Charles S. Parnell.

After the death of his wife in 1865, he married Emily Stephens, and they had one son and one daughter: Edwin and Eva Johnson.   Edwin's wife, Emily, died in 1896.

Edwin Johnson died in Lafayette County, Wisconsin November 19, 1900, and was buried in Bethel Grove Cemetery, Belmont, Lafayette County, Wisconsin, USA.

Sources: 

Bloomington Record, 21 Jul 1890, p 4.

Grant County Witness, Platteville, Wisconsin, 28 Mar 1900.

Grant County Witness, Platteville, Wisconsin, 19 November 1900.

Findagrave website for Bethel Grove Cemetery, Lafayette County, Wisconsin, USA