My Genealogy Hound

HENRY MORROW JOHNSTON, surveyor, Wilkinsburg, was born in Wilkins township, March 8, 1828. His grandfather, Charles Johnston (whose biography appears elsewhere), came from Ireland, and settled in the southern part of this county, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, moving to Wilkins some twenty years later. Henry M. Johnston lived nearly all his life in what is now Penn township; attended the common school, and studied civil engineering with Dr. Stilley, of Cannonsburg. When seventeen years old he was apprenticed to the carpenter’s trade, at which he worked for thirteen years; then was engaged in tilling the farm which he still owns, in Penn township. In October, 1861, he joined Company A, One Hundred and First Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served through McClellan’s peninsular campaign, taking part in the battles of Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Williamsburg, etc. The regiment was then sent to North Carolina, and Company A remained for a year on Roanoke island. April 20, 1864, they were made prisoners at Plymouth, and kept in Andersonville and Florence prisons till March 1, 1865. Since the war Mr. Johnston has engaged in surveying, taking up his residence at Wilkinsburg in 1884. He is a member of the G. A. R., and is a F. & A. M. He is a member of the United Presbyterian Church; politically a democrat. January 13, 1870, he married Sarah, daughter of John and Sarah (Brown) Long, of English descent, and they had a son who died at the age of three months.