Biography of
William L. Johnson, M. D.

p. 910

     WILLIAM L. JOHNSON, M. D. Few men are sufficiently versatile to successfully pursue two separate vocations during their lives. Rare, indeed, is the professional man who becomes a successful financier after having earned a reputation in the field of medicine, but this has been the record of William L. Johnson, M. D., who is well known to the medical profession of Southern Illinois, and who is president of the Thompsonville State Bank and a heavy stockholder in other institutions at Macedonia and Akin. Dr. Johnson was born at Macedonia, Hamilton county, Illinois, May 6, 1869, and is a son of Robert H. and Louisa (Fisher) Johnson.

     John K. Johnson, the grandfather of William L., was born in South Carolina, and from that state migrated to Tennessee and subsequently to Illinois. R. H. Johnson, an uncle, established the town of Johnson, now known as Macedonia, and became one of the best known men of the county. He was one of the rich agriculturists of Hamilton county and a leader in business and political movements for many years. Robert H. Johnson, father of the Doctor, was born in Tennessee and was six weeks old when he was brought by his parents to Hamilton county. He was reared to the life of an agriculturist and was working on the home farm near Macedonia at the outbreak of the Civil war, in which he enlisted as a member of Company H, Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry, with which organization he served for two years.

     Mr. Johnson married Louisa Fisher, daughter of Cyrus Fisher, who was born in Pennsylvania and came to Illinois at an early day. Cyrus Fisher was a great hunter of deer, and as a nimrod was known all over this section of the state, his death occurring in 1864. William L. Johnson received his education in the district schools and Ewing College, subsequently attending the Southern Illinois Normal University, at Carbondale, and after graduating therefrom he started to teach school. After two years as an educator he decided to enter the medical field, and in 1897 was graduated from the Missouri Medical College of St. Louis, immediately after which he established himself in practice at Macedonia, but in 1900 went to Akin.

     In 1908 he first came to Thompsonville, where he has since built a large and lucrative clientele. Dr. Johnson keeps abreast of the discoveries and inventions of his profession by close application to the leading medical journals of the day, and by taking advantage of the benefits to be gained by membership in the Illinois and Southern Illinois Medical Societies and the American Medical Association. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, in which he has been junior warden, and with the Odd Fellows, in which order he has acted as secretary. In his political views the Doctor is a Republican, but he has never allowed his name to be used in connection with public office.

     He and his family are faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Dr. Johnson has been successful in his profession and is the owner of an excellent piece of property. He invested heavily in stock in the banks at Macedonia and Akin while in practice at those points, and on coming to Thompsonville saw the opportunity to establish a banking institution here. The Thompsonville State Bank, of which he is president, is capitalized at $25,000, with a surplus of $2,500, and undivided profits of $1,600, while the people of the community have expressed their confidence in the strength and stability of the institution and the integrity of its officials by making an average deposit of $80,000 annually. The success that has come to Dr. Johnson in all of his undertakings is well merited, and has been the result of his hard and faithful application to every matter that has been placed in his hands. He is one of the self-made men p. 911 of Franklin county, and may take a pardonable degree of pride in what he has accomplished. In August, 1899, Dr. Johnson was united in marriage with Miss Mattie Gullic, daughter of the late N. R. Gullic, who was a well-known miller of Macedonia for a number of years, and five children have been born to this union: Garvies, Pauline, Jewell, Robert N. and Wilma, the first three named being students in the local schools.