Joseph Johnson

Background

Johnson was born on June 15, 1776, in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, the fourth son of William and Sarah (Nightingale) Johnson, and the brother of William Johnson, later associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Education

Prepared for college at a classical school in Charleston, Joseph was graduated from the College of Charleston in 1793, and at once entered the University of Pennsylvania Medical College. There he received the degree of M. D. in 1797, presenting as his thesis, An Experimental Inquiry into the Properties of Carbonic Acid Gas, or Fixed Air (1797).

Career

Entering immediately upon the practice of his profession in Charleston, where he spent the remainder of his life, Johnson wrote numerous articles for the Charleston Medical Journal and Review, two of the best known being, "Some Account of the Origin and Prevention of Yellow Fever in Charleston, South Carolina" (1849), and "The Alleged Connection between the Phases of the Moon and the Quantity of Rain" (July, 1854). He also wrote many scientific articles of a popular character for the press, and in 1822 published An Address to the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina.

Johnson's interest in history was scarcely less than his interest in medicine, and he dabbled in historical investigation for many years, publishing numerous sketches in newspapers. Many of these he incorporated in his best-known work, Traditions and Reminiscences Chiefly of the American Revolution in the South (1851). It is a highly valuable work, unscientific, of course, but preserving a wealth of information regarding the people and events of the Revolution that would otherwise have been lost, and so full of human interest that it had a wide popularity. He published also two excellent biographical studies in the University of North Carolina Magazine: "Biographical Sketch of Captain Johnston Blakeley" (February, 1854) and "Memoir of Captain John Templer Shubrick, U. S. A. " (June, 1854).

In 1826 he was intendant of Charleston. A firm believer in popular education, he served for years as commissioner of the public schools. He was actively and consistently interested in politics, and in 1832 was an active opponent of nullification and a leader of the Union party. He died on October 6, 1862, at Pineville, South Carolina, to which place he had gone at the outbreak of the Civil War.

Achievements

• Johnson gained a wide and lasting reputation, not only as a successful and much beloved family physician, but as a medical scientist of high standing. He was also known for his actions as the 27th Mayor of Charleston.

Religion

In 1807 he was president of the South Carolina Medical Society.

Membership

In 1807 Johnson was president of the South Carolina Medical Society.

For sixty-four years Johnson was a member of the South Carolina Society, an important educational, charitable, and social organization at that time. He served as steward for twenty-three years, and also as president, and he was president of the Apprentices' Literary Society.

Possessed of large means, Johnson developed important business interests and excellent business judgment, and from 1818 to 1825 he was president of the Charleston branch of the Bank of the United States.

Connections

In October 1802 Johnson married Catherine, daughter of Francis and Hannah (Elfer) Bonneau, by whom he had fifteen children. She died in 1859.

Father:

William Johnson

Mother:

Sarah Nightingale

Spouse:

Catherine Bonneau

Brother:

William Johnson

References

• Traditions and Reminiscences Chiefly of the American Revolution in the South
• Cyclopedia of Eminent and Representative Men of the Carolinas of the Nineteenth Century; Volume 2
• American Medical Biographies, Volume 2