George A. JOHNSTON Within nearly two decades of professional activity at Creston, judicial center of Union County, Mr. JOHNSTON has gained secure vantage ground as one of the able and representative members of the bar of this county, and his practice is now of substantial and important order, the while he is valued as a loyal, liberal and public-spirited citizen.

Mr. JOHNSTON is a scion of families that were founded in the southern part of our national domain in the Colonial period of American history, and his father grained pioneer prestige in Iowa. Mr. JOHNSTON was born in Wayne County, this state, July 1, 1877, and is a son of Andrew Duncan JOHNSTON and Sarah Jane (TEDFORD) JOHNSTON, the former of whom was born near Madisonville, Tennessee, and the latter in the State of Indiana. Andrew D. JOHNSTON was a son of Samuel JOHNSTON, who likewise was born in the Madisonville district of Tennessee and whose father had become the owner of one of the large and valuable plantations in that part of Eastern Tennessee, as well as owner of a large retinue of slaves. Samuel JOHNSTON's wife, whose family name was DUNCAN, was conscientiously opposed to slavery, and he thus was led to refuse his heritage of slaves, other property having been given him instead, while his younger brothers became the owners of the old home plantation. He came with his family to Iowa in the year 1854, and here he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, with secure standing as sterling pioneers of the Hawkeye State.

Andrew D. JOHNSTON came with his parents to Iowa in 1854 and the family home was established in Louisa County, where he continued his association with farm enterprise until the outbreak of the Civil war brought to him a higher duty. He enlisted as a member of Company C, Eleventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, proceeded with this command to the front, and in his service of three years and eight months he lived up to the full tension of conflict, through participation in major and minor engagements. After the close of the war he removed to Wayne County, where he became a prosperous farmer and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, secure in the high esteem of all whom knew them. He was commander of his post of the Grand Army of the Republic and at the time of his death, was a Republican in politics, and he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. JOHNSTON, as before stated, was born in Indiana, and she was a daughter of William H. and Polly M. (ORR) TEDFORD, who were born and reared in Tennessee, where their marriage occurred and whence they later removed to Indiana, from which state they came to Iowa as pioneers of the year 1854.

After completing his high school studies George A. JOHNSTON, dependent largely upon his own resources, found ways and means to follow the course of his ambitious purpose, that of preparing himself for the legal profession. In the law department of Drake University, Des Moines, he was graduated as a member of the class of 1912, and his admission to the bar of his native state was virtually coincident with his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and his initiating the practice of his profession at Creston, which fine little city has since continued the central stage of his law practice, extended into the various courts of Iowa, including the Supreme Court and the Federal courts. He has long controlled a substantial and representative general practice. He served four years as county attorney and his political allegiance is given to the Republican party. In addition to his home place in Creston Mr. JOHNSTON is the owner of a fine stock farm in Union County, the same being devoted in large measure to the breeding and raising of Hereford cattle and Belgian draft horses. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, has membership in the Union County Bar Association and the Iowa State Bar Association, and his wife is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in her home city.

The year 1899 recorded the marriage of Mr. JOHNSTON to Miss Sadie Frances FISHER, who was born and reared in Ringgold County, this state, and whose father, S. H. FISHER, came to Iowa in 1866, from Illinois, he having become one of the substantial farmers in Ringgold County. Neva Jane, eldest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. JOHNSTON, is the wife of Donald F. HENRY, a farmer and stockman near Shannon City, Union County; Paul Fisher, the elder son, is an ensign in the United States navy and at the time this writing, in the fall of 1929, is in service in Chinese waters; Mildred is the wife of Hulan A. SHAY, and they reside at Creston, where he is assistant manager of Armour & Company; and Elton Andrew is in service as a member of the United States Marine Corps, with which he is at present stationed in Nicaragua.

Judge George A. JOHNSTON died on December 6, 1952. Sadie Frances (FISHER) JOHNSTON was born January 16, 1878, and died April 15, 1962. George and Sadie were interrred at Graceland Cemetery, Creston, Union County, Iowa.

SOURCE: HARLAN, Edgar Rubey. A Narrative History of the People of Iowa Vol. IV. American Historical Society. Chicago. 1931.

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2009