JOHNSON, GEORGE (1809-1891)

JOHNSON, GEORGE, Methodist minister, Miramichi circuit, 1847-50; b. Yorkshire, England, c1809; m. 1834, Victoria Cater, of Chertsey, Surrey, England; d. Horton, N.S., 21 Aug 1891.

When he was still a boy, George Johnson left England with his parents and other emigrants who were intending to make new homes for themselves in the "Upper Provinces" of Canada. However, when the ship Trafalgar, in which they sailed, was wrecked in the Bay of Fundy, his family settled at Coverdale, N.B. Not long after their arrival he was converted to Methodism, but through "unhallowed associations," he later "wandered from the path of the just." He was returned to the fold in 1828 by the preaching of the Rev. Arthur McNutt. He was received into the ministry on trial in 1830 and ordained in 1834. He served at a number of locations in the Maritimes before moving from Annapolis, N.S., to take charge of the Miramichi circuit in 1847, as successor to the Rev. Richard Shepherd.

Johnson spent three years at Chatham and was then assigned to Point de Bute. He continued his ministerial work in the Maritimes until 1876, when he retired in Horton, N.S. He and his wife, Victoria Cater, raised several children, including a son George Johnson Jr, who was a successful journalist and author, and later Canada's chief statistician.