Johnson Family papers, 1862-1971

William Adolphus Johnson (1835-1910) was born in Texas and came to the area which is now Wyoming about 1851. He became a cattle rancher in Wyoming and Nebraska, married Ellen Larson (1860-1899) in 1879 and had four children: Frederick William, William Adolphus Jr., Ellen Sophia, and Bryan G.

Frederick William Johnson (1881-1955) was born in Green River, Wyoming, and earned a law degree from the University of Nebraska. He then joined the law office of Douglas A. Preston in Rock Springs, Wyoming. He became commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington, D.C., in 1933, and in 1946 was made director of the newly-created Bureau of Land Management.

Douglas A. Preston (1857-1929) was a lawyer and an active member of the Democratic Party. He was born in Olney, Illinois, and came to Wyoming in 1884. He located in Rock Springs, Wyoming, in 1893 and was a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1903 to 1905. He was appointed attorney general for the State of Wyoming by Governor Joseph Carey in 1911 and served in that capacity until 1919. From 1920 to 1922 he managed and published the Rock Springs Rocket. In November 1928 he was elected to the Wyoming State Senate to complete the term of Frank Yates, who had died in office. In October 1929, Preston died as the result of injuries received in an automobile accident.