Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/135

 JOHNSON

JOHIVSOX

graduated from the College of New Jersey, with lienors, in 1790; studied law under Charles Cotes- worth Pinckney, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1793. He represented Cliarleston in the state legislature as a Republican, 1794-98, and was chosen speaker of the house in 1798. Upon the organization of the court of common pleas, in 1799, he was elected one of the first judges to hold office. He was appointed by President Jefferson an associate justice of the U.S. supreme court in 180-1. He was a firm believer in the political principles set forth by Jefferson, but his judicial opinions on the embargo act brought him into disfavor with the President, and those on nullification, with the majority of the citizens of South Carolina. This feeling became very bitter, and he removed to western Pennsylvania in 1833, as he believed his judicial position should be one of strict neutrality. He settled in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1834. The honorary degree of LL.D. •was conferred on him by the College of New Jersey in 1818. He was married to Sarah, daugh- ter of Thomas Bennett, of Charleston. He edited the Life and Correspondence of Major-General Nathanael Greene, with annotations (2 vols., 1832). He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Aug. 11, 1834.

JOHNSON, William Cost, rejiresentative, -was burn in Frederick county, Md., probably in 1806. He practised law in Jefferson, Frederick county, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court in 1831. He was a representative in the state legis- lature, both before and after his service as repre- sentative in the 23d, 26th and 27th U.S. con- gresses, 1833-35, and 1839-43. In congress he was a member of the judiciary committee and chairman of the committee on public lands. He was a Henry Clay Whig and president of the national convention of young men which met in Washington in 1844. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1851. He died in Washington, D.C., April 16. 1860.

JOHNSON, William Samuel, educator, was born in Stratford, Conn., Oct. 7, 1727; son of the Rev. Samuel and Charity (Floyd) Nicoll Johnson. He was prepared for college b\^ his father, and was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1744. A.M., 1747, and became an eminent lawyer. He was chosen a delegate on the part of Connecticut to a congress of the colonies that met in New York city in 1775, and with Robert R. Livingston and William Murdock, of Maryland, drafted an address to the king relative to the course pursued by parlia- ment. He was a member of the council of Con- necticut. 1776-75, and was chosen agent extraor- dinary of the colony to determine the title of Connecticut to Indian lands, which necessitated his attendance at court in England, 1766-71. In October, 1772, he was appointed judge of the superior court of the colony, and in 1774 a dele-

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gate to the Continental congress to assemble at Pliiladelphia, but he was excused from service in congress, having been chosen an arbitrator of the Van Rensselaer estate dispute. He was a mem- ber of the state council, 1780-82, and was counsel for the state in the controversy with Pennsylvania relative to the Oliio lands; a delegate to the Con- tinental congress, 1784-87; a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1787; chairman of the com- mittee of five that revised the wording and paragraphing of the instrument, and a U. S. senator from Connecticut, 1789- 91; resigning his seat

in March, 1791, and being succeeded by Roger Sherman. He was president of King's (Columbia) college. New York city, 1787-1800. He resigned his office in 1800, and removed to Stratford, Conn., where he lived in retirement. He was a trustee of Columbia college, 1788-1800, and received the honorary degrees of A.M. from Columbia and Har- vard in 1747, J.C.D. from Oxford in 1766, and LL.D. from Yale in 1788. With Oliver Ellsworth, he framed the judiciary system of the United States, as adopted by congress, and his letters from England were published by the Massachu- setts Historical society, in the Trumhxdl Papers. John T. Irving, in 1830, and the Rev. E. Edwards Beardsley, in 1876, published sketches of his life. He died in Stratford, Conn., Nov. 14, 1819. JOHNSON, William Woolsey; educator, was born in Owego, N.Y., June 23, 1841; son of Charles Frederick and Sarah Dwiglit (Woolsey) Johnson; grandson of Robert Charles and Catha- rine (Baj'ard) Johnson and of William Walton and Elizabeth (Dwight) Woolsey; great-grand- son of William Samuel Johnson (q.v.); great-- grandson of the Rev. Samuel Johnson (q.v.) and a descendant on his mother's side from Jonathan Edwards. He attended the public and private schools of Owego, and was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1862, A.M., 1865. He was employed upon the U.S. Nautical Almanac, 1862-64; was as- sistant professor of mathematics at the U.S. Naval academy, 1864-70; professor of mathe- matics at Ken3'on college, 1870-72; professor of mathematics at St. Joiin's college, 1872-81, and was appointed professor of mathematics at the U.S. Naval academy in 1881. He was elected a member of the London IMathematical society in 1879, corresponding member of the British asso-