the State. In 1882 he was re-elected for an other term, at the end of which he was still further honored by the people of the whole State, who placed him upon the Supreme Bench, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. David J. Brewer, who had been appointed by the President United States Circuit Judge. There remained four years of Associate Justice Brewer's term, at the end of which time Judge Johnston was re-elected for another term of six years, which has not yet expired. Judge Johnston was married to Miss Lucy Brown in 1875. His family consists of two children : the eldest, a boy nine years old, and a daughter seven. They possess a beau tiful home in Minneapolis, which place has ever been the Judge's residence since he came to the State. Judge Johnston is a hard worker, as in fact all who have been and are now on the Supreme Bench of Kansas must be. It is no sinecure; perhaps there is no court that imposes such burdens upon its members as this. His popularity is great; his character made up of all those qualities which endear men to each other; and withal he is an excel lent lawyer, having gained his reputation by dint of hard study, energy, and close applica tion. Judge Johnston is in the prime of all his faculties, with the probability of many years of usefulness before him to the Com monwealth of Kansas. THE SUPREME COURT COMMISSIONERS. Hon. Benjamin F. Simpson, Senior Su preme Court Commissioner, oldest son of William P. and R. H. Simpson, who were natives of Maryland, was born in Belmont County, Ohio, in 1836. He received an aca demic education, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He came to Kansas in the spring of that year, and -settled in Paola, Miama County, where he has ever since re sided. In March, 1858, he was elected the first attorney of the county, and in June of the following summer was elected a member of the Wyandotte Constitutional
Convention, in which body he served as Chairman of the Committee on Finance- In i860 he was elected a member of the Ter ritorial Legislature, and upon the admission of Kansas to the Union was elected Attor ney-General of the State. 'In a few months, June, 1861, he resigned his State office to en ter the army, in which he served as Captain and Major of Cavalry throughout the entire war, and was mustered out with his regi ment on the 18th day of October, 1865. In the fall of 1870 he was elected to the House of Representatives, and was made its Speaker. In 1876 he was elected to the State Senate, and served as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In June, 1877, was appointed one of the committee to revise the Statutes of the State. In 1878 was ap pointed United States Marshal for the Dis trict of Kansas, and reappointed in 1882. In March was appointed by Gov. John A. Martin, one of the Supreme Court Com missioners, in which capacity he is still serving. He was a delegate to the Repub lican National Conventions of 1868, 1872, 1876, and 1880. Major Simpson, as he is familiarly called, has risen rapidly in his profession and in the confidence of his fellow-citizens. He has been almost continuously in the public ser vice of the State since he became one of its residents, and has discharged his duties without a single complaint against the man ner of their performance, or a blemish being found on his character, while the honor con ferred upon him by being twice appointed Commissioner of the Supreme Court attests his superior legal abilities. Hon. Jeremiah C. Strang, Supreme Court Commissioner, is the son of Daniel and Eliza Strang. He was born in Tompkins County, N. Y., on the 31st of December, 1847. His early education was gained in the country district schools, to attend which, as was the case with the majority of farmers' boys of his era, he could only be spared from the labor of the fields in the winter. He worked faithfully every sum
