Job Johnstone was an American jurist. He was a successful lawyer, who was also noted for his service in the Senate of South Carolina in 1826 and for his support of the Union in his strong devotion to state rights.
Background
Job Johnstone was born on June 7, 1793 in Fairfield District, South Carolina, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father was John Johnstone and his mother was Mary Caldwell, of Londonderry County, Ireland. She had come originally from Scotland and was the daughter of a surgeon, Dr. Job Caldwell, for whom her son was named.
Education
After attending schools in Chester, Winnsboro, and Newberry, Job Johnstone entered the South Carolina College in 1808 and was graduated from that institution in December 1810.
Career
After the graduation from the South Carolina College, Job Johnstone then began to read law, but in 1814 he turned to medicine, and after reading for a time in the office of a doctor in Columbia, he went to New York City in October 1815 and took a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. But his jealous mistress, the law, called him back to her side, and he renewed his legal studies in the office of John Belton O'Neall, of Newberry.
In 1818 he was admitted to the bar, and at once he became the partner of his preceptor, who himself later became chief justice of South Carolina. Subsequently the partners became alienated. O'Neall was an intense Union man, while Johnstone was equally intense in his devotion to state rights. The latter was a member of the nullification convention of 1832 and his name appears as one of the signers of the nullification ordinance.
Johnstone's political career began with his election as clerk of the Senate of South Carolina in 1826. He continued to hold this position until he was elected a chancellor of the state on November 3, 1830.
In 1847, following the death of William Harper, Johnstone became president of the equity court of appeals, and in 1859, when the new court of appeals was established, he became an associate justice.
Johnstone's family was of rigid Presbyterian stock and Job was a member of that denomination throughout his life.
Politics
After the war began Johnstone supported the Confederacy. He became strongly affiliated with the Union party, intensely devoted to state rights.
Views
While Johnstone maintained, throughout life, unwavering loyalty in his belief as to the rights of the sovereign states, and while as a young man he courageously asserted those rights, even to the extent of voting to nullify an act of the Congress of the United States, when South Carolina seceded in 1860, he was opposed to the step on the ground that it was politically inexpedient.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
It was once said of him that "every appeal opinion in which he was overruled by the Appellate Court, and every appeal opinion in which he dissented from the majority of the chancellors" was "subsequently confirmed and made established law in South Carolina".
Connections
Job Johnstone was twice married. His first wife was Eliza Meek Johnstone, his cousin, whom he married on November 14, 1816, and by whom he had four children. She died Jan. 23, 1843, and on August 7, 1844, he was married to Amelia A. De Walt, by whom he had six children.