Silvester Johnson

Silvester Johnson (October 14, 1813 – 1889) was a Kentucky merchant and a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives.

Biography

Early years and business ventures

Silvester Johnson's house and business in New Haven, Kentucky

Johnson was born October 14, 1813 on his parents' farm near New Hope, Kentucky in southern Nelson County. The son of John Johnson and ---Miles, he was well educated, receiving a liberal education and graduating from St. Mary's College in Marion County in 1832. After his graduation, he spent the next three years teaching school in both Nelson and Hardin Counties and, in the summer off-season, working the flatboats with his uncle along the Rolling Fork, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers. In 1835 he married Mildred Boone and settled down in the village of New Haven, Kentucky, where he purchased a prime location at the center of town, at the corner of the Bardstown & Green River Turnpike and the Lebanon road. His mercantile business was quite lucrative and, by 1840, Silvester had accumulated a small fortune of over $6000.00, as well as owning five slaves. He continued to work the flatboat and merchandising trade on the river until 1843, when he finally opened his own store in New Haven.

Political life

By early 1839, he had become an influential member of society in the New Haven area, and was instrumental in pressing for the incorporation of the village as a town. That dream became reality in February 1839. In April 1840, at the age of 27, Silvester was elected as New Haven's first town chairman.

In 1843, in addition to his business ventures, Johnson was appointed a County Deputy Sheriff and, in 1853 he was elected Nelson County Sheriff. He only served a single one-year term as Sheriff, but he was again appointed as a Deputy Sheriff in 1855, serving until 1857. He was also kept active by several appointments to county committees in both Nelson and La Rue Counties. In April 1854, he was appointed as one of three commissioners responsible for the correction of boundary lines in two of the Bardstown voting districts as well as districts on the South side of the Beech Fork River in Southern Nelson County. Trained as a lawyer, Silvester not only handled his own legal affairs, but was also handled several guardianships for local underage children.

A "Henry Clay" Whig for much of his early life, Silvester was forced to shift to the Democratic Party when the Whig party collapsed in the mid-1850s. However, his political beliefs remained close to that of Henry Clay and, in August 1859, he was elected to a two-year term as the Representative for Nelson County to the Kentucky House of Representatives.

In addition to his political and business ventures, Johnson continued to invest in property in and around New Haven and, by 1860, he had built two large liquor warehouses along Center Street for storage of his wares. By this time, his net worth was placed at over $60,000.00.

The arrival of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) in 1857 resulted in a drop in the cost of shipping and also freed the business from dependence on the seasonal riverboat traffic. The resultant savings was significant enough that in 1858 he began construction of a new home and office building, which was completed in 1861. During that same year, Silvester took on a business partner, J.D. Boles, and founded Johnson & Boles. Silvester Johnson's success in business was now clearly evident. In 1840 his net worth had been just over $6000. By 1860 this fortune had ballooned to over $60,000.

In some ways, his election to the House of Representatives could not have come at a worse time. The nation was starting to tear apart at the seams and Kentucky was not immune to the politics of abolition and secession. As a businessman, slave owner, and right-of-center Democrat, Johnson clung to his belief in the Union. One of the actions he undertook in the State House of Representatives was to ask the House to allow Reverend Dr. James Craik, Rector of Christ Church in Louisville to come and give a discourse on the history and value of the American Union. The most important action to occur during his tenure in the House was the vote on secession and neutrality in 1861. It was not a happy time, and Silvester Johnson's exposure to the politics in Frankfort so upset him that he never again ran for public office but rather worked behind the scenes as a member of the Nelson County Democratic Committee.

Later years

The outbreak of war in April 1861 put damper on the growth of his business. Although he continued to operate his warehouses and sales, the threat of Confederate raiders had disrupted rail traffic in the area and made it difficult to ship his goods. However, Johnson was an astute businessman and attempted to remain above the politics of the time. On September 23, 1862 he hosted Colonel Joseph Wheeler and his staff for breakfast during the brief Confederate occupation of New Haven. Although he continued to make money during the war, its end finally resulted in the loss of the 14 slaves who operated his home and business.

Silvester continued to operate his business in spite of the loss of his slaves in 1866 after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. By the mid-1870s, Johnson was dabbling in the banking business, as well as wholesaling liquor. Widowed in 1875, he never remarried. His generosity to the poor and to the Catholic Church earned him a knighthood in the Order of Saint Gregory the Great from Pope Leo XIII in 1886.
When he died in 1889, he was the richest man in Nelson County, leaving an estate of over one half a million dollars (about 6 million in today's dollars). His funeral was attended by over 2000 people and was officiated over by the Bishop of Louisville. He is buried next to his wife in St. Catherine's graveyard in New Haven.

External links

• Biography of Silvester Johnson at Ancestry.com