HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, VOL. II, 1918, page 342

R. P. Johnson, a most prominent figure in banking and business circles in Northwood, honored and respected by all who knew him, not only by reason of the success which he achieved, but also owing to the straightforward business policy which lie ever followed, demonstrated in the course of his active life the possibili­ties for successful achievement through individual effort. He started out in the business world with but slender equipment for life's practical and responsible duties. He had enjoyed the privilege of attending school only through the winter months and was a lad of but eight years when he began to provide for his own support.

His birth occurred at Shottemarke, in Lolland, Denmark, August 14, 1854. He was baptized in the Vester Rusle Kirke and was confirmed in the same church in the fall of 1868. His education was secured in the schools near his birthplace and he was a youth of fourteen years when in May, 1869, he accompanied his parents to the new world, the family home being established in Buffalo Grove , Hancock county, Iowa . He was the eldest of the eight children of James and Hansine Johnson and while under the parental roof he had the opportunity of attending school in the winter months, while in the summer seasons he was engaged in various lines of work assigned to him through parental authority. In the fall of 1877 he accepted a position in a general store at Forest City , Iowa , owned by Jasper Thompson. He was at that time a young man of twenty-three years. It proved his initial step in the attainment of the high position which he reached as a representative of banking and other important business interests in northern Iowa . In the month of March, 1878, he removed to Northwood, where he entered the employ of the firm of Eckert & Williams, remaining with that house until 1884, when, in connection with 0. V. Eckert and J. C. Williams, he organized the Northwood Bank. Mr. Johnson assumed the direct management of the bank and so continued until 1890, when the business was sold to the Northwood Banking Company. In 1892 he erected an office building in Northwood and remained an active factor in the real estate, loan and insurance business to the time of his death. He not only bought and sold much property of his own but negotiated realty transfers for others, made loans and wrote a large amount of insurance annually. In 1896 he became one of the organizers of the Citizens National Bank of Albert Lea , Minnesota , and remained a stockholder of that institution to the time of his death. In 1903 he became connected with the grain and commission business in Minneapolis under the firm style of the Way-Johnson-Lee Company, of which he was elected vice president and a director. He remained with that company until 1910, when the business was sold to the Penson-Newhouse-Stabeck Company. Forceful and resourceful, he extended his efforts into still other fields. He became connected with the Mason City Loan & Trust Company of Mason City , Iowa , in 1908 and was a director of the company until his life's labors were ended. In 1906 he was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Northwood and of the Northwood Savings Bank. Of these institutions he remained a stockholder to the time of his death. He was a man of notably sound judgment and of keen sagacity. He seemed to recognize at once the salient and valuable features of every business situation and readily discarded those ele­ments which were of no worth. What he undertook he accomplished, carrying forward to successful completion his well defined plans and purposes. The integ­rity of his methods none questioned and the most envious could not grudge him his success, so honorably was it won and so worthily used. On December 24, 1879 , Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Lena Hove, a daughter of Ole and Carrie Hove. She was born a mile and a half west of upon the farm on which her father settled. Her parents were natives of Norway , in which country they remained until after their marriage and then came to the new world in 1854, crossing the Atlantic on a sailing vessel.

They first settled at Long Prairie, Illinois, where the remained for a year, and then with ox teams traveled across the country, taking up their abode a mile and a half west of the city of Northwood, which however, at that time was a tiny hamlet. There were only two families here the summer that the father came and the Indians were far more numerous than the white settlers in this section of the state and the word of progress and development seemed scarcely begun. The forests stood in their primeval strength, the streams were unbridged and the land uncultivated. Mr. Hove built a log house and remained upon his farm throughout his remaining days, his death occurring in 1901, when he had reached the age of seventy-nine. His wife survived until 1903 and was also seventy-nine years of age at the time of her demise. Mr. and Mrs. Hove had ten children of whom five are still living, Lena , Bertha, Elling, Nels and Martha. Of these, Lena became the wife of Mr. Johnson, and by that marriage there was one son, J. 0. E. Johnson, who is well known in Northwood.

The life of R. P. Johnson was well spent. He early recognized the value of industry, and industry became the beacon light of his life. He worked diligently and persistently and each forward step brought him a broader outlook and wider opportunities. His business associates spoke of him in terms of high regard, a fact which was indicative of the integrity and honor of his methods. Those who met him in social relations found in him a genial companion and faithful friend. In fact, he held friendship inviolable and he was always most devoted to the welfare of his wife and son, reserving his best traits of character for his own fireside. His life was the expression of high purpose, of noble manhood and of Christian faith and his death which occurred in 1916, was the occasion of deep and wide­spread regret, Worth county being called upon to mourn the loss of one it could ill afford to lose.

Transcribed by Gordon Felland - July 13, 2005