Dr. G. H. T. Johnson was born near Mt. Vernon, Jefferson county, Illinois, October 15, 1842, a son of James and Lydia (Cricle) Johnson, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Illinois. His paternal grandfather, George Johnson, was a soldier in the American army during the War of 1812. The father of Dr. Johnson died when he was an infant and his mother departed this life at the age of seventy-eight years. George H. T. was educated in the public schools of Jefferson county and Mount Vernon. He remained at home until the summer of 1862, when he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company G, One Hundred and Tenth regiment, Illinois infantry. In September of the same year this regiment was assigned to the command of General Buell, then at Louisville, Ky., and first saw action at the battle of Perryville, Ky., October 8, 1862. Subsequently, the One Hundred and Tenth was transferred to General Rosecrans’ army and took part in the great battle of Stone River and the campaign which resulted in the capture of Chattanooga, and the great battle of Chickamauga. He was under General Thomas at the battles of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. General Grant in person directed the maneuvers of Generals Thomas’ and Rosecrans’ combined forces during these famous engagements. Subsequently, his regiment was assigned to the command of General Sherman and served under Sherman until the close of the Civil war. He took part in the siege and capture of Atlanta and the famous March to the Sea, which culminated in the capture of Savannah, which city Sherman presented to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift. He also participated in the campaign of the Carolinas and was at the last battle fought by Sherman’s army at Bentonville, N. C., and at the surrender of the Confederate army under Gen. Joseph Johnston near Raleigh. From there the victorious army marched to Richmond, thence to Baltimore and on to Washington, where they participated in the Grand Review. Mr. Johnson was honorably discharged from the service and mustered out June 8, 1865. The doctor tells many anecdotes of his long and varied army experience which are all interesting and show that he proved himself not unworthy of the martial blood coursing through his veins and transmitted from his grandfather.
Upon his return home from the war Mr. Johnson taught one term of school and then decided to take up the study of medicine and make the science of healing his life vocation. Accordingly, he entered the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College and subsequently attended the Homeopathic Medical College of St. Louis, Mo., where he was graduated February 26, 1869. While a student at college he heard of the city of Atchison and was impressed with the idea that it would be a good place to locate. After looking around for a few weeks he became convinced that Atchison was a desirable location for a young physician and he came here in April of 1869 and soon built up an excellent practice which grew in volume as the years went on. In 1885 Governor Martin appointed Dr. Johnson a member of the State board of health, and in April of that year he was elected president of the board and retained the position for eight years. He is president of the Atchison board of pension examiners for the United States Government and has acted in that capacity for several years, his service as pension examiner beginning during the term of President Arthur and continuing under the administrations of Presidents Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft. He always takes an interest in the brothers who fought in the army under the stars and stripes for the preservation of the American Union and does everything in his power to aid the old soldiers. He is a charter member of the Homeopathic Medical Society of Kansas and served two terms as president of this society. He is also a member and has been a senior member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, the oldest medical institute in the United States. For many years he has been a member of the American Public Health Association, as well as the County, State, and American Medical Associations. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has been a surgeon of John A. Martin Post, No. 93, Grand Army of the Republic, since its organization, excepting two years when he served as the post commander. Dr. Johnson is a man of wide and thorough experience, broad and tolerant in his views, who has commanded the confidence and high esteem of the people of Atchison and the surrounding country during the many years in which he has been a resident of the city. He is one of the best known men in the county and holds high rank as a physician whose skill has not suffered abatement as the years have gone by.
CHARLES H. JOHNSON
Dr. Charles H. Johnson, his son, practices with his father. He is a graduate of the Kansas State University and completed a course in the medical department of Columbia University, N. Y., and also graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City. For two years he served as staff physician of the Roosevelt Hospital of New York City, where he gained a wide and varied experience in the practice of his profession that has proven to be invaluable to him in his later career. Since locating in Atchison with his father he has built up a fine practice and served for ten years as surgeon of the Orphans’ Home at Atchison.
THOMAS C. TREAT.
Thomas C. Treat, who is engaged in the investment brokerage business in Atchison, is one of the extensive land owners of Atchison county. Mr. Treat is a native of Atchison county, born March 26, 1865, and is a son of Levi S. and Mary D. (Cooper) Treat, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of England. Mary D. Cooper was born in Exeter, Devonshire, England, and was a daughter of Thomas and Mary A. Cooper. The Cooper family immigrated to America when Mary D. was a child. The family consisted of the parents and three children. They made the trip across the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, the voyage taking six weeks. They located at Covington, Ky., where the parents spent their lives. Mary D. Cooper had friends living in Atchison, and came here in 1857, where she later met and married Levi S. Treat. Levi S. Treat was born in Connecticut in 1814, and was a son of Amos Treat, who removed with his family to the Western Reserve, which comprised twelve counties in northeastern Ohio. The Treat family located in that section in 1828, when Levi S. was fourteen years old, and there the parents spent the remainder of their lives.
When a young man, Levi S. Treat was in the employ of the Government, prospecting for copper in the Lake Superior region. He was thus engaged for eight or ten years, and in 1856 came to Atchison county, Kansas. Shortly after arriving here, he preëmpted 160 acres of land, part of which is now included within the city limits of Atchison. Here he followed farming and fruit growing in the early days and prospered and acquired considerable land. He dealt quite extensively in real estate and was one of the early promoters of Atchison, and built the first brick business house in that city. This building was located two doors east of the Byrum Hotel. Levi S. Treat was a successful business man and one of the substantial citizens of Atchison county. During the Civil war he was a colonel of the Twelfth regiment, Kansas militia. He died April 13, 1881, and his wife survived him for several years, passing away March 29, 1913. They were the parents of six children, as follows: Kate married Samuel K. Woodworth, and they reside in California; Frank resides in Arizona; Thomas C., the subject of this sketch; Alice married George Guerrier, of Atchison, Kan.; Grace married William Berry, of Atchison, Kan., and Ethel married Harry McDuff, of Omaha, Neb.
Thomas C. Treat was reared in Atchison and educated in the public schools, and later attended St. Benedict’s College. He then was engaged in fruit growing for a number of years, and in 1889 engaged in the investment and brokerage business in Atchison, and has continued in that business to the present time. Mr. Treat owns over 1,100 acres of land besides various other interests and investments. He is one of the pioneer fruit growers of Atchison county, and owns a fifty-acre fruit farm, which has few equals, if any, in the State of Kansas. The trees on this place are about fifteen years old, and, under normal conditions, are very productive. Mr. Treat has made an extensive study of the fruit business and has developed a scientific system of treating his trees. He was the first fruit man in Atchison county to use the spray method, and he has been very successful in the fruit business.
Mr. Treat was one of the organizers of the Union Trust Company, which was later merged into the Exchange State Bank, and has been a director, or other officer, in that institution since its organization. He is also a stockholder in the Exchange State Bank. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is one of the progressive and public spirited citizens of Atchison county.