JOSEPH B. JOHNSON. With a record that is enviable, Joseph B. Johnson has been county clerk of Oregon County, Missouri, for the past eight years, and will no doubt succeed himself to that position at the next election. He has won for himself an honored position among the representative men of this section, and has been closely identified with many of its best interests. Like two-thirds of the best citizens of the county, Mr. Johnson is a native of Tennessee, born in Jackson in 1852, son of William R. and Martha Ann (Brown) Johnson.
The father was also born in Tennessee, and has followed the blacksmith’s trade all his life. He came from Tennessee to Stoddard County, Missouri, man years ago, and resided there until recently, when he came to Oregon County, and has since made his home with his son, Joseph B. During the Civil War he was in the Confederate Army, and served in a Missouri regiment as drummer. He was west of the Mississippi River most of the time. Joseph B. Johnson was a child of four years when his mother died, and he was taken by an uncle, W. C. Livingston, a farmer of Tennessee. The latter removed to Stoddard County, Missouri, in 1855, and two years later to the wilds of Oregon County, locating near Alton. There he resides at the present time, and is actively engaged as a tiller of the soil.
In Tennessee and Missouri Joseph B. Johnson grew to manhood and received his education. When twenty years of age he started out to make his own way in life, and twelve years ago, or in 1882, he was elected sheriff of Oregon County, holding that position four years. After that he was elected to the office of county clerk, and will be elected again, for he has the nomination on the Democratic ticket, which is equivalent to an election. In the year 1870 he married Miss Viney Mooney, who was born in Stoddard County. Eight children are the result of this union, six sons and two daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are members in good standing in the Baptist Church. He is a member of the Blue Lodge and the chapter at West Plains, also the A. O. U. W. and the I.O. O. F. In politics he is a stanch Democrat.