EDWIN F. JOHNSON.
Poets often tell the truth and the old song which contains the refrain, "The farmer feeds them all," states a very fundamental and economic truth. Without the farmer the rest of the populace would starve to death within a week despite the large amount of food kept in storage. Every occupation might be done away with but farming and people could live, but a total cessation of farming for a short time would actually depopulate the whole world. A man can exist without banks, courts, schools, colleges, factories, mines, and mills, but deprive him of the products of the soil as produced by the farmer and he cannot live. The farmers of a community practically sustain the people dependent upon other professions. Without the farmer the banker would close his doors, the merchant cease business, the manufacturer shut down his factory and the railroads suspend operations. He is an important factor in the world's economic adjustment. The successful individual farmer is a man to be honored and admired and he occupies a substantial place in the community.
Among the honored and successful men of Audubon county, one who has achieved distinction in the agricultural profession and has been highly honored by the people with a high official position is Edwin F. Johnson, county supervisor of Audubon.
Edwin F. Johnson was born on September 7, 1865, at Morris, Illinois, son of John C. and Christina (Thompson) Johnson, natives of Norway and Sweden, respectively. John G. Johnson was born in 1836 and died in 1904. He migrated to America from the land of his birth in 1852 and first located in Chicago. From Chicago he went to Morris, Illinois. He rented land near there until 1882 and then came west to Audubon county. Here he purchased a farm in Sharon township. He prospered and in his old age retired to Audubon. He was the owner of a well-improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres. The children of John G. Johnson now living are: John P., of Greenfield, Iowa; Edwin F., with whom this review is directly concerned; Mrs. Mary Weldy, residing in Douglas township, Audubon county; Samuel R., a farmer in Melville township, and Elmer C., of Atlantic, Iowa.
Edwin F. Johnson was educated in the district schools of Illinois and came to Audubon county with his parents when seventeen years of age. He assisted his father in operating the home farm until he attained his majority. He then rented a farm in Viola township, saved his money for a few years, and then invested in eighty acres of prairie land in Sharon township at a cost of twelve dollars and fifty cents an acre. This farm had no improvements whatever when Mr. Johnson purchased it. He placed all improvements on the farm as he was able and brought the land to a high state of cultivation. When he began for himself he had very little money and was the owner of one horse. He was not able to erect a home until about five years after he began farming, but a slow beginning makes a good ending and prosperity has smiled upon this energetic citizen. He is the owner of five hundred and forty acres of fine land in Audubon county and has one thousand three hundred acres of land in South Dakota. Mr. Johnson has a fine town house in Audubon, where he removed in 1910.
Mr. Johnson was married in 1891, to Bertha Boyd, of Audubon county, daughter of Mahlon Boyd. To this union have been born two children, namely: Bertha E. and Edwin B.
Mr. Johnson is a Republican in politics and has taken an active part in political affairs, being one of the leaders of his party in Audubon county. He was elected to the important office of county supervisor in the fall of 1910 and re-elected in 1912 for a second term. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a prominent member of the local Masonic fraternity and is high in the ancient rites of this order. He belongs to the Audubon chapter and commandery, is a member of Za-Ga-Zig temple of Mystic Shriners at Des Moines, and is a member of the Scottish Rite consistory located at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, being a Mason of the thirty-second degree.
Mr. Johnson's sterling worth as a citizen and business man was recognized by the people when they elected him to the office of county supervisor and during the time he has been in the office he has discharged his duties to the entire satisfaction of the people of his county. He is a quiet, unassuming man, of genial disposition, firm in his convictions and one who has always looked out for the welfare of his county.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 617-619.
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