Title: Thomas S. Johnson Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1787-1964

Creator:

• Johnson, Thomas S., 1839-1927

Call Number: Oshkosh Mss Z; PH Oshkosh Mss Z

Quantity: 4.8 c.f. (12 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder) and 157 photographs (1 archives box and 2 folders)

Repository:

Housed at the Archives & Area Research Center, Polk Library, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Oshkosh Polk Library / Oshkosh Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Johnson, a Presbyterian minister from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, including personal and family papers. Personal correspondence covers his fifty-year ministerial career at Assembly Presbyterian Church in Beaver Dam, his education at Carroll College and Princeton University, his teaching career at Blairstown Academy, and his service during the Civil War with the United States Christian Commission and as a chaplain with the 36th and 127th Regiments, United States Colored Troops, 1864-1866. Additional military papers include a handbook of the 127th Regiment, USCT, containing detailed reports; sermons; articles; and an edited autobiography of Moses Ordway, founder of the first Presbyterian church in Wisconsin. Also included are scattered diaries, 1850-1909; personal account books, 1823-1923; and miscellaneous account books of the Assembly Presbyterian Church. Family papers include clippings, genealogies, an account book of his father, Baker Johnson, prior to his immigration to Wisconsin, an account book of William N. Johnson (Oxford, Wisconsin), writings of Mary S. Johnson and a photocopied scrapbook she made about the Monona Lake Assembly. There is also extensive correspondence of Thomas S. Johnson's sister, Caroline, who taught at several Presbyterian colleges and academies and was a missionary to African-American children at West Point, Mississippi. Other surnames in the family materials include Beach, Elliot, and King. Photographs consist of portraits of Johnson and his relatives including Baker Johnson, Mahlon Johnson, and Joseph F. Tuttle; views of the Assembly Presbyterian Church and other churches and family homes; reunions of the Mahlon Johnson Association; and cartes-de-visite of Johnson's Civil War associates.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-osh000z

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Thomas Scott Johnson, the son of a Presbyterian minister, was born in Greenville, New York, on February 19, 1839. His boyhood was spent in New Jersey, where he attended Newton Academy. In 1855, his family moved to Portage, Wisconsin, and later to Oxford, where his father served as minister and schoolmaster. Thomas Johnson graduated from Carroll College in Waukesha as a member of the “War Class” of 1860 and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1864. During the Civil War he served as chaplain to the 127th (1864-1865) and 36th (1866-1867) Regiments of the United States Colored Troops. After his return to Oxford in 1867, Johnson became pastor of the Assembly Presbyterian Church in Beaver Dam, a post he retained until his retirement in 1917. During this period, Reverend Johnson wrote columns for numerous Presbyterian periodicals. Reverend Johnson became a trustee of Downer College, Fox Lake, Wisconsin, in 1875, and he served as president of the board from 1881-1895. He was also appointed a trustee of Carroll College and he retained both trusteeships until his death in 1927.

In June 5, 1884, Johnson married Sara Elliot, the daughter of Reverend Madison Elliot of Rochester, Ohio. Born in 1849, Sara Elliot attended Savanna Academy in Ohio and graduated from Lake Erie College in 1872. She taught at Downer College, 1873-1875, where she met Thomas Johnson. In 1875 Sara returned to Ohio to teach at Mansfield High School. During her stay in Mansfield, Sara was active in the local temperance society. After moving to Beaver Dam in 1884, Sara Elliot Johnson helped to organize the Beaver Dam Women's Club and she served as its first president from 1899 to 1901. She died on April 1, 1921 in Beaver Dam.

The Johnsons' first daughter Mary was born on June 22, 1885. She attended Carroll College, received a Master of Arts degree from Oberlin College, and did further graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Arizona. She taught at Beaver Dam High School and at North Division High School, Milwaukee. Mary Johnson wrote articles for several education journals and biographical sketches of Presbyterian ministers for the Wisconsin Biographical Dictionary. She also wrote a biography of her father that was never published. In 1935 Mary moved to Arizona where she died in 1953.

The Johnson's second daughter, Electa, was born on July 13, 1888. She taught at Wayland Academy and later resided in Pasadena, California.

