John Taylor Johnston
| John Taylor Johnston | |
|---|---|
1891 Harper's Weekly engraving
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| Born |
April 8, 1820 New York |
| Died | March 24, 1893 (aged 72) Manhattan, New York |
| Occupation | Businessman, lawyer, philanthropist |
John Taylor Johnston was an American businessman and patron of the arts. He served as President of the Central Railroad of New Jersey and was the founding president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
John Taylor Johnston was born on April 8, 1820, the eldest child of John Johnston, a prominent businessman (of Boorman, Johnston, & Co.) and patron of the arts in New York City, and Margaret Taylor Howard, widow of Rhesa Howard, Jr., nephew of William Few, Signer of the U.S. Constitution from Georgia whose brother-in-law was U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. Besides first marrying the nephew of Founding Father William Few, Margaret Taylor Howard Johnston had four siblings who likewise married two grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and a nephew of Founding Father Roger Sherman, Signer of the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Declaration of Independence from Connecticut; other close relatives-by-marriage of Margaret Taylor Howard Johnston were instrumental in the founding of America and its religious and educational institutions.
Both of his parents were of Scottish ancestry. He was born and grew up in Greenwich Village, and was educated at Edinburgh High School in Edinburgh, Scotland. Johnson graduated from the University of the City of New York, an institution founded by his father and several other civic-minded New Yorkers, in 1839. He later studied at Yale Law School (where his classmates included Charles Astor Bristed, Daniel D. Lord, and Henry G. DeForest) and was admitted to the bar in 1843.
Johnston was married in 1851 to Frances Colles (1826-1888), the daughter of James Colles (1788-1883), a prominent merchant in New York and New Orleans, and Harriet Wetmore Colles (1795-1868). Their children were Emily (Mrs. Robert W. de Forest), Eva (Mrs. Henry E. Coe), Frances (Mrs. Pierre Mali), and John Herbert Johnston. In 1856, Johnston constructed the first marble mansion in New York as his residence at 8 Fifth Avenue, just north of Washington Square.
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