JOHNSON, MARSENE
Marsene Johnson, of Galveston, is considered the leading criminal lawyer of Southeast Texas. He and his sons, Elmo and Roy, make a strong legal trio, and their practice extends through all the local and state and federal courts. Some of the most noted criminal trials of Texas in recent years have had Mr. Johnson as principal attorney of one side or other.
One case, which he prosecuted resulted in the only important change in the commission form of government made since the granting of the charter in 1901, a case which has been followed in the courts of other states and in the federal courts. The original charter provided that three (a majority) of the city commissioners should be appointed by the governor of the state, only two being elected. This was in effect a continuance of the old custom of state control of municipal affairs. Soon after the inauguration of the commission government Mr. Johnson challenged the constitutionality of this particular section of the charter, and in the case of Ex parte Lewis, 41 Tex. Crim. App., 1, tried before the criminal appeals court of the state, this feature of the charter was declared unconstitutional and it was then amended to allow the election of all five commissioners by the people. This decision of the Texas court has recently been the leading precedent in the case of The People of Memphis vs. the State of Tennessee, decided in the United States supreme court in September, 1908, wherein the Memphis charter was declared invalid because the legislature had provided the appointive method of selecting commissioners.
Marsene Johnson was born at Cuthbert, Georgia, December 4, 1864. His father, Daniel, a native Georgian farmer, who had also served in the Confederate army, died at Vicksburg, Mississippi, March 14, 1873. His mother's maiden name was Emily Marsene Foster, also of Georgia, who died in August, 1885.
After attending the public schools of his hometown of Cuthbert, he learned the printing trade at Atlanta, and for several years was employed in the composing rooms of the Atlanta Constitution and other papers. He moved to Texas in 1881 and at Fort Worth continued his trade until 1890. In the latter part of that year, he came to Galveston. June 20, 1893, in the reform administration of Mayor A. W. Fly, he was appointed city recorder of Galveston and was reappointed in 1895, resigning the office in April, 1897. He had begun the study of law with his brother, Byron G. Johnson, at Fort Worth, and continuing it at Galveston was admitted to the bar in 1894, and since leaving