The Johnson Papers consist of THOMAS SCOTT JOHNSON PAPERS and FAMILY PAPERS. Thomas' own papers cover his career from his early teaching experiences at the Blairstown Academy through his fifty years of service as pastor of the Assembly Presbyterian Church of Beaver Dam. His papers consist overwhelmingly of personal correspondence. The earliest correspondence consists of letters received by relatives, primarily his father Baker Johnson and his mother, Electa King Johnson. Later there are many letters written by Johnson to his family as a student at Carroll College and Princeton University, as a young teacher, and then as a worker with the U.S. Christian Commission and as a chaplain with the United States Colored Troops. Also included in the collection and integrated with Thomas' letters is the correspondence of his sister, Caroline S. Johnson, 1853-1941. She received her diploma from the Wisconsin Female College at Fox Lake in 1873 and spent the next forty years teaching in various Presbyterian colleges and academies. Twenty-four of these years were spent as a Presbyterian missionary to Negro children at the Mary Holmes Seminary, West Point, Mississippi, 1900-1904 and 1913-1933. Unfortunately a substantial portion of the correspondence is undated.

In addition to the extensive coverage of his Civil War experiences provided by the correspondence, Johnson's military service is represented by several files of miscellaneous military and pension papers and a volume entitled “Handbook” of the 127th Regiment, USCT. The volume is in fact, a transcription of Johnson's detailed monthly reports to the Adjutant General and a list of officers and enlisted men in the regiment. To this list of names Johnson has added information on age, occupation, an evaluation of each man's ability to read and write (rated 0 - 3), occasional remarks such as “deserted” or “died, ” and the name and address of the individual whom Johnson should contact in the event of death or illness. For the 127th, a regiment recruited in the North, Johnson's list provides invaluable information on the composition and background about the free black population. In addition to the information about the 127th Regiment, the handbook contains similar reports about the 36th USCT to which Johnson was transferred after the 127th was mustered out. Reports about the 36th Regiment USCT at Brazos de Santiago cover the period October, 1865 to October 1866. Unfortunately there is no similar list of the enlisted men in the 36th. Two volumes of evidential interest to his military service include: the American Tract Society's Bible Text-Book, which Chaplain Johnson purchased on December 8, 1864, and The Seasons: A Poem of James Thomson, which bears Johnson's own name plate as well as that of the U.S. Christian Commission Loan Library.

Other papers also include diaries, personal account books, some sermons and articles, and religious writings. Of note among the writings is the autobiography (referred to as a journal in earlier finding aids) of Moses Ordway, founder of the first Presbyterian church in Wisconsin. Johnson edited this manuscript for publication in the Wisconsin Magazine of History in 1919. The run of Johnson's diaries is incomplete. It is known that Johnson maintained his diary consistently from his arrival in Wisconsin, as he refers to it in a reminiscent article about the Portage Classical Institute, and the papers contain elements of the diary dated 1850 and 1857. More complete coverage begins with his service in the Civil War, and the 1865 and 1866 volumes contain regular and informative entries about the war. The articles, also incomplete, include handwritten manuscripts and photocopied pages of his travel writings. The account books contain financial notations and memoranda. Again, the Civil War period is of special interest. As well as personal expenditures, one will find records of money wired home for members of the regiment, abstracts of letters written for individuals, expenditures for the officers' mess which Johnson supervised, and items of clothing associated in an undocumented way with hospitalized soldiers. In addition this section includes an unpublished biography written by his daughter, Mary E. Johnson, and a shorter work by Thomas Stine.

The FAMILY PAPERS include general genealogical information and biographical clippings, as well as files on several individuals. Most prominent of these is an account book of Thomas' father, Rev. Baker Johnson, prior to his removal to Wisconsin, an 1861 account book of William N. Johnson at Oxford, Wisconsin, extensive correspondence of Thomas' sister, Caroline who taught at several Presbyterian colleges and academies and was a missionary to Afro-American children at West Point, Mississippi, 1900-1904 and 1913-1933. Other items include a photocopied scrapbook made by Mary S. Johnson1 about the Monona Lake Assembly, and Sara Johnson's financial accounts as secretary of the Dodge County YWCA. There are also photocopied articles by Joseph F. Tuttle. Other surnames in the genealogical portions of the collection include Beach, Elliot, and King. Photographs received with the collection include portraits of Johnson, portraits of Mahlon Johnson, Baker Johnson, and Joseph F. Tuttle, photographs of Assembly Presbyterian Church and other church buildings, and photographs of Mahlon Johnson Association reunions.

