Josiah Stoddard JOHNSTON, Congress, LA (1784-1833)

JOHNSTON Josiah Stoddard , a Representative and a Senator from Louisiana; born in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Conn., November 24, 1784; moved with his father to Kentucky in 1788; returned to Connecticut to attend primary school; graduated from Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., in 1802; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Alexandria, La. (then the Territory of Orleans); member, Territorial legislature 1805-1812; during the War of 1812, raised and organized a regiment for the defense of New Orleans, but reached the city after the battle; engaged in agricultural pursuits; State district judge 1812-1821; elected to the Seventeenth Congress (March 4, 1821-March 3, 1823); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1822 to the Eighteenth Congress; elected to the United States Senate in 1824 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Brown; reelected to the Senate in 1825 and 1831 and served from January 15, 1824, until his death, caused by an explosion on the steamboat Lioness, on the Red River in Louisiana, May 19, 1833; chairman, Committee on Commerce (Nineteenth Congress); interment in Rapides Cemetery, Pineville, La.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present