Braden C. Johnston is a lawyer by profession and had in a few years’ time snccessfully established himself with a good practice and standing at Marion.
A native of Kansas, his birth occurred on a farm two miles north of Lyons in Rice County March 7, 1889, His parents are James A. and Cynthia (Chitty) Johnston. His mother is of the same branch of Chittys that gave to the legal profession some of its brightest lights both as lawyers and authors of standard law books. James A. Johnston was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1852, and when a child he accompanied his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Johnston, from Pennsylvania to Coshocton County, Ohio. He grew up there on a farm, had a public school education, and at the age of eighteen moved to Iowa. He began life with only his bare hands and a sturdy ambition. For a few years he was employed as a farm hand in Iowa, and in 1878 came to Kansas, working for two years on a farm in Rice County. Frugal and industrious and spurred by his marriage and the responsibilities he had assumed as head of a home, be bought a tract of undevcloped land in 1880 and from that time forward had been one of the successful and prosperous farmers of Rice County. His homestead now consists of 640 acres of this proved land, and he also owned 320 acres in Seward County. He is a republican and had for many years been active in public affairs in Rice County. He and his wife were married at Lyons, Kansas, in 1879. Mrs. James A. Johnson was born in Illinois in 1858. She is very active in the Methodist Episcopal Church and in Women’s Christian Temperance Union cireles in Rice County. Nine children were born to their marriage, four sons and five daughters: Cora, who was married in 1903 to Fred Hensel, a farmer in Cherokee County, Kansas; Chester, deceased; Gertrude, who married in 1906 Guy Gleason, and both died May 30, 1907; Homer R., a farmer in Rice County; Otis, also a Rice County farmer; Braden C., who was the sixth in this family; Blanche, who married in 1914 William Payne, a farmer in Cherokee County; Roxie, who died July 31, 1917; and Hazel, who in 1916 became the wife of E. N. Koprebauch, a railway employe.
Braden. C. Johnston grew up on his father’s farm in Rice County. He graduated from the Lyons High School with the class of 1910, and then entered Washburn College and the law school, where he finished his course in 1913. Mr. Johnston was admitted to the bar at Topeka July 3, 1913, and soon afterward located in Marion. One of the first steps he took toward making himself known and his abilities useful was as assistant county attorney of Marion County. By appointment he filled that place two years. Since then he had given all his time and talents to his growing general practice. Mr. Johnston is an active and influential republican in his party in the county and is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Eiks.
On December 5, 1916, at Marion, he married Anna L. Smith, who was born on a farm in McPherson County, Kansas, November 20, 1886. Her father, W. L. Hill, is a native of Indiana and was a pioneer settler in McPherson County.