Harry McClure Johnson

Harry McClure Johnson
Johnson (right) cradling his son, Harry Johnson II (left), 1925
Born(1886-05-13)May 13, 1886
Peoria, Illinois, U.S.
Died(1932-03-29)March 29, 1932
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
EducationNorthwestern University Law School (LLB)
OccupationLawyer
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1923)​
Children5, including Priscilla
FatherAlbert Tilford Johnson
Relatives
Military career
AllegianceUnited States
Branch
United States Army
Service years
1918
Rank
First lieutenant

Harry McClure Johnson (May 13, 1886 – March 29, 1932) was an American lawyer and explorer. He practiced law in Chicago with the firm Offield, Bulkley, Poole, and Scott. Johnson served as the chronicler for the 1910 expedition to the summit of Crown Mountain, which contributed to the establishment of the provincial park system in British Columbia.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

Johnson was born on May 13, 1886, in Peoria, Illinois.[4] Johnson's father, Albert Tilford Johnson,[5] was the founder and president of Peoria’s principal banking house,[1] and his mother, Elizabeth Breading McIlvaine Johnson,[5] was a high school teacher.[4] He had two siblings, Albert Tilford Johnson Jr. and Elizabeth Johnson. He was also the nephew of the canadian politician Price Ellison,[5] newspaper owner and Minister of Crown Lands in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.[6][2]

Johnson graduated from Peoria High School second in the class of 1903.[7][8] He received academic awards for excellence in history, politics, and economics at Princeton University[9] in 1907,[10][11] delivering the Latin salutatory address at commencement on June 12. Johnson received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Northwestern University Law School in 1910.[12][13]

Military life

Johnson participated in two military training camps for civilians in 1915 and 1916. The following year, a major surgical operation meant he was unable to serve in the military until late 1918, when he was appointed the position of first lieutenant in the United States Army. He served in the quartermaster general's office in Washington, D.C. After the Armistice and during the years 1919 and 1920, he was engaged as counsel in the Legal Department of the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation in Philadelphia.[14][15] Following his departure from the army, Johnson worked as an assistant counsel for the Emergency Fleet Corporation construction division in Philadelphia for over a year. Later, he practiced law on the Pacific Coast in British Columbia and California.

On December 23, 1910, Johnson was admitted to practice law after taking the Illinois bar examination.[16] He made his home in Winnetka, Illinois, in Cook County, 16 miles north of Chicago.[8] Returning to practice in Chicago in 1921, he joined Offield, Mehlhope, Scott & Poole which was the predecessor of the firm he partnered with around the time of his death.[8]

Personal life

Johnson married Helena Modjeska Chase of Omaha, Nebraska, on June 30, 1923, in Ashokan, New York.[17] At that time, Chase divided her time between New York and Omaha, and was active in North Shore art circles.[18] After their marriage, the couple moved to Winnetka, Illinois.[19] They had five children together:

  • Mansi McClure Johnson (1924–2013)
  • Harry McClure Johnson (1925–2007)
  • Elizabeth McIlvaine Johnson (born 1926)
  • Sarah Jane McClure Johnson (1929–2013)
  • Priscilla McClure Johnson (1931–2017)

Johnson died on March 29, 1932, at the age of 46 in Toronto, Ontario, while visiting his mother, Elizabeth “Gaga” Breading McIlvaine Johnson. He had been in poor health for two years before his death,[8][12] and died after a period of influenza, which developed into pneumonia.[5]

Alpine Club of Canada

Johnson was a life member of the Alpine Club of Canada, with which he climbed Mount Robson and Mount Assiniboine in the Canadian Rockies.

In 1910, Johnson and 20 others went on an expedition to Vancouver Island to assess the potential for a park in the center of the island.[20] Johnson was the expedition's unofficial chronicler, assisting Price Ellison, the Minister of Crown Lands, while also contributing to college periodicals at Princeton during the exploration.[10] Ellison's expedition journal describes encounters with mosquitoes, sand flies, snakes, blow-downs, steep trails, and tree roots, as well as the scenery.[21]

The team of explorers (including Johnson) left the town of Campbell River, British Columbia, and traveled inland along the Campbell River to Upper Campbell Lake. Later, a party of eight scaled the Crown Mountain (Vancouver Island, British Columbia), and its peak was later named after Myra King Ellison, a member of the party and Johnson's cousin.[22] Following the ascent, the party continued its exploration of the surrounding lakes, rivers and valleys, crossed the divide and descended to the western sea down Buttle Lake in British Columbia, up to Price Creek, and wound up at the Port Alberni.[1] The expedition reported to the legislature that the area was suitable to become the province's first park at a time when much of the region remained uninhabited wilderness.[2] This expedition contributed to the 1911 establishment of Strathcona Provincial Park, named after Lord Strathcona, the railway tycoon who drove the last spike for the Canadian Pacific Railway at Craigellachie.[2][23]

