Biographies
DAVID J. JOHNSTON, ex-Tax-Collector of Navarro county, son of David J. and Isabella Johnston, was born in county Derry, Ireland, March 27, 1844. His parents came to America in 1848, settling in Alabama, but moved to Texas in 1851, taking up their residence in Leon county, where the subject of this sketch was mainly reared. He grew up on a farm, and received only a limited common-school education. He entered the Confederate army in September, 1861, at the age of seventeen, as a member of Company D, Twenty-sixth Texas Cavalry, and served until the close of the war, taking part in most of the engagements west of the Mississippi, notably those in Arkansas, which were fought at the opening of the war and those following Banks' memorable expedition up Red river. After the war, in September, 1865, he settled in Navarro county, near Eureka, where he bought a farm and engaged in farming and stock-raising.
July, 1870, he married Emma J. Stell, a daughter of Colonel J.D. Stell, of Leon county.
In November, 1888, Mr. Johnston was elected Tax Collector of Navarro county, and re-elected to the same office in November, 1890. He was elected by a majority of something over 400 out of a total vote of about 8,500 the first time, having no opposition at his second election. Mr. Johnston has given the people of Navarro county a faithful adminstration of the affairs of his office, and one that seems to have met with very general approval. He is an honest, capable officer, and a very worthy man. The affairs of his office are conducted in a business-like way. He gives to its details his personal attention, and serves every one with that degree of promptness and courtesy which are the distinguishing marks of a faithful public official. Although the duties of his office have required his removal to the county seat, he still retains his farming interest, and is identified with the farming community in everything affecting its welfare. He is a member of the Alliance, but is an Alliance man within the ranks of the Democratic party. He has been elected each time to the office he holds as the nominee of his party. He believes it is possible to be loyal to every interest and obligation as a farmer and still be a Democrat. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being Royal Arch Mason, and belongs to the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Johnston's people, coming to Texas as early as they did, may, in a certain sense, be said to be a Texan family, and as such deserving of futher mention in this connection. The father, who was a native of county Derry, Ireland, died in Leon county soon after settling there, this event occurring in 1852. The mother died in 1887. She was also a native of county Derry, Ireland, and bore the maiden name of Johnston. William Johnston, the eldest son, resides in Centreville, Leon county, being a practicing attorney of that place. Mary H., the eldest daughter, was married to Robert Hall, and died in Navarro county, leaving two children. Thomas M. also died in Navarro county, leaving a widow and four children. Catherine resides in this county, unmarried. Isabella, who was married to James Hopper, died at Lebanon, Kentucky, the mother of two children. Fanny is the wife W.J. Blackmon, of Navarro county. Mr. Johnston's wife's family settled in Leon county about the time his own people did. They were from Georgia, in which State Mrs. Johnston was born. She was reared by her mother, her father, who was an old citizen of Leon, having died when she was quite young. ["Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas". Published in 1893 in Chicago (The Lewis Publishing Co.). Page 501-2]
ROBERT B. JOHNSTON. -- Among the leading old settlers of Navarro county, Texas, few, if any, occupy a more prominent part in the history of said county than does the subject of this sketch. He was born in Greene county, Alabama, October, 1829, and was the youngest son in a family of five children born to George and Elizabeth (Caufield) Johnston. Both Mr. and Mrs. Johnston were natives of Ireland, and their first child was born in Ireland and the next one on the ocean on the way to America. George Johnston settled in Alabama and there engaged in mercantile trade, mostly with the Indians. He accumulated considerable property, but died in 1832, of consumption, in the island of Cuba, where he had gone for the benefit of his health. He was a man of considerable education and considerable means. Of his family, William B. is deceased, leaving a family in Kentucky; Henry G. died, leaving a family in this State and Louisiana; David J., deceased; John was a physician of this county, and the fifth of the family was our subject. The Johnston family came to America in 1822. At the time of his death Mr. Johnston was a prominent Knight Templar Mason. After the death of Mr. Johnston, Mrs. Johnston married Mr. Gresham in Alabama, and in 1847 came to Texas, dying in Leon county, in 1858.
Our subject attended the common schools of Alabama, and came to Texas with his mother and stepfather, in 1847, settling in Leon county. In 1848 he and his oldest brother started a store at Centreville, Leon county, the county seat, and here sold goods for a number of years, under the name of W.B. Johnston & Bro. This was the first store of the place, and the business was continued until 1856, when our subject engaged in farming, his brother William having been elected County Clerk, and who after marriage returned to Kentucky.
On first settling in Centreville our subject and his brother were among the first men to clear up and open the streets. The little town of Leona was seven miles southeast, and it was the original county seat. Our subject assisted in opening up the first road between the two towns after the removal of the county records to Centreville. He assisted materially in the development of the resources of the said county. After leaving the mercantile business in 1856, Mr. Johnston engaged in farming until 1863, in the spring of which year he joined the company of R.S. Gould, Confederate army, as Second Lieutenant, but upon re-organization he was elected First Lieutenant of Company E, J.F. Haflin, captain, a part of Gould's battalion. Soon after reorganization Captain Haflin resigned and our subject was promoted to the Captiancy. This position he held for eight months, when he was obliged to resign and return home on account of ill health. During the remainder of the war he was employed as Confederate War Tax Assessor for Leon and Madison counties. He also assessed the State and county taxes for some time. In 1866 he was appointed County Tax Collector of Leon county. During the year of 1867 he engaged in farming, but some time in that year removed to this county, where he purchased his present farm of 900 acres, which had 160 acres under cultivation. He has a one-half interest in a large steam cotton gin, and besides this 900 acres of land is the owner of 750 acres in pasture, and has improved fifty acres of the latter. At the close of the war he was not in a very prosperous financial condition. Later he acquired some property by the death of a relative, but the greater portion of his possessions he has acquired by his own exertions.
He was married in 1853, in Sumter county, Alabama, to Miss Martha A. Swilley, a daughter of S.S. and M.A. (Newton) Swilley, natives of Georgia; Mr. Swilley had been a soldier in the war with the Indians in that State. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have had a family of eight children, namely; Samuel S., married Miss Lilly Pullian, of this county and has five children; George E., a resident of this county, has been married twice, his present wife having been Miss Carrie Mahoney; W.B. married Miss Bettie Eason, of Mississippi; W.H., died at the age of twenty-two; Robert B., Jr., is at home; Emma B. is the wife of Charles C. Walton, of Corsicana; and H.C. is at home. Mrs. Johnston, a very estimable lady, is a member of the old-school Presbyterian Church. Mr. Johnson [sic] is a member of A.F. & A.M., and politically is a prominent Democrat. Although he has never desired any office at the hands of the people, he has always taken a very active interest in political matters. ["Memorial and Biographical History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties, Texas". Published in 1893 in Chicago (The Lewis Publishing Co.). Page 562-3]
The below is endorsed by GeoCities, not me.