JOHNSON
JOHIVSOX
graduated from the College of New Jersey, with
lienors, in 1790; studied law under Charles Cotes-
worth Pinckney, and was admitted to the bar in
January, 1793. He represented Cliarleston in the
state legislature as a Republican, 1794-98, and was
chosen speaker of the house in 1798. Upon the
organization of the court of common pleas, in
1799, he was elected one of the first judges to
hold office. He was appointed by President
Jefferson an associate justice of the U.S. supreme
court in 180-1. He was a firm believer in the
political principles set forth by Jefferson, but his
judicial opinions on the embargo act brought him
into disfavor with the President, and those on
nullification, with the majority of the citizens of
South Carolina. This feeling became very bitter,
and he removed to western Pennsylvania in 1833,
as he believed his judicial position should be one
of strict neutrality. He settled in Brooklyn,
N.Y., in 1834. The honorary degree of LL.D.
•was conferred on him by the College of New
Jersey in 1818. He was married to Sarah, daugh-
ter of Thomas Bennett, of Charleston. He edited
the Life and Correspondence of Major-General
Nathanael Greene, with annotations (2 vols., 1832).
He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Aug. 11, 1834.
JOHNSON, William Cost, rejiresentative, -was burn in Frederick county, Md., probably in 1806. He practised law in Jefferson, Frederick county, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court in 1831. He was a representative in the state legis- lature, both before and after his service as repre- sentative in the 23d, 26th and 27th U.S. con- gresses, 1833-35, and 1839-43. In congress he was a member of the judiciary committee and chairman of the committee on public lands. He was a Henry Clay Whig and president of the national convention of young men which met in Washington in 1844. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1851. He died in Washington, D.C., April 16. 1860.
JOHNSON, William Samuel, educator, was born in Stratford, Conn., Oct. 7, 1727; son of the Rev. Samuel and Charity (Floyd) Nicoll Johnson. He was prepared for college b\^ his father, and was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1744. A.M., 1747, and became an eminent lawyer. He was chosen a delegate on the part of Connecticut to a congress of the colonies that met in New York city in 1775, and with Robert R. Livingston and William Murdock, of Maryland, drafted an address to the king relative to the course pursued by parlia- ment. He was a member of the council of Con- necticut. 1776-75, and was chosen agent extraor- dinary of the colony to determine the title of Connecticut to Indian lands, which necessitated his attendance at court in England, 1766-71. In October, 1772, he was appointed judge of the superior court of the colony, and in 1774 a dele-
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gate to the Continental congress to assemble at
Pliiladelphia, but he was excused from service in
congress, having been chosen an arbitrator of the
Van Rensselaer estate dispute. He was a mem-
ber of the state council, 1780-82, and was counsel
for the state in the
controversy with
Pennsylvania relative
to the Oliio lands;
a delegate to the Con-
tinental congress,
1784-87; a delegate
to the constitutional
convention of 1787;
chairman of the com-
mittee of five that
revised the wording
and paragraphing of
the instrument, and
a U. S. senator from
Connecticut, 1789-
91; resigning his seat
in March, 1791, and being succeeded by Roger Sherman. He was president of King's (Columbia) college. New York city, 1787-1800. He resigned his office in 1800, and removed to Stratford, Conn., where he lived in retirement. He was a trustee of Columbia college, 1788-1800, and received the honorary degrees of A.M. from Columbia and Har- vard in 1747, J.C.D. from Oxford in 1766, and LL.D. from Yale in 1788. With Oliver Ellsworth, he framed the judiciary system of the United States, as adopted by congress, and his letters from England were published by the Massachu- setts Historical society, in the Trumhxdl Papers. John T. Irving, in 1830, and the Rev. E. Edwards Beardsley, in 1876, published sketches of his life. He died in Stratford, Conn., Nov. 14, 1819. JOHNSON, William Woolsey; educator, was born in Owego, N.Y., June 23, 1841; son of Charles Frederick and Sarah Dwiglit (Woolsey) Johnson; grandson of Robert Charles and Catha- rine (Baj'ard) Johnson and of William Walton and Elizabeth (Dwight) Woolsey; great-grand- son of William Samuel Johnson (q.v.); great-- grandson of the Rev. Samuel Johnson (q.v.) and a descendant on his mother's side from Jonathan Edwards. He attended the public and private schools of Owego, and was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1862, A.M., 1865. He was employed upon the U.S. Nautical Almanac, 1862-64; was as- sistant professor of mathematics at the U.S. Naval academy, 1864-70; professor of mathe- matics at Ken3'on college, 1870-72; professor of mathematics at St. Joiin's college, 1872-81, and was appointed professor of mathematics at the U.S. Naval academy in 1881. He was elected a member of the London IMathematical society in 1879, corresponding member of the British asso-
