Biography - James Johnson

HON. JAMES JOHNSON, a prominent and influential citizen of Minot, Ward county, is a pioneer settler of North Dakota, and has gained for himself a remunerative business and an enviable reputation. He is actively engaged in various pursuits, and is one of the extensive agriculturists of the county, owning the most extensive farm, and conducts cattle raising on a large scale. He is one of leading attorneys of his locality, and has long been at the head of the Ward county bar.

Our subject was born on a farm in Denmark, May 1, 1850, and was the fourth in a family of eight children. He attended the country and high schools and at the age of fourteen years went to sea. At the age of eighteen he was drafted into the Danish navy and served eighteen months. He came to America in 1872, landing at New York, and went at once to Ottertail county, Minnesota, where he became a pioneer and engaged in farming and lumbering there until 1882, conducting an estate of four hundred acres. He settled at Lisbon, Ransom county, North Dakota, during the winter of 1882-83 and in the spring located at Burlington, Ward county, and was the first settler of that locality. He hauled lumber from Bismarck, the nearest railroad station, one hundred and fifty miles distant. He continued his farming there and in 1885 Burlington was made the county seat. Mr. Johnson and his father-in-law, Joseph L. Colton, were active in the organization of the county, and they owned the town site of Burlington and were active in building the town. Our subject was admitted to the bar in 1889 and established his office in Minot in 1888 when the county seat was located there. He was appointed clerk of the district courts in the spring of 1886 and in 1889 was elected county judge and served one term. He was elected to the state senate in 1890 and served in that capacity one term and proved himself a faithful and efficient member of that body. He was appointed state's attorney in 1892 and has has been re-elected three times since that date, serving eight years in that office. He has built up a good practice in his profession and has a good farm at the junction of the river Des Lacs and Mouse river and extends two miles along the river, covering over one thousand acres of meadow, timber and valley land.

Our subject was married, in 1879, to Miss Ida J. Colton, a native of St. Lawrence county, New York. Mrs. Johnson is a daughter of Joseph L. Colton, whose ancestors came to America in the Mayflower in 1620. They were of English descent and took part in the Revolutionary war and also the Civil war. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the parents of seven children, named in order of birth as follows: Arthur, Carrie, Effie, Harvey, Rolla, George and Grace. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is active in public affairs in Ward county, and being one of the earliest pioneers of that region has gained a good degree of popularity as a developer of the country. In 1878 he assisted in the erection of the first shack on the present town site of Lisbon, North Dakota.

Extracted 26 Dec 2019 by Norma Hass from Compendium History and Biographies of North Dakota, published in 1900, pages 1165-1166.

---