After climbing Crown Mountain, Johnson wrote about encouraging American tourist groups, mountain climbers, and Canadian clubs to visit many of the big cities in the United States.[1]

On 7 August 1912 he and his cousin climbed Mount Little, which is on the border between Alberta and British Columbia.[23]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Harry McClure Johnson
4. John Johnson (1828-1857)
2. Albert Tilford Johnson (1851-1916)
10. Pehr Andersson (1797-1847)
5. Anna Matilda Anderson (1829-1905)
11. Kerstin Olofsdotter (1798-1849)
1. Harry McClure Johnson (1886-1932)
12. William Brown McIlvaine (1807-1892)
6. George Hogg McIlvaine (1834-1897)
13. Elizabeth Breading (1810-1850)
3. Elizabeth Breading McIlvaine (1858-1950
14. Josiah Espy McClure (1798-1899)
7. Priscilla Jane McClure (1834-1913)
15. Jane Dickson (1806-1842)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "For Strathcona Park - Young American Delivering Lectures in United States Cities". The Province. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 6 Feb 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 4 Mar 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "The birth of national treasure - Price Ellison's expedition to Crown Mountain was the genesis of B.C.'s provincial park system". The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 29 May 2010. p. E1-E2. Retrieved 5 Mar 2023.
  3. ↑ Johnson, Harry McClure; Johnson, Harry McCLure (2011). Strathcona 1910 Discovery Expedition. Wild Isle Publications. ISBN 978-0-9680766-0-6. Retrieved 5 Mar 2023.
  4. 1 2 Census entry for P. J. McIlvaine. daughter Elizabeth Johnson, age 51, born in the Illinois. Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Peoria Ward 3, Peoria, Illinois; Roll: T624_316; Page: 15B; Enumeration District: 0078; Family History Library Film microfilm: 1374329. Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line].
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Obituary - Harry McClure Johnson". The Vernon News. Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. 31 Mar 1932. p. 10. Retrieved 5 Mar 2023.
  6. ↑ "Social and Personal". Victoria Daily Times. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. 16 Aug 1910. p. 10. Retrieved 5 Mar 2023.
  7. ↑ "Princeton's Year End - Commencement". New-York Tribune. New York, New York. 13 Jun 1907. p. 5. Retrieved 4 Mar 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Harry McClure Johnson, Attorney, Dies in Toronto". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 30 Mar 1932. p. 19. Retrieved 4 Mar 2023.
  9. ↑ "Plan League Benefit for Easter Week". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 24 Mar 1915. p. 15. Retrieved 4 Mar 2023.
  10. 1 2 "Expedition to Buttes Lake". Nanaimo Daily News. Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. 4 Jun 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 4 Mar 2023.
  11. ↑ "Girl Explorer Goes to Wilds". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 11 Jul 1910. p. 3. Retrieved 4 Mar 2023.
  12. 1 2 "Harry McLure Johnson". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Vol. 32. Alumni of Princeton University. 1931. p. 639. ISSN 0149-9270.
  13. ↑ Princeton Alumni Weekly 1906. Princeton University Press. 1906. p. 617.;
  14. ↑ "Biographies of Vancouver Island Mountaineers - Harry McClure Johnson". accvi.ca.
  15. ↑ "Obituary - Harry McClure Johnson '07". The Princeton Alumni Weekly. Chicago, Illinois. 15 Apr 1932. p. 639. Retrieved 6 Mar 2023.
  16. ↑ "Students Admitted to Practice Law". The Kenney Gazette. Kenney, Illinois. 23 Dec 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 4 Mar 2023.
  17. ↑ "Mostly About People". The Examiner. Omaha, Nebraska. 23 Jun 1923. p. 19. Retrieved 4 Mar 2023.
  18. ↑ "Mr. and Mrs. Harry McClure Johnson announce birth of daughter". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. 28 Nov 1931. p. 19. Retrieved 5 Mar 2023.
  19. ↑ "Obituaries and Funerals - Helena Drea". The Brattleboro Reformer. Brattleboro, Vermont. 30 Dec 1986. p. 18. Retrieved 5 Mar 2023.
  20. ↑ "Crown Mountain Vanquished by Girl - Miss Myra King Ellison Leads Party to Summit of Peak". The Province. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 22 Oct 1910. p. 14. Retrieved 5 Mar 2023.
  21. ↑ Johnson, Harry McCLure; Lawton, Denis (2003). Royal Education: Past, Present, and Future. F. Cass. p. 215. ISBN 9780714683867. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  22. ↑ "Schoolgirl Leads Explorers". The Evening Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. 3 Dec 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 5 Mar 2023.
  23. 1 2 "Myra King Ellison". www.beyondnootka.com.

Further reading

  • Johnson, Harry McClure, "Journal of the BC Exploratory Survey Trip into the Buttle's Lake

Region," 172pages, British Columbia Archives, MS-0249, vol. 1, fol. 35, Johnson, 3 August 1910.

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