Biography - Carl Johnson
CARL
G. JOHNSON, physician and surgeon, was born in the city of Oscarshamn,
Sweden, Jan. 5, 1865. As a young boy he accompanied his parents, C. X. and
Helena S. Johnson, to this country in the spring of 1869. The family located
in Galesburg, and here the boy obtained his public school education. After
that he worked in a boiler factory and at fifteen he went to work on farm
for three years. At the opening of the school year in 1883 he was
matriculated at Augustana College, Rock Island, and graduated with the
degree of Bachelor of Science in June, 1889. In the fall of the same year he
entered the Long Island College Hospital medical school, from which he
graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in March, 1892. Then he
accepted an appointment as interne and ambulance surgeon to the Eastern
District Hospital in Brooklyn, remaining until the following September, when
he resigned to become house physician and surgeon to the Minneapolis City
Hospital. Having served in that capacity for one year, Dr. Johnson passed
the state board examination in Minnesota in October, 1893, and engaged in
private practice in Minneapolis.
In January, 1895, he moved back to his old home city of Galesburg to take up practice. Just after having established himself, he was honored by an appointment on the staff of the Galesburg Cottage Hospital. This position he has retained by reelection up to the present time, and in October, 1901, was elected chief of the medical staff. He is now commissioner of health of Galesburg.
In 1897 Dr. Johnson made a European trip for the purpose of observing the hospital systems of England, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. He improved the opportunity by taking post-graduate courses at Brunswick and Berlin. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Illinois State Medical Society and the Knox County Medical Society.
Aug. 5, 1896, Dr. Johnson was married to Miss Hannah Larson of Moline, born Sept. 1, 1863. There is one child, Helena Katharine, born in 1900. They are active in church work, being members of the First Swedish Lutheran Church. The doctor gives much time to the Young Men's Christian Association, and has been one of its directors for several years past.
The Augustana Synod in 1899 elected Dr. Johnson on the board of directors of Augustana College and Theological Seminary for a term of four years, at the expiration of which he was again elected for a like term. In 1904 he was chosen a member of the board of Augustana Hospital in Chicago for a term of three years.
Extracted 17 Sep 2016 by Norma Hass from the History of the Swedes of Illinois, published in 1908 by Engberg-Holmberg Publishing Company, Part 2, Knox County, pages 30-48.
