Francis T. C. Johnson, noted for thrift and enterprise as a farmer in Norwalk Township, was born in Augusta County, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, June 16, 1834, a son of Francis and Mary Jane (Hall) Johnson, who were also natives of Augusta County, Virginia. Francis Johnson, Sr., died in Virginia, bout 1846, when probably sixty-eight years of age. In his youth he attended the college at Lexington, Virginia, and in after years was said to be the best educated man in the Shenandoah Valley, and acted with efficiency as Surveyor General of that part of Virginia in which he lived. When a young man he taught school, and in later years was a dealer in grain, etc. Politically he was a Whig, and during the war with England, in 1812, served in the ranks as a soldier. His father, also named Francis Johnson, was the first white child born in Augusta County, Virginia. He was a soldier in the American army during the war for freedom, and was a farmer. Mary Jane Hall, who became the wife of Francis Johnson and the mother of the subject of this sketch, is still living, now in her eightieth year, making her home with her grandchildren in Virginia. She has been a member of the Methodist Church nearly seventy years. She had seven children, five of whom are now living, viz.: Mildred Ellen, now of Salt Lake City, Utah; May J., wife of Henry K. Eakle, who resides at the old home in Virginia; Elisheba, who married John A. Rudisel, deceased, and resided in Lucas County, Iowa; Francis T. C. is next; Julian A. is a ranch man of Colorado; and Abbie, the youngest, was born in 1839 and died in 1862; and Asenath, the wife of Thornton G. Stout, a merchant and capitalist of New Hope, Augusta County, Virginia.

Francis T. C. spent his school days in Augusta County, Virginia. Early in life he served an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and when yet a young man came West and located at Council Bluffs, where he was engaged working as a carpenter until 1870; then he moved to his present location, on sections 12 and 13, where he purchased 360 acres of land, which he has improved in various ways, etc. On coming to where he now lives his nearest neighbor north was Neola; west, Underwood; east, two and one-half miles, and south, one mile; and there were two houses on the road from there to Council Bluffs. Since coming to this place he has held numerous official positions, with the upmost satisfaction to all interested parties. In 1872 he was elected Assessor of York Township, which then included the eastern half of Norwalk and all of York Township. Among the positions of trust which he has held are: Secretary of School Board, Trustee and Township Clerk.

September 17, 1857, he married Miss Caroline Babbidd, a daughter of Colonel Lysander Babbidd. She was born near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1836, and to their marriage six children have been born, five of whom are now living, viz.: Lysander W., who operates an elevator at Neola, this county; Alexander W. was four years of age at death; Mary Ellen is the wife of John Phillips, a farmer of Norwalk Township; Francis Lee recently graduated at a commerical college at Rochester, New York, and is now a resident of Denver, Colorado; Julian A. is somewhere in Mexico, and Daisy is at home. Mr. Johnson was one of the first members of Council Bluffs Lodge of I.O.O.F., No. 49, and is politically a Democrat.