My Genealogy Hound

William W. Johnson, member of the firm of Johnson & Hamilton, merchants, Wynne, Ark. As a man of business Mr. Johnson’s name is co-extensive with Cross County and the surrounding country. He owes his nativity to Holly Springs, Miss., where his birth occurred in 1858. He passed his youthful days among relatives, attending school at Neophigan College, near Spring Falls, Tenn. but left this school in 1872 to attend Bethel College, McKenzie, Tenn. He left this school in 1876 and then engaged with Clark, Johnson & Co., merchants at Memphis, remaining with this firm at their stores at Clarkson, Crittenden County, Ark., for thirteen years, at first as clerk, then book-keeper and for the last five years as manager of the entire estate of 4,700 acres, all under cultivation. Mr. Johnson left this firm in 1855, came to Wynne, Ark., and here opened a general store, as Johnson & Williams, which continued one year, after which the title was changed to W. W. Johnson & Co., which was succeeded in 1888 by the present firm of Johnson & Hamilton. This firm carries a stock of goods valued at $7,000 and do nearly a cash business. Mr. Johnson was married in 1881 to Miss Hattie B. Forgey, a native of Tennessee, and they have three children: Julia, William and Charles. Mr. Johnson is a Knight of Pythias (belonging to Lodge No. 52) and also a member of Memphis Lodge K. of H. He is the youngest of three children born to the marriage of M. J. and Fannie S. (Cole) Johnson, natives of North Carolina and Louisiana, respectively. The maternal grandfather, L. H. Cole, during all his business life was engaged in slave trading. He was also extensively engaged in farming, owning large tracts of land in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. M. J. Johnson moved from North Carolina to Tennessee in 1848, and he and his father started a carriage factory, the first in Memphis. He, in connection with a brother, ran a stage line, in those early days from Memphis to Jackson, Tenn., and they also built the first hotel, which they named the Boone Hotel. This building is still standing. The paternal grandmother, Mary B. Boone, was a granddaughter of the celebrated Daniel Boone. M. J. Johnson moved to Arkansas in 1859, as agent for his father-in-law, who was speculating in land, and started to open a large plantation about seven miles south of Crittenden County at the breaking out of the war. They then left Crittenden County and did not return for several years. During the war they purchased a large plantation known as Rosborough Island, for which they gave $16,000, there being 1,320 acres there, and which, owing to a defective title, was wholly lost. In 1874 they returned to the old place, which was then running wild, and this he practically re-cleared. They now have about 300 acres under cultivation in a tract of 450 acres. This all belongs to William W. Johnson, but is occupied by his parents at the present time.