Rudolph D. Johnson (1846-1909)

JOHNSON

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 3/24/2022 at 16:41:51

Rudolph D. Johnson
(June 8, 1846 – December 13, 1909)

Rudolph D. Johnson, who follows general farming and stock-raising on section
13, Elm Grove Township, has for a half a century been numbered among Iowa's residents and his home has been maintained in Calhoun County since 1883. He is a native of Indiana, his birth having occurred in Ripley County, that state, June 8, 1846. His father, Thomas Johnson, was a native of Maryland, and in Ohio was united in marriage to Miss Dorcas Scritchfield. Removing to Ohio he located in Hampton County, where he remained for fourteen years, and then went to Indiana, locating in Ripley, which was his place of abode for fourteen years. He was one of its early settlers and established his home in the midst of the forest where he hewed out a farm. The year 1852 witnessed his arrival in Iowa. He located in Jackson County among its first settlers and purchased a place upon which a few improvements had been made. There he carried on farming and reared his family, spending his remaining days upon the homestead there. He passed away in 1873, the age of sixty-seven years, and his wife died in Indiana in 1851. He was afterward married again, his second wife surviving him for about a year.
Rudolph D. Johnson was a little lad of only six summers when the family came to this state and upon the home farm in Jackson County he was reared, early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He obtained a common school education, and in 1875 came to Calhoun County, where he purchased the two hundred acres of land that he now owns. He then returned to Jackson County, where he carried a daily mail between Bellevue and Maquoketa for seven and a half years, his capable service giving entire satisfaction. In 1883 he took up his permanent abode in this county, his attention being since given to the development and improvement of his farm. Iowa is noted for its fine farms and the splendid improvements found thereon, and the property of Mr. Johnson helps to sustain this reputation. His attention was given to the cultivation of his fields and the care of his fruit trees, also to the raising of stock. For some years past, however, he has lived retired and rents his land.
In 1868 Mr. Johnson cast his first presidential vote, supporting U. S. Grant. Since that time he has voted for each presidential nominee of the Republican party, for he believes firmly in its principles. He has never desired or sought office and when elected justice of the peace would not qualify. His fellow townsmen have besought him to enter official life, but he has steadily refused, content to do his duty as a private citizen. He formerly belonged to the Knights of Pythias, but has not affiliated for some years. His residence in Iowa covers a half century and through two decades he has been identified with public interests in Calhoun County, where he has gained a wide acquaintance. He is well known in Lake City and in Rockwell City, and is a man of integrity and worth, well deserving honorable mention in the biographical history. [Source – Biographical Record of Calhoun County, Iowa, by S. J. Clarke, 1902, p.239]