Thomas Johnson
American politician
Died when: 62 years 175 days (749 months)Star Sign: Cancer
Thomas Johnson (July 11, 1802 – January 2, 1865) was an American missionary in Kansas who founded the Shawnee Methodist Mission.It was intended to serve and convert the Shawnee, several hundred of whom had been relocated to Kansas Indian Territory from east of the Mississippi River.
Johnson was a Kansas slave holder and sided strongly with the pro-slavery group during a period known as Bleeding Kansas, when it was unclear whether residents would vote to allow slavery in the territory.
He was elected as a member of the Kansas territorial legislature, which temporarily designated Shawnee Mission as the state capital from 1855 to 1856.
Johnson was pro-Southern in sympathy but signed a Unionist pledge at the time of the American Civil War.Johnson County, Kansas is named for him.
