My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH THOMPSON JOHNSTON, secretary of the Cash Insurance company, Pittsburgh, was born in South Fayette township, this county, March 6, 1820. His grandparents, Joseph and Mary (Hill) Johnston, settled in Fayette in 1790, the site being selected on account of a fine spring, and Joseph here carried on a distillery in connection with farming. He died there in 1835; his widow in 1840. They were of Irish birth and Scotch extraction. Their son Adam, the second of eight children, was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1785, and grew up in Fayette. In December, 1818, he married Sarah, daughter of Daniel and Rachel Thompson. Daniel Thompson, who was a native of Scotland, served in Washington’s army during the Revolution; settled in Washington county at an early day, on the farm where McDonald’s Station now is, and died there in 1832; his wife was born in Chester county, Pa. Adam Johnston gave up farming, and kept a store at Noblestown several years; he died in Fayette in 1832, his widow in 1874. She was the mother of six children: Joseph T., Daniel T. (in Allegheny), Rachel Ann (widow of John DeHaven, in Somerville, Pa., John Milton and Mary (deceased) and William G. (in Allegheny).

The subject of this memoir was reared and educated in Pittsburgh, and when twelve years old entered a dry-goods store, continuing in that line of business twelve years. For many years he was clerk on vessels on the Ohio and Mississippi, and afterward commanded the Saranac, George Albree and others. For a time he engaged in manufacturing carriages with his brother; was elected secretary of the Cash Insurance company in 1865, and assumed charge of the office in 1866. He is also agent for James O’Connor, of New York. Mr. Johnston is unmarried; he attends the M. E. Church, and is a republican.