Other Johnson papers include a series of scrapbooks containing clippings of articles by Rev. Johnson for various Presbyterian periodicals at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia and records of the Assembly Presbyterian Church at Carroll College in Waukesha

Acquisition Information

Presented by Electa Johnson, Pasadena, California, 1959-1975. Accession Number: M59-160, M63-217, M64, 057, M75-252, M75-385

Processing Information

Processed by Joanne Hohler, 1970, 1975, and by Carolyn J. Mattern, 2001.

Oshkosh Mss Z	Series: Thomas S. Johnson Papers
	Biography
Box   1 Folder   1	By Mary E. Johnson, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	By Thomas Stine, circa 1975
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   4-11	1787-1862
Box   2 Folder   1-8	1863-1867
Box   3 Folder   1-10	1868-1879
Box   4 Folder   1-10	1880-1892
Box   5 Folder   1-11	1893-1909
Box   6 Folder   1-11	1910-1918
Box   7 Folder   1-9	1919-1964
Box   7 Folder   10-11	Undated correspondence
Box   8 Folder   1-7	Undated correspondence
Box   9 Folder   1-4	Undated correspondence
	Accounts and financial records
Box   9 Folder   5	1853-1857
Box   9 Folder   6-9	1861-1865
Box   1 Folder   3	Receipts
	Assembly Presbyterian Church
Box   10 Folder   3	Accounts, Miscellaneous 1867-1909
Box   10 Folder   1	Accounts, 1900-1903 (Building Fund and subscriptions)
Box   10 Folder   4	Miscellaneous papers, 1900-1917
Oversize Folder	Floor plan showing arrangement of pews, undated
Box   10 Folder   7	Beaver Dam Philharmonic, 1871-1890
Box   10 Folder   5	Blairstown Presbyterian Academy, 1861
Box   10 Folder   6	Carroll College, 1859-1860, 1893
	Diaries
Box   10 Folder   8	1850
Box   10 Folder   9	1857, Travel
Box   10 Folder   10-14	1865-1874
Box   11 Folder   1	1876, 1908-1909
	Military papers
Box   10 Folder   2	General papers
Box   11 Folder   2	“Handbook” of 127th Regt., USCT, 1864-1866, and muster roll of Co. H, 36th Regt. USCT, , 1865
Box   11 Folder   4	Pension papers, 1864-1923
Box   11 Folder   3	Miscellany
Box   11 Folder   6	Presbyterian organizations
Box   11 Folder   7	Princeton, Miscellany
	Sermons and Writings
Box   11 Folder   5	Ordway (Moses) autobiography and handwritten manuscript by TSJ, undated
Box   11 Folder   8	Princeton sermons, 1864
Box   11 Folder   9	Assembly Presbyterian Church sermons, 1867-1887
Box   11 Folder   10	Articles and miscellaneous writings
	Series: Family Papers	⇧
Box   11 Folder   12	Clippings
Box   11 Folder   13	Genealogical information
Box   11 Folder   14	Genealogical notes of SEJ
Box   12 Folder   1	Miscellany
	Photographs
PH Oshkosh Mss Z	Original prints
PH Box   1 Folder   1	Identified Johnson family members
PH Box   1 Folder   2	Sara Elliot Johnson portraits
PH Box   1 Folder   3	Thomas S. Johnson portraits
PH Box   1 Folder   4	Mary E. and Electa Johnson portraits
PH Box   1 Folder   5	Family homes and churches
PH Box   1 Folder   6	Beaver Dam
PH Box   1 Folder   7	Assembly Presbyterian Church
PH Box   1 Folder   8	Presbyterian group at Milwaukee (3 parts)
PH Box   1 Folder   9	Mahlon Johnson Association
PH Box   1 Folder   10	Unidentified portraits
Oshkosh Mss Z Box   12 Folder   1A	Photocopies of photographs
Box   12 Folder   2	Scrapbook, 1881-1901
	Family members
Box   12 Folder   3	Baker Johnson, Account book, 1846-1855
Box   12 Folder   4	Caroline S. Johnson
Box   12 Folder   5	Electa Johnson
	Mary E. Johnson
Box   12 Folder   6	Articles
Box   12 Folder   7	Monona Lake Assembly scrapbook
	Sara Elliot Johnson
Box   12 Folder   8	General papers
Box   12 Folder   9	YMCA accounts, 1915-1923
Box   12 Folder   10	Thomas S. Johnson account book, 1861
Box   11 Folder   11	Tuttle, Joseph F., Writings