Biography - John Johnson
JOHN
J. JOHNSON, clergyman of the Mission Covenant, was born in Grasmark parish,
Vermland, Sweden, July 3, 1867. At the age of twenty-one he arrived in
America. His parents, Jan Jonsson and his wife Birgitta, who were
industrious farmer folk, brought up their children in the Christian faith.
The son, soon after his arrival, decided to prepare for the ministry of the
Gospel, and for that purpose came from Fort Wayne, Ind., where he had
settled, to Chicago, entering the Chicago Theological Seminary. After having
completed the course, he was stationed as pastor at Odebolt, Ia., before
coming to Batavia, Ill., were he labored for many years. Since 1907 he is
pastor of the Swedish Mission Church at Galesburg, which has a membership of
230 people.
Rev. Johnson was married Sept. 8, 1894, to Emma Josephine Blom, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Blom, who came to this country in 1870 and had got settled in Chicago just before the great fire. Rev. and Mrs. Johnson have five children, Ruth Victoria, born 1895; Judith Delphine, 1897; Vernon Emanuel, 1899; Dagmar Naomi and Hilding Nathanael, twins, born in 1903.
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.
