Find Ancestors and Your Family History with Biographies
  

WAS born in Cincinnati, in the year 1829, of Scotch-Irish parents, and was fifty years old when he died. He received a limited education in the common-schools, and set up, while a mere boy, as house and sign painter. At the age of twenty-one he abandoned this for mercantile pursuits. Six years later he commenced dealing in wood, and soon after in coal, in which business he continued till the day of his death. He was a Democrat all his life, and early and often served as a member of the executive committee. In 1872 he was chairman of the Hamilton County delegation to the State Democratic Convention, which met at Cleveland, and chose delegates to the National Democratic Convention. In 1859 he was elected member of the City Council from what is now the Eighth Ward. Shortly after this time, he was nominated by the Democracy for city auditor, but he shared defeat with the whole city Democratic ticket. In 1871 he was made a member of the Board of Health; and in 1872 was elected trustee of the water-works by an overwhelming majority. In 1873. he was elected mayor by sixteen hundred majority, and was the first Democratic mayor elected for ten years. In 1875 he was re-elected mayor by 6,397 majority, and was the first Democratic mayor re-nominated and re-elected since 1855. In 1877 he ran for a third term, and was defeated by Hon. R. M. Moore. He served also on the Board. of Education.

George W. C. Johnston was a man gifted by nature with great versatility of mind. His memory was remarkable. Few men were his equal in power of endurance. The facility with which he could pass from one item of business to another was only less surprising than the quickness and thoroughness of his comprehension of the matter, and the completeness of his grasp of it. He had the rare power to penetrate beneath the surface of a matter almost instantly, by intuition, as it were. Those who knew him best were best aware of the variety of his talent. He was a lover of music, and was an admirable performer on the piano, the violin, the flute, and the cornet, though he never paraded these accomplishments, and so seldom made mention of them that only those most intimately acquainted with him were aware of their existence. As a member of a municipal board he was quick and powerful in discovering the mistakes of his political opponents, and turning them to account for the benefit of his party. During his first term as mayor there were twenty, seven auxiliary boards in the municipal government, of most of which the mayor was ex officio a member, generally the chairman. These duties were abridged by the Legislature during his second term. It was during this term that, in the face of opposition and criticism, he managed to organize and carry out successfully a jamboree to greet the Centennial New-year, 1876. As a host to receive visitors to Cincinnati, he succeeded most admirably, without aid from the municipal treasury. When the yellow-fever plague visited the Southern cities during his term, he acted with great promptness and efficiency.

Since his retirement from public service, during the last two years of his life, he participated in an enterprise of building a street railroad in Portsmouth. Before he entered public life, and early in his career in the coal business, he operated a line of omnibuses in the city. He was nominated for State senator soon after his defeat for mayor, but declined. He was nominated by the County Democratic Convention for sheriff; but was beaten. This was the closing scene of his eventful life. He left a wife and three daughters.