Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 06.djvu/146

 JOHNSTON

JOHNSTON

district attorney for Armstrong county, holding the office until the expiration of Governor Wolf's first term ; was a representative in the state legis- lature, and during a great financial crisis he pro- posed the issue of relief notes, for the payment of which the state pledged its faith, and though a majority of the legislature were politically op- posed to him t!ie measure was adopted and gave immediate relief. He was state senator and pres- ident of the senate in 1847 and upon the resig- nation of Governor Francis R. Shunk, July 9, 1848, Mr. Johnston succeeded him as governor of Pennsylvania, and was elected for the full term of three years from Oct. 2, 1849. He favored a protective tariff, and during his administration tli8 records of the colonial and state governments, which liad been in a confused condition, were publislied in twenty -eight volumes as " Colonial Records" and " Pennsylvania Archives," and pre- served a vast number of original papers of incal- culable value. He was nominated for governor in 1852, but was defeated by a small majority by William Bigler and retired from office, engaging in the manvifacture of iron, in boring for salt, in the production of oil from bituminous sliales, and in refining petroleum. He was president of the Alleghany Valley railroad. During the civil war he was active in organizing troops. He was appointed by President Johnson collector of tlie port of Philadelphia, but was rejected by the senate. He died in Pittsburg, Pa., Oct. 25, 1872. JOHNSTON, William Pollock, educator, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, Jan. 26, 1839 ; son of Samuel P. and Eleanor (Thomson) John- ston ; grandson of Nathan Johnston ; a descend- ant of Archibald Johnston, Lord W^arriston, bar- rister, of Edinburgh, Scotland, one of the Scotch commissioners at the Westminster assembly of divines at London that framed the Westminster confession of faith. He was educated in the public schools and at Geneva college, then in North wood, Ohio, and was graduated from Jeffer- son college. Pa., in 1858. He attended the Re- formed Presbyterian Theological seminary at Allegheny, Pa., and was licensed and ordained by the presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian church in 1864. He was pastor at Baltimore, Md., 1864-73; made a trip to Europe in 1868; was pastor at Washington, Iowa, 1873-81 ; and was principal of Washington academy, 1879-81. He was professor of Latin and English literature in Geneva college, Beaver Falls, Pa., 1881-90; and in 1890 became college pastor, professor of philosophy and English literature, and president of that institution. He was elected a member of the American Historical association, and of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He received the degree of S.M. from Washington and Jefferson college in 1882 and

that of D.D. from Grove City college. Pa., in 1891. The Bright Side of Things, The Individual and Society, and The Dialect were among the subjects of popular lectures which he delivered in various cities.

JOHNSTON, Williain Preston, educator, was born in Louisville, Ky., Jan. 5, 1831 ; eldest son of Gen. Albert Sidney and Henrietta (Preston) Johnston ; grandson of Dr. John and Abigail (Harris) Johnston of Washington, Kj"., and of Maj. William Preston of Louisville, Ky. He received his early education in the Western Mili- tary institute, Georgetown, K3\,and was grad- uated at Yale in 1852. He was graduated from the Louisville Law school, in 1853, and practised in his native city. Upon the outbreak of the civil war he entered the Confederate States army a& major of the 1st Kentucky infantry, and was subsequently promoted lieutenant-colonel. He was appointed an aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel on the staff of President Davis, was cap- tured with President Davis and confined at Ibrt Delaware, and on his release went to Canada. In 1866 he returned to Louisville and resumed the practise of law. He was professor of history and English literature at Washington and Lee- university, Lexington, Va., 1867-74, and a lec- turer on the history and science of law there, 1875-80. He was president of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural College at Baton Rouge, La., 1880-83, and in 1883 he was selected to organize an institution of learning for the higher education of the white youth of Louisiana, under the terms of Paul Tulane's donation aggre- gating $1,000,000, which resulted in the founda-

ulane university

^^^^A "^^ 0«1-EANS,

tion of Tulane University of Louisiana. He was president of the institution, 1883-99, and in 1900 Edwin A. Alderman, D.C.L., president of tiie University of North Carolina, succeeded to the presidency of Tulane. In 1886 the H. Sophia Newcomb memorial college was founded by Mrs. Josephine Louise Newcomb as a memorial to her daughter and devoted to the higlier education of young women, and it was made auxiliary to the university. He was appointed a regent of the Smithsonian Institution in 1891. Washington and Lee university conferred upon him the hon-