CHRISTIAN M. JOHNSON. Probably no man in Richland county, in North Dakota, is more interested, financially, in the improvement and development of that region. He is connected with several important business enterprises, and is one of the best known and public-spirited men in that community. He is the possessor of twenty-two hundred acres of land, and he makes his home in section 20, in Dwight township, and has improved his home farm, until it is one of the best in the vicinity.
Mr. Johnson was born in Norway, in July, 1843. He came to America with his parents in 1855, and the family resided in Chicago two years, after which they removed to Houston county, Minnesota, where our subject worked out the first summer at farm labor at five dollars per month. He clerked in a store during the following winter, and later returned to Chicago and was employed in various ways until the breaking out of the Civil war. In July, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Fifteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served three years and four months as a private soldier. At the battle of Chickamauga he was dangerously wounded, being shot through the right lung and the right arm. He was left on the field and taken prisoner and held ten days, and by agreement between Rosecrans and Bragg, an exchange of prisoners was effected and Mr. Johnson was sent to the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, where he remained three months, then having improved sufficiently in strength he was sent to the United States hospital in Chicago. He remained there until the following April, when he was ordered transferred to the invalid corps, but refused to comply, and consequently 2as returned to his regiment, and remained with them through the Georgia campaign, although a sufferer from the wound received in his lung at Chickamauga. He served through the Atlanta campaign and was recommended for a government position by his regimental commander and General Thomas, and was appointed post sutler at Shell Mound, Tennessee, where he remained until about two years after the close of the war, when he went to Meridian, Mississippi, and engaged in the wholesale and retail business of clothing and planter's supplies. After six years he disposed of his business interests in Mississippi and removed to Chicago and engaged in the grocery trade until 1880, when he went to Dwight, North Dakota, and purchased a claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Dwight township, one mile from the town of Dwight. This tract was purchased at a cost of five hundred dollars, and is now valued at four thousand dollars. He engaged in the mercantile business in Dwight, carrying a stock of general merchandise, from 1880 to 1898, when he disposed of the mercantile business. During all this time he was postmaster of Dwight, which office he held until the Cleveland administration. After disposing of his mercantile business he engaged in private banking and real estate loans in Dwight, and was again appointed postmaster under the present administration in 1898. He engages in general farming, and raises some excellent horses and cattle, and his home farm where he resides, one-half mile from Dwight, is supplied with every comfort and convenience of modern farming. He has two thousand two hundred acres of land in Richland county, and is one of the well-to-do men of that section, and is a gentleman who has shown marked ability, in business management.
Mr. Johnson was married in Chicago, December 31, 1876, to Miss Minnie Anderson, a native of Norway. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, as follows: Annetta Matilda, Clarence Herbert and Myrtle C. Mr. Johnson takes an active part in church work, and is a member of th3 United Norwegian Lutheran church of Dwight. He was appointed by ex-Governor Briggs, a member of the board of management of the Mayville, North Dakota Normal School, which office he filled four years. He has held numerous township offices, such as treasurer, school treasurer, etc. He has always identified himself with the Republican party, and was a delegate to the convention at St. Louis, when William McKinley was nominated for the presidency. He was there elected one of the notification committee to apprise Mr. McKinley of his nomination, and went with that committee to Canton, Ohio, and all were cordially received. Mr. Johnson enjoys the distinction of being the first of his countrymen to be called to serve in that capacity. He has on numerous occasions been chosen as delegate to county and state conventions, and is a prominent worker for the principles of his party. His career has been marked throughout by persistent efforts to advance the interests of his community, and he has acquired an enviable reputation and a host of friends, who will be pleased to find his portrait in connection with this article.
Christian M. Johnson
Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota 1900 Page 210