Andrew Johnson Jr.
{{short description|Son of U.S. President (1852–1879)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Frank Johnson
| image = File:Andrew Johnson Jr. Frank Johnson August 5, 1852 – March 12, 1879.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Andrew Johnson Jr.
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1852|08|05}}
| birth_place = Greeneville, Tennessee, United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1879|03|12|1852|08|05}}
| death_place = Union, Tennessee, United States
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Newspaper editor, farmer, cotton mill manager
| years_active =
| known_for = Son of U.S.
President
| notable_works =
}}
{{Andrew Johnson series}}
Andrew Johnson Jr. (August 5, 1852 – March 12, 1879), generally known as Frank Johnson, was the fifth and last child born to Eliza McCardle Johnson and her husband Andrew Johnson, who served as the 17th U.S. president from 1865 to 1869. Like his brothers, he died young, possibly due to complications from alcoholism.
Early life and the American Civil War
The first four Johnson children, Martha, Charles, Mary, and Robert, were born in quick succession, every two years from 1828 to 1834; Frank was born in Greeneville 18 years after the next-oldest sibling. In 1860, at age eight, Frank was enumerated in his father's household in Greeneville along with his mother and two older brothers.{{citation|work=United States Census, 1860|via=FamilySearch|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8TX-PWK|title=Frank Johnson in entry for And Johnson, 1860}} When the American Civil War broke out, U.S. Senator Andrew Johnson left his family behind in East Tennessee while he traveled for work; Frank stayed with his mother Eliza at his older sister Mary's home in Carter County, Tennessee. The family was reunited at Nashville in 1863.{{Cite book |last=Trefousse |first=Hans L. |title=Andrew Johnson: A Biography |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1989 |isbn=0393026736 |edition=1st |location=New York |language=en-us |lccn=88028295 |oclc=463084977 |author-link=Hans L. Trefousse}} Generally speaking, "his father was often absent during Frank's childhood."{{Cite book |last1=Schroeder-Lein |first1=Glenna R. |title=Andrew Johnson: a biographical companion |last2=Zuczek |first2=Richard |date=2001 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-030-7 |series=ABC-CLIO biographical companions |location=Santa Barbara, Calif. |pages=163 |language=en-us}} Frank lived at the White House as a teenager, alongside the five young children of his much older sisters, Martha Patterson and Mary Stover.{{cite book |last=Holloway |first=Laura C. |title=The Ladies of the White House |publisher=United States Pub. Co. |year=1871 |location=New York |pages=635–649 |language=en |chapter=Mary Stover |lccn=04013417 |oclc=681133673 |ol=13503123M |author-link=Laura Carter Holloway |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075966923&view=1up&seq=675 |via=HathiTrust (New York Public Library copy) |ol-access=free}} He attended Georgetown Academy during his time in Washington, D.C.{{Cite news |date=1879-03-15 |title=Andrew Johnson Jr. |pages=4 |work=The Tennessean |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-andrew-johnson-jr/127131115/ |access-date=2023-06-26}} He attended Vermont Episcopal School for the 1865–66 term.
