Edwin S. Johnson

Edwin S. Johnson

Edwin Stockton Johnson (born February 26, 1857 in Spencer , Owen County , Indiana , †  July 19, 1933 in Platte , South Dakota ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ) who represented the state of South Dakota in the US Senate .

In the year of his birth attracted Edwin Johnson's parents with him from Indiana gone and settled in Osceola ( Iowa down). There he attended the public schools and worked in the commercial trade. In 1880 he went to Nebraska , where he worked as a farmer in Wheeler County . In the following year he returned to Osceola and found a job as a cashier at a bank.

Eventually, Johnson settled in South Dakota in 1884. He founded the Citizens' Bank in Grand View and went back to farming. He later started several other banks in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. He also studied law , was admitted to the bar in 1888 and began practicing law. From 1892 to 1893 he served as the Douglas County prosecutor .

He was politically active for the first time between 1894 and 1895 as a member of the Senate of South Dakota . At the beginning of the 20th century he withdrew from the banking business and instead entered the real estate industry. Between 1904 and 1916 Johnson was a member of the Democratic National Committee . His party nominated him for governor of South Dakota in 1912 , but he was defeated by Republican Frank M. Byrne .

His candidacy for the US Senate in 1914 was more successful. Edwin Johnson won with 48.3 percent of the vote against Charles H. Burke (44.5 percent) and was a member of Congress from March 4, 1915 to March 3, 1921 , the first Senator from South Dakota to be elected by the people, rather than the state legislature, after the 17th Amendment came into effect . After his six-year term in office, he waived re-election and went back to business in Platte, where he also died in 1933.

Web links

• Edwin S. Johnson in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Edwin S. Johnson in the database of Find a Grave (English)