Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 2993On June 30, 1896, Mr. Worrell was married to Miss Ada Juniper, ofTerrell County, Georgia, daughter of L. M. Juniper, a prosperous agriculturist of Terrell County and former teacher of languages in Robert E. LeeInstitute.HON. G. S. JoHis^jTON. In railroad and professional circles of EasternGeorgia few men are better known or more highly respected than isHon. G. S. Johnston. Aside 'from being the leading lawyer of Statesboro,the county seat of Bullock County, and a citizen who has been frequentlyhonored by election to offices of high trust and responsibility, he has beenan active. and dominating factor in the promotion, organization and management of railroads and at the present time is vice president and a directorof the Georgia, Florida & Alabama, one of the leading railroads of the state.Mr. Johnston was born at Sylvania, Screvon County, Georgia, July 14, 1860,and is a son of Dr. John W. and Margaret (Zeigler) Johnston. His father,a native of Nash County, North Carolina, was a lad of seventeen years whenhe came with his parents to old Cass County, now Gordon County, Georgia.When he grew to maturity he decided upon the professional career, andafter attending a medical college at Macon, Georgia; cam* as a young physician to Screven County, where he was married, and engaged in the activepractice of .medicine, and for many years was one of the well knownphysicians and surgeons of his part of the state. Doctor Johnston was notonly prominent, but was a very progressive citizen, taking a very active partin politics, especially during Reconstruction period. He represented hiscounty in the lower house of the State Legislature for two terms, and oneterm in the State Senate. After a long, useful career he passed away inthe year 1892 in Screven County, aged sixty years.Mrs. Johnston, his wife, was educated in the schools of Screven County,and there reared. She died at the age of forty-eight years, in the year 1882,the mother of four children of whom G. S. was the third in order of birth.G. S. Johnston attended the school at Scarboro, Screven County, Georgia,and subsequently took a course at Eastman Business College, New York,where he graduated. He engaged in the naval stores business in BullochCounty, Georgia, for a number of years, and finally entered the Universityof Georgia, from which he was duly graduated in 1887, with the degree ofBachelor of Laws. Admitted to the bar, the same year he located at Statesboro, where he has since been engaged in active practice, and is now therepresentative of some of the leading businesses and financial interests of thestate. To his substantial traits as a lawyer, and his stanch character as a man,he adds the sociable and attractive qualities of the cultured gentleman, whichunion of characteristics has raised him to his present enviable position as alawyer and citizen. He holds membership in the Bulloch County BarAssociation, being chairman thereof. His interest in educational matters isevidenced by his work on the board of trustees of Emory College, and alsochairman of the board of education of the Statesboro Schools. Mr. Johnston 'slegal work has brought him into close connection with railroad matters and forsome years, as director and vice president, he has been a leading factor inthe Georgia, Florida & Alabama Railroad.With his family, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.Mr. Johnston has always been a stanch democrat and at various times hasbeen elected to public offices, having served five terms as mayor of the Cityof Statesboro, and one term as senator from the Seventeenth SenatorialDistrict of Georgia. His public record, his professional career and his privatelife have always been characterized by probity and integrity, well entitlinghim to a place among his community's representatives and honorable men.Mr-. Johnston was married December 23, 1880, to Miss Nannie Outland,daughter of Burwell T. Outland of Statesboro. She died September 23, 1896^