Working life and pursuit of political office
At the time of the 1870 census he was enumerated as Franklin Johnson and was working as a "clerk in store" at Greeneville.{{citation|work=United States Census, 1870|via=FamilySearch|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDD9-ZWS | title=Franklin Johnson in entry for Andrew Johnson, 1870}} This was apparently the shop owned by his brother-in-law William R. Brown, his sister Mary's second husband.{{Cite news |date=1870-12-23 |title=Andy Johnson in his Rural Home |pages=3 |work=Nashville Union and American |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/nashville-union-and-american-andy-johnso/127737285/ |access-date=2023-07-06}} In 1870 a visiting reporter from Cincinnati described him as a "genteel-looking youth." Frank Johnson's main occupation in adulthood was as a journalist and newspaper editor of the Greeneville Intelligencer, a weekly newspaper.{{Cite news |date=1879-03-22 |title=Andrew Johnson Jr. |pages=2 |work=Reading Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/reading-times-andrew-johnson-jr/127131518/ |access-date=2023-06-26}}{{Cite news |date=1879-03-19 |title=Andrew Johnson Jr. |pages=2 |work=Pittsburgh Daily Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-daily-post-andrew-johnson-jr/127131790/ |access-date=2023-06-26}} According to the Andrew Johnson Biographical Companion, the newspaper was "doubtless established to support his father's candidacy for Senate." His partner in this was Thomas Maloney, who had worked as a private secretary for his father and who married his niece Lillie Stover in 1875.{{citation|work=Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950|via=FamilySearch|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V4NN-J7T | title=Thomas Maloney and Eliza M Stover, 14 Oct 1875; citing Carter, Tennessee, United States, Marriage, p. 102}} In August 1876 he ran for election to a seat in the Tennessee state legislature but was defeated in the primary.{{cite news|newspaper=The Pulaski Citizen|date=August 3, 1876|page=2|via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pulaski-citizen-andrew-johnson-jr-c/127141589/ | title=Andrew Johnson Jr. candidate }}{{cite news|newspaper=The Pulaski Citizen|date=August 24, 1876|page=4|via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pulaski-citizen-andrew-johnson-jr-1/127141375/ | access-date=2023-06-26 | title= Andrew Johnson Jr. 1876 primary |quote=Andrew Johnson, has been defeated at the primary election in Greene county for the Legislature}}
Frank Johnson married, November 25, 1875, in Madison County, North Carolina, Kate May "Bessie" Rumbough, a daughter of James Rumbough of Warm Springs, North Carolina.{{Cite news |date=1879-03-26 |title=Greeneville Letter |pages=2 |work=Knoxville Whig and Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/knoxville-whig-and-chronicle-greeneville/127130796/ |access-date=2023-06-26}}{{citation|work=North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979 | via=FamilySearch | url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKJ9-R9XT | title=Andrew Johnson and Bessie Mae Rambough, 25 Nov 1875; citing Madison, North Carolina, United States | id =FHL microfilm 802,989}} The groom was 23, the bride was 18 years old. Apparently within a year she had left the marital home and moved back in with her parents "because of her husband's drinking." Frank Johnson, like his brothers before him, battled with alcoholism for the better part of his adult life.{{Cite book |last=Wead |first=Doug |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AzPd0aVnOl0C&dq=alcoholism+%22andrew+johnson%22+%22ulysses+s.+grant%22&pg=PA8 |title=All the Presidents' Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families |date=2004-01-06 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7434-4633-4 |pages=8 |language=en}} Johnson later worked as a farmer in Carter County, Tennessee, until the heirs of Andrew Johnson came into possession (apparently due to foreclosure on a mortgage) of a cotton mill at Union, Sullivan County, Tennessee, now called Bluff City, which he managed.
Death
A newspaper briefly mentioned Johnson the year prior to his death, at the time of the dedication of the Johnson monument in Greeneville: "Andrew Johnson, the ex-President's only son, had a newspaper here for a time, and at one time took part in politics to some extent, but he exhibited little desire for public life and latterly has given up all interest in it. He is quite young however and may come into public notice in the future."{{cite news |last=n.a., but possibly written by Laura C. Holloway |date=April 24, 1878 |title=The Johnson Monument |page=2 |newspaper=The Tennessean |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-the-johnson-monument/127930809/ |access-date=2023-07-09 |via=Newspapers.com}} His death at age 26 at his home in Union Depot was described as sudden and "quite unexpected." The cause was reportedly tuberculosis, possibly complicated by alcoholism. Johnson was buried on Monument Hill, the family burial ground at Andrew Johnson National Cemetery. He died without issue. Although "He had his faults, and who has not?" noted The Tennessean, Frank Johnson was remembered as "genial, cultured, friendly, and popular."
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Andrew Johnson}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Andrew Jr.}}
Category:19th-century American farmers
Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Category:Children of Andrew Johnson