Biographical Sketches
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson, one of the earlier pioneers of Valley county, Nebraska, has always supported the cause of social and educational improvement, and is considered one of the most progressive men in the county. He is very successful as a farmer and stockman, and he and his wife have reared a large family to honorable man and womanhood.
Mr. Johnson was born in Oneida county, New York, June 24, 1837, the only child of Robert and Margaret (McKievet) Johnson, the father a native of Connecticut, and the mother of Canada. The parents were married at Utica, New York, and both died in that state, the father in 1842 and the mother in 1839.
Mr. Johnson, left an orphan early in life, was reared by his grandfather in Herkimer county, New York, remaining there until his seventeenth year, when he removed to Yates county in the same state, and five years later went to Lee county, Iowa. He engaged in farm work there and in Jasper county, Iowa, remaining in the latter county until his removal to Nebraska.
March 3, 1861, Mr. Johnson married Mrs. Mary E. Turck, formerly Mary Elizabeth Watson, also a native of New York, and they lived on a farm in Jasper county about seventeen years, having seven children born there. During the year prior to his marriage, Mr. Johnson crossed the plains to Colorado, going through the Great American Desert, and passing the place where the capital of Nebraska is now located. Soon after his return, he engaged in farming for himself. In the spring of 1878, he moved to Grand Island, Nebraska, where he was engaged in buying and selling horses, and in the fall of the same year, he traded a team for a farm in Hall county, where he removed with his family.
Mr. Johnson has lived on his present place, on section twenty-four, township seventeen, range fourteen, since 1882, and has since then made many improvements, and brought his land to a high state of cultivation. He has devoted much time and attention to the upbuilding and welfare of the county, and has won the esteem and regard of a large circle of friends. His children are married and located in homes of their own, within the limits of the state of Nebraska, and he and his wife now have a home without children, as when they began their married life. He is still actively engaged in farming, and is constantly increasing the value of his farm by improvement and cultivation.
Mr. Johnson's nine children are: George E., married and living in North Loup, has five children; Maggie, wife of Perry VanScoy, of Sherman county, has three children; James W., of Sherman county, is married, and has three children; Fannie, wife of George Sample, lives in Valley county, and they have six children; Walter is married and lives in Ord; Frank, a merchant of North Loup, is married, and has one child; Charles E., is married, and has three children, and lives on land adjoining the home farm; Ernest is married and lives across the road from his old home; Kate, wife of John Palser, of Valley county, has three children.
Source: Transcription from the book, Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Nebraska, published in 1912; located on the website, Internet Archive (http://archive.org), accessed 17 December 2025.
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