John Warfield Johnston was an American lawyer and politician from Abingdon, Virginia. He represented Virginia in the United States Senate when the state was readmitted after the American Civil War. He was the first person who had sided with the Confederacy to serve in the U.S. Senate. He died at the age of 83 in Aberden, Virginia, on November 14, 1878.
About John W. Johnston in brief
John Warfield Johnston was an American lawyer and politician from Abingdon, Virginia. He served in the Virginia State Senate, and represented Virginia in the United States Senate when the state was readmitted after the American Civil War. He was the first person who had sided with the Confederacy to serve in the U.S. Senate. Johnston was born in his paternal grandfather’s house, \”Panicello\”, near Abeddon. He married Nicketti Buchanan Floyd, the daughter of Governor John Floyd and Letitia Preston. His wife was Catholic, having converted when young; Johnston converted after the marriage. Johnston served as commonwealth attorney for Tazewell County between 1844 and 1846. During the Civil War, he held the position of Confederate States receiver. He also was a councilman for the town of Aberdon in 1861. After the war, in 1867, he founded the Villa Maria Academy of the Visitation in AbingDon. He died at the age of 83 in Aberden, Virginia, on November 14, 1878. He is buried in Abenoc, Virginia; his wife died in Abedden in 1881. He had 12 children. He never married. He left a son and daughter-in-law, both of whom died before he reached adulthood. His son, John Warfield, was a prominent lawyer and judge in Virginia, and served as a judge of the Superior Court of Chancery in 1869–1870. His daughter, Maria, died in 1998; she was buried at the University of Virginia, where she had been a student for more than 30 years.
Johnston died at age 83. His great-grandmother was the sister of Patrick Henry. His paternal uncles included Charles Clement Johnston and General Joseph Eggleston Johnston. His first cousin was U. S. Congressman Henry Bowen. His grandfather was Judge Peter Johnston, who had fought under Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee during the Revolutionary War, and his great- grandmother was a sister of Rees T. Bowen, a Virginia politician. His father was a physician in Richmond who is credited with the first antiseptic operation performed in Richmond. His grandson, John W. Johnston, is a former Virginia state senator and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Johnston’s great-great-grandson was Dr. George Ben Johnston, one of the first doctors to perform an antiseptics operation in the state. His granddaughter, Maria Maria Johnston, was also a prominent Virginia state legislator and a former state senator. Johnston is survived by his wife, Nicketti, and their 12 children, all of whom are still alive today. In national politics, he was a Democrat. He represented Virginia from 1846 to 1848, and again from 1848 to 1852. In 1852, he became a United States Senator for 13 years. He opposed the Texas-Pacific Bill, a struggle for control of railroads in the South, which figured in the Compromise of 1877.
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