Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/132

 JOHNSON

JOHNSON

proposed College of the Province of New York unanimously elected him president, and on April 15, 1754, he went to New York and aided in the organization of the institution. On Oct. 31, 1754, when tlie college was incorporated, he accepted the presidency, removed his family to the city, and his first class of ten were instructed in the vestry-room of Trinity church. His son William, Yale, A.B., 1748, A.M., 1751 ; A.M., Oxford and Cambridge, 1755, became his first assistant ; re- ceived holy orders in London, England, in March,

1755, and died there, June 20, 1756, of smallpox. The first stone of King's college was laid, Aug. 23,

1756, the president making an address in Latin. He was absent from the college fifteen months on account of the prevalence of smallpox, 1757- 58, and again a few months in 1759-60 for the same reason. His wife died, June 1,1758, and on June 18, 1761, he married the widow of William Beach, a former parishioner. She died of small- pox, Feb. 9, 1763, and in the same month he re- signed the presidency of King's college and re- turned to Stratford, and the Rev. Myles Cooper succeeded to the presidency. He resumed the rectorship of his old church in 1764, and addressed himself to the formation of an A merican episco- pate, to continuing controversial correspondence with denominational clergymen, to the preparation of a small English grammar and to the revision of his catechism published many years before, and the two books were published in 1765. He also revised his Logic and Ethics, composed a Hebrew grammar, printed in London in 1767, and an English and Hebrew grammar in 1771. He is also the author of : System of Morality, repub- lished by Benjamin Franklin in 1752 as Elemenfa PhilosopMca for the use of the proposed Publick Academy in Philadelphia ; controversial Letters (1738-34 and 1737), and numerous Sermons. His Life was written by T. B. Chandler (1805), and by E. Edwards Beardsley (1874). He died in Stratford, Conn., Jan. 6, 1772.

JOHNSON, Samuel Roosevelt, clergyman, was born at Newtown, L.I., N.Y., Nov. 18, 1802 ; son of the Rev. John Barent Johnson (1769-1803), a clergyman of the Reformed Dutch church, Al- bany, N.Y. (1796-1802), and a descendant of the family of Jansen, first settlers of Brooklyn, N.Y. His brother, the Rev. William Lupton Johnson, born Sept. 15, 1800, graduated from Columbia, 1819, from the General Theological seminary, 1822, was rector of St. Michael's, Trenton, N.J., 1823-30, of Grace church, Jamaica, L.I., N.Y., 1830-70, and died, Aug. 4, 1870. Samuel Roosevelt Johnson was prepared for college by Joseph Nelson of New York, the blind schoolmaster, and was graduated from Columbia in 1820 and from the General Theological seminary in 1823. He was married, Sept. 6, 1826, to Elizabeth Johnston.

He was rector of St. James's church, Hyde Park, N.Y., 1824-34; of St. George's churcli. Flush- ing, N.Y., 1834-35 ; travelled through the north- west with Bishop Kemper, 1835-36, and estab- lished St. John's church, Lafayette, Ind., of which he was rector, 1837-47. He declined the bishopric of Indiana during his residence in that state. He was rector of St. John's church, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1847-50; professor of systematic divinity and dogmatic theology at the General Theological seminary, 1850-59 ; professor emeri- tus, 1869-73, and rector of St. Thomas's chvirch, Amenia, N.Y., 1870-73. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Columbia in 1848. He died at Amenia, N.Y., Aug. 13, 1873.

JOHNSON, Samuel William, agricultural chemist, was born in Kingsborough, N.Y., July 3, 1830 ; son of Abner Adolphus and Annah Wells (Gilbert) Johnson ; grandson of Jacob and Esther (Hotchkiss) Johnson and of Samuel Augustus and Abigial (Wells) Gilbert, anc,! a descendant of Thomas Johnson, who came from England to Rowley, Mass., in 1638, and settled in New Haven, Conn. He studied at the Yale Scientific school, 1850-51, and at the universities of Leipzig and Munich, 1853-54. He was an assistant in chem- istry at Yale, 1855-56 ; professor of analytical and agricultural chemistry at Sheffield Scientific school, Yale, 1856-74, and of theoretical and agri- cultural chemistry, 1874-95, and in 1895 was made professor emeritus. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1866 ; was chairman of the sub-section of chemistry of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1875 ; president of the American Chemical society, 1878, and an associate fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also chemist to the Connecticut state board of agriculture, to the Connecticut State Agricultural society, and director of the Con- necticut agricultural experiment station, 1877- 1900. He is the author of : Peat and its Uses as a Fertilizer and Fuel (1866); Essays on Manures^ (1859) ; Hoio Crops Grow (1868) ; Hoio Crops Feed (1870). He translated and edited three editions of Fresenius's Manual of Qualitative Analysis (1864, 1875 and 1883) and Manual of Quantitative Analysis (1869). He is also the author of numer- ours papers published in scientific journals and agricultural reports.

JOHNSON, Thomas, governor of Maryland, was born at St. Leonard's, Md., Nov. 4, 1732 ; son of Thomas and Dorcas (Sedgwick) Johnson and grandson of Thomas and Mary (Baker) Johnsoni who immigrated to America from England about 1700. He was admitted to the bar and practised in Maryland. He represented Anne Arundel county in the house of delegates, 1762- 63, where he opposed the stamp act. He was