My Genealogy Hound

John R. Johnson, farmer and ginner, Hickory Plains, Ark. There are a number of men prominently identified with the agricultural affairs of this county, but none among them are more deserving of mention than Mr. John R. Johnson, who was born in Randolph County, N. C., March 30, 1839. His parents, Joseph and Katie (Brower) Johnson, were both natives of North Carolina and were married in that State. The parents moved to Tennessee about 1842, locating in Decatur County, and there tilled the soil until 1876, when he moved to Arkansas. He located in Sebastian County and resides there at the present time. His first wife died in 1878. John R. Johnson remained in Tennessee until sixteen years of age and in 1857 moved to Arkansas, locating at Fort Smith, where he resided for about fourteen months. He came to Hickory Plains in 1859 and was one of the early settlers. In 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate army, Fourth Independent Arkansas Battery as a private and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant after the battle of Murfreesboro. Afterward he was on detached duty for twelve months on the Alabama Railroad and served all through the war. He participated in the battles of Wilson’s Creek, Richmond, and Murfreesboro. After the war he returned to Hickory Plains. He followed the carpenter’s trade, working at the same during 1866-67, at Little Rock and in 1867 began merchandising in Pulaski County. In 1868, 1869 and 1870 he worked at his trade in Prairie County, and many monuments of his handiwork are still standing in the county, especially in Hickory Plains and vicinity. In 1870 he began selling goods here, and two years later engaged in tilling the soil, which occupation he has since carried on. He has 240 acres of land with about 145 cleared, has good buildings and is in a very prosperous condition. He built a gin in 1880, has good new machinery and is doing a good business. He is the owner of six acres of land where his gin is located and also has several lots in Des Arc. Mr. Johnson was married in Prairie County, Ark., in 1868, to Miss Fannie Holloway, a native of Fayette County, Tenn., but who was reared and educated in Hickory Plains. She is the daughter of John Holloway. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Hickory Plains Lodge No. 95, and is Junior Deacon and Past Master in the same. He was one of the original founders of the Wheel organization and was twice unanimously elected president of the State Wheel. He was appointed and is one of the county commissioners. In 1888 he was doorkeeper of the House of Representatives and in 1889 was appointed by the Governor for the Second Congressional district to the Farmers’ Agricultural Congress. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are members of the Old School Presbyterian Church and he is an elder in the same.