William Johnston (judge)
| William Johnston | |
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| Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the Carroll County district |
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In office December 4, 1837 – December 2, 1838 |
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| Preceded by | Isaac Atkinson |
| Succeeded by | James Forbes, Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 1, 1804 Shippensburg, Pennsylvania |
| Died | October 15, 1891 (aged 87) Loveland, Ohio |
| Resting place | Spring Grove Cemetery |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Blackstone |
| Children | four |
| Signature | _signature.png){kind=small} |
William Johnston (April 1, 1804 – October 15, 1891), also known as Booby Johnston was a Whig politician from the U.S. State of Ohio. He served in the state legislature, was Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory, was a judge, and was nominated by his party for Governor of Ohio. He had a highly profitable legal career.
William Johnston was born April 1, 1804 at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. His Scots-Irish parents moved the family to Yellow Creek,Jefferson County, Ohio in 1808, where he grew up. He attended the schools of Ross Township, and studied law under John Crafts Wright of Steubenville. He is said to have started the first temperance society in the county in 1833.
Johnston settled at Carrollton, Carroll County, where he was “soon retained on one side or the other of all important litigation.” He was elected prosecuting attorney of Carroll County. He then served in the Ohio House of Representatives for a year. He was active in the legislature, and was effective in his advocacy for the common-school law and the abolition of imprisonment for debt.
After describing the difficulties he had had in obtaining an education, he insisted that boys and girls should have a better chance than he did on the banks of “Yaller Creek.” He said “The old Irish schoolmaster holds forth three months of the year in a poor cabin, with greased-paper window panes. The children trudge three miles through winter snow and mud to school. They begin at a-b, ab, and get over as far as b-oo-by, booby, when school gives out, and they take up their spring work on the farm. The next winter, when school takes up again, having forgotten all that they had been taught previously in the speller, they begin again at a-b, ab, but year after year never get any further than b-oo-by, booby.”
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