J. H. Johnson (DeSoto County)
State House: 1872-1875
Minister and educator from Ohio. Mentioned in an 1853 letter from David Jenkins to Frederick Douglass. Appointed as trustee of the State Normal School at Holly Springs, 1875. Because of relocations, his common surname, and only initials for his given name, I have been unable to identify J. H. Johnson on any census with certainty. A J. H. Johnson on the 1850 and 1860 census in Columbus, OH, born in the 1820s in North Carolina and working as a carpenter, may be him.
“He was one of the war horses in anti-slavery times in Ohio, and an incessant laborer for twenty-two years in the holy cause. Scores of men who escaped from slavery now bless his name for the assistance he gave them in their flight for freedom, and the proudest recollection of his life is his labors in the anti-slavery cause.”
(New National Era, March 27, 1873)
This page was last updated on January 11, 2026.