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.
