JOHNSTON
JOHNSTON
Avas made its president, and while under his man-
agement the name of the road was changed to
the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and he
served as jiresident of the corporation, 1848-77.
He was the organizer of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, and its president till 1889. His largo i^ri-
vate gallery of paintings was opened weekly- to the
public, and in 1876, in order to save the credit of
the railroad company, he sold part of his collec-
tion at auction in New York citj% realizing there-
by about $400,000. Mr. Johnston took an active
METROPOLITAN
lu&£u<^ OF A«\T.
interest in the welfare of the University of the
City of New York; was a trustee, 1846-93; vice-
president, 1851-74, and president of the board,
1874-86. He was a director of the Union Theo-
logical seminary, 1870-93; president of the
Alumni association of the university; of the St.
Andrew's society; of the board of governors
of the Women's Hospital of the State of New
York, and a member of the board of trustees of
the Presbyterian hospital. He bequeathed to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and to the Univer-
sity of the City of New York, $10,000 each. The
university conferred on him the degree of LL.D. in
1889. He died in New York city, March 24, 1893.
JOHNSTON, John Warfield, senator, was born in Panicello, Va., Sept. 9, 1818; the eldest son of John Johnston and grandson of Peter and Mary (Wood) Jolinston. He attended the College of South Carolina; studied law at the University of Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1829. He removed to Tazewell county in 1840; was commonwealth's attorney, 1844-46, and state sen- ator, 1846-48. He was one of the Democratic representatives who voted for R. M. T. Hunter for U.S. senator in 1847, during the celebrated Smith-Hunter controversy. He was president of the Northwestern bank, Jeffersonville. Va., ]8r>0- 59; judge of the cft'cuit court of Virginia, 1860- 70, and U.S. senator, 1870-82. He served in the senate as chairman of the committee on agricul- ture and of the joint select committee on the Y'orktown centennial celebration. He died in Richmond. Va., Feb. 27, 1889.
JOHNSTON, Joseph Eggleston, soldier, was born at " Cherry Grove," Prince Edward county, Va., Feb. 3, 1807; eighth son of Lieut. Peter and
J. tfi^^^^'
Mary (Wood) Johnston, and grandson of Peter
and Martha (Butler) Rogers Johnstone and of
Col. Valentine and Lucy (Henry) Wood, of
Goochland county. His grandfather, Peter John-
stone, was a native of Annan, Scotland, and
emigrated from Ed-
inburgh in 1727, set-
tling at Osborne's
Landing, on the
James river, Va.,
where he was a mer-
chant. He was mar-
ried, March 19, 1761,
to Martha Rogers,
daughter of Jolin
Butler, a merchant
on the Appomattox
below Petersburg.
In 1765 they remov-
ed from Osborne's
Landing to "Cherry
Grove, an estate
near Farmville, Prince Edward county. He was
a member of the established churcli, but when
the presbytery of Hanover proposed building a
college in Prince Eilward he gaA-e one hundred
acres of land on which Prince Edward academy
was erected in 1775, and in 1777 the name was
changed to Hampton-Sidney college. Their eld-
est .son, Peter, the father of Joseph Eggleston,
was born at Osborne's Landing, Jan. 6, 1763, and
three other sons at "Cherry Grove," and they
were educated at Hampden-Sidney. Peter ran
away from college and enlisted in the legion of
" Light-Horse Harry " Lee in 1780, and served
througli the remainder of the war of the Revolu-
tion, gaining the rank of lieutenant and becoming
a favorite of Colonel Lee, although only a lad of
eighteen. He afterward studied law and was a
member of the committee that reported the Vir-
ginia resolutions of 1798-99. In 1788 he was mar-
ried to Mary, daughter of Valentine and Lucy
(Henry) Wood, of Goochland county, and a niece
of Patrick Henry. Peter and Mary Johnston re-
sided at " Clierry Grove," and here were born to
them John, the father of Senator John W. John-
ston; Peter, a lawyer in southwestern Virginia;
Ciiarles Clement, a representative from south-
western Virginia in the 22d congress, 1831-33;
Beverly Randolph, a law5'er; Edward W., editor
of the National Intelligencer; Algernon Sidney,
author of " Memoirs of a NuUifier " and Joseph
Eggleston, named for his fatlier's friend and his
captain in Lee's legion. In 1811 Lieut. Peter,
who was judge of the general court of Virginia,
removed to Panecillo, near Abingdon, Va.. then
a new settlement in the wilderness. In these
surroundings, Joseph was brought up, receiving
his preparatory education from his parents, both
