Title: John Johnston Family Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1855-1930

Creator:

• Johnston, John, 1836-1904

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss BL

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; 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-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Johnston, a Milwaukee banker, including family correspondence (1855-1930); miscellaneous business papers including materials from Alexander Mitchell concerning the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company Bank (1874-1887); and diaries (1892-1911) of Johnston, his wife Ethelinda, and their children, John T. and Hilda, primarily concerning European trips.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil000bl

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John Johnston, the son of George and Margaret Mitchell Johnston, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on June 8, 1836. He attended the University of Aberdeen, where he received a Master of Arts degree in 1855. In 1856 he immigrated to Milwaukee at the urging of his uncle, Alexander Mitchell. His first position in Milwaukee was as general bookkeeper at the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company Bank, which was managed by Alexander Mitchell. He advanced to the position of cashier and retired in 1893. After the bank panic of 1893, Mr. Johnston resumed his position as cashier under the reorganized bank, renamed the Marine National Bank, and was vice-president of that institution when he died in 1904.

John Johnston was very active in civic affairs. Positions he held included: president of the Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin; president of the Board of Trustees, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; and trustee and treasurer of Milwaukee College, forerunner of Milwaukee Downer College. He also had other business interests, among them the Milwaukee City Railway, the Milwaukee Cement Company, and the Chippewa Valley and Superior Railway. He donated land for a city hospital for Milwaukee in 1893. When a new hospital was built in 1931, it was named the Johnston Emergency Hospital.

Mr. Johnston married Margaret Hunter, a native of Scotland, in 1861. Mrs. Johnston died in 1878, leaving a daughter, Mrs. Edith Mae Cruickshank. In 1881, he married Ethelinda Marie Thorsen of Milwaukee, the daughter of John Thorsen. There were two children, John T. Johnston, who attended the University of Wisconsin, and Lady Hilda Johnston Butterfield, who attended Vassar College.

The John Johnston Papers include correspondence and diaries of John Johnston and his family. The correspondence, 1855-1930, is almost all personal letters between John Johnston and his second wife, Ethelinda. There are also letters of John and Ethelinda Johnston to and from their children, Hilda and John T. Johnston. In the 1850's and 1860's, John Johnston received letters from his family in Scotland, particularly his brother, George. There is a small group of letters to John Johnston from his uncle, Alexander Mitchell, which includes some information on business matters. These Mitchell letters are dated:

• 1874, March 12, March 22, Dec. 17
• 1875, Jan. 3
• 1876, Jan 13
• 1881, Aug. 30
• 1882, Feb. 11
• 1883, July 9, July 23, Aug. 17, Sept. 9
• 1886, March 23, April 28, Nov. 11
• 1887, Feb. 4

Also included in the collection are a few business papers, and there is some ephemeral material. The diaries of John, Ethelinda, John T., and Hilda Johnston primarily concern their various European trips.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Miss Carolinda Waters, New York, New York, December 1961.

Processing Information

Processed by S. A. Sheppard, November 14, 1966.

	Correspondence
Box   1	1855-1889
Box   2	1890-1930, undated
Box   2	Miscellaneous business papers
Box   2	Ephemera
	Diaries of Ethelinda T. Johnston
Box   3 Volume   1	1892
Box   3 Volume   8	1905
Box   3 Volume   9	1906
Box   3 Volume   10	1907
Box   3 Volume   11-12	1909
Box   3 Volume   13	1911
Box   3 Volume   2	Diary of Hilda and Jack Johnston, kept by their aunt, Emma Thorsen, 1889
	Diaries of Hilda Johnston
Box   3 Volume   3	1899
Box   3 Volume   5	1901
Box   3 Volume   4	Diary of John T. Johnston, 1899
Box   3 Volume   6	Address book and diary of John Johnston, 1903
Box   3 Volume   7	Notebook of dates, addresses, and quotations of John Johnston, 1903-1904