Notes:

Was never elected; became president upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Was in office 1865-1869. Is the only man in american history to attain all 4
kinds of public office - legislative, judicial, military, and executive - and
was both Vice-President and President, yet he had no formal schooling. He was
a tailor by trade, and his wife taught him to read and write. Only president
to be impeached, but acquitted.

17th President of the United States. Born near Raleigh, North Carolina to Mary 'Polly' McDonough, a laundress and seamstress, and Jacob Johnson a hotel porter. His father died when he was about three years old. As a boy, he was apprenticed to a tailor. In 1826, he moved to Greenville Tennessee, and went into business as a tailor. In 1829, he was elected alderman for Greeneville. He was elected mayor of Greeneville in 1834, and the following year he was sent to the Tennessee state legislature. In 1843, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he advocated what would become the Homestead Act. In 1853, he left the House of Representatives to become governor of Tennessee, but left the governorship in 1857 to take a seat in the U.S. Senate where he advocated the preservation of the Union. In June 1861, Tennessee voters approved secession from the Union, Johnson had been traveling across his state speaking out against secession, and was the only senator from the South to remain loyal to the Union after his state seceded. He gave up his seat in the Senate in 1862 when President Lincoln appointed him Tennessee’s military governor. In 1864, the president chose him as his running mate over the incumbent vice president. As a Southerner and a They were sworn into office on 4 March 1865. When the president was assassinated some five weeks later, Johnson was sworn in as president. Despite an initial appearance of vindictiveness, he soon dropped punitive actions against Confederates in his Reconstruction policy, and leaned far more toward conciliation. In May 1865, he recognized a Reconstruction government in Virginia and issued a proclamation of amnesty which restored full citizenship to many former Confederates if they would swear allegiance to the Union. Congress, however, found the president far too conciliatory, and moved to refuse a seat to any Senator or Representative from the pre-war South. In April 1866, a Civil Rights Act, which was designed to nullify the Black Codes imposed in the former Confederacy by guaranteeing equal civil rights to blacks, was passed over Johnson’s veto. In February 1868, the president notified Congress that he had removed Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War, the fallout for which were impeachment proceedings against the president. During May 1868, there were three votes in the Senate, on all three occasions, thirty-five Senators voted guilty and nineteen voted not guilty, and as the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority for conviction in impeachment trials, he was acquitted. He would issued a general clemency for all former Confederates that same year. By the end of his term in office, the Republicans had nominated U. S. Grant as their presidential candidate and the Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour as their candidate, and Johnson was out of the running. He ran instead an unsuccessful bid for election to the Senate, and was again unsuccessful in an 1872 run for the House of Representatives. In 1874, however, he was elected to the Senate and served from 4 March 1875 until his death in July that same year. He is the only President to have served in the Senate following his presidency.

Bio by: Iola


Birth:
17Th President

Buried:
Andrew Johnson National Cemetery, 121 Monument Ave.

Died:
Carter's Sta.,

Andrew married Eliza McCardle on 17 May 1827 in Warrensburg, Greene, Tennessee, USA. Eliza (daughter of John McCardell and Sara Lena Phillips) was born on 4 Oct 1810 in Telford, Washington, Tennessee, USA; died on 15 Jan 1876 in Greeneville, Greene, Tennessee, USA; was buried in Greeneville, Greene, Tennessee, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Jacob Johnson was the father of Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States.

His date of birth is believed to be around 1778. Some sources indicate that he was born in Newcastle, England and sailed to America around 1795; but other sources indicate that he was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, and that it was his grandfather (and possible namesake) who sailed to North America from England.

Historian Rev. Nash A. Odom writes that "In the year 1760, Peter Johnson, migrated from Kintyre Scotland to North Carolina with his large family and settled in Cumberland County. The preaching instinct broke out again and a number of the Johnsons became ministers. One was the father of Jacob Johnson, who moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and was the father of President Andrew Johnson." Author Billy Kennedy writes that Jacob's father, named Andrew, a Presbyterian, came to North Carolina about 1750 from Mounthill, Ireland.

