Robert Ward Johnson

Robert Ward Johnson (born July 22, 1814 in Scott County , Kentucky , † July 26, 1879 in Little Rock , Arkansas ) was an American lawyer and politician from the state of Arkansas, who served in both the United States Senate and the Confederate Senate belonged to. He was a member of the Democratic Party .

Career

Robert Johnson attended Choctaw Academy and St. Joseph's College in Bardstown , Kentucky. In 1821 he moved to Arkansas with his father. There he studied law and was subsequently admitted to the bar in 1835. Johnson decided to pursue a political career. He ran in 1840 for the post of prosecuting attorney of Little Rock and was active in this position until 1842; so he ex officio also exercised the office of Attorney General of Arkansas. Before the Civil War began , he settled in Helena .

Johnson was elected to the 30th, 31st, and 32nd Congresses . There he was chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs . Johnson decided not to run for re-election in 1852. Instead, he was appointed to the US Senate and was later elected to fill the vacant position of Senator Solon Borland . He was re-elected in 1844 and served in this position until March 3, 1861. After the outbreak of civil war, he represented his state in 1861 as a delegate in the Provisional Confederate Congress . He was also a member of the Confederate Senate between 1862 and 1865 . After the war he practiced again as a lawyer in Washington, DC , where he ran unsuccessfully for re-election to the US Senate in 1878.

Robert Ward Johnson died in Little Rock in July 1879 and was buried in the historic Mount Holly Cemetery .

family

Robert Ward Johnson was the nephew of Vice President Richard M. Johnson, along with his brothers James Johnson and John Telemachus Johnson , who were both Kentucky Congressmen . Robert was also the brother-in-law of US Senator Ambrose Hundley Sevier . Sevier married Johnson's sister. Johnson himself married twice, first to Sarah Smith in 1836, with whom he then had six children together (three of them reached adulthood), and after Sarah's death in 1862, her younger sister, Laura, in 1863, with whom he had no children.

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personal data
SURNAME	Johnson, Robert Ward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	July 22, 1814
PLACE OF BIRTH	Scott County , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH	July 26, 1879
Place of death	Little Rock , Arkansas