Whatever his beginnings, it is known Jacob was in Raleigh, NC in the early 1800's. On September 9, 1801, 23-year old Jacob married Mary "Polly" McDonough and together would have 3 children: William Patterson Johnson (1804-1865), Elizabeth Johnson (1806-unknown), and Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808-July 31, 1875). Andrew is said to have been named after his uncle or grandfather, Andrew McDonough.

The Johnson family lived humbly in a log home located on the property owned by Casso's Inn, a popular antebellum inn located northeast of the present-day North Carolina State Capital building. Casso's Inn was run by Peter Casso, a Revolutionary War soldier. Mary worked as a weaver and clothes washer, and Jacob worked as a hostler. Jacob also served as a militia Captain of Muster Division 20, as a sexton for the Presbyterian Church, and as a porter for the State Bank of North Carolina (chartered in 1811). Jacob is also reported to have been the sole bell toller in Raleigh.

Jacob died a hero's death at age 34, when he valiantly saved two fisherman whose boat had capsized. It was December, 1811, and Colonel Thomas Henderson, the young editor of the Raleigh Star, and his friend Mr. Callum, were fishing on Walnut Creek, near Hunter's Mill, when the enthusiastic group of fishermen capsized their fishing skiff. (A third occupant of the skiff, Mr. Pearce, had no trouble getting to shore.) Jacob Johnson jumped in the water and saved Henderson and Callum, to the detriment of his own health. Jacob died several weeks later, ironically, while ringing the funeral bell at church.

His obituary from the Raleigh Star newspaper (dated January 10, 1812) read as follows:

"Died, in this city, on Saturday last, Jacob Johnson, who had for years occupied a humble but useful station in Society. He was a city constable, sexton, and porter of the State Bank. In his last illness he was visited by the principal inhabitants of the city, by all whom he was esteemed for his honesty, industry, and humane and friendly disposition. Among all whom he was known and esteemed none lament him more (except, perhaps, his relatives) than the publisher of this paper; for he owes his life, on a particular occasion, to the boldness and humanity of Johnson."

Jacob's grave remained unmarked until 1867, when the current marker was erected. The writing on the marker has been obliterated from weather and vandalism, but an early account indicates that it was inscribed as follows:

"In memory of Jacob Johnson. An honest man, loved and respected by all who knew him."

Then-president Andrew Johnson was invited by Raleigh Mayor William D. Haywood to attend the public erection of Jacob's monument. He agreed to attend the dedication; this marked Johnson's only trip to the south during his term as President. He departed Washington, DC on June 1, 1867, stayed at Richmond, Virginia on the 2nd, and arrived in Raleigh on the 3rd. Johnson stayed at the Yarborough House Hotel on Fayetteville Street during his stay, and delivered a lengthy speech about various topics shortly after arriving.

The childhood home of President Johnson home (shown here), where his parents raised him, is now preserved at Mordecai Historic Park in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Buried:
City Cemetery

Died:
Age: 33

Jacob married Mary Polly McDonough on 9 Sep 1801 in Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina, USA. Mary (daughter of Andrew C McDonogh, II and Mary Ruth Lindley) was born on 17 Jul 1782 in Beaufort, North Carolina, USA; died on 13 Feb 1856 in Greeneville, Greene, Tennessee, USA; was buried in 1856 in Greeneville, Greene, Tennessee, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary "Polly" McDonough Johnson Daugherty, mother of President Andrew Johnson, she married Jacob Johnson, ostler, janitor and constable, of Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1801; after Johnson's death, she married Turner Daugherty of Raleigh.

Buried:
Andrew Johnson National Cemetery

Died:
Age: 73

John married Sara Lena Phillips on 23 Apr 1809 in Washington, Tennessee, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jordan married Levina Wright in 1775 in Virginia, USA. Levina was born in 1735 in North Carolina, USA; died in Washington, Indiana, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Andrew married Mary Ruth Lindley in Feb 1780 in Beaufort, North Carolina, USA. Mary (daughter of James Lindley and Mary Cox) was born on 17 Aug 1764 in Orange, North Carolina, USA; died on 20 Nov 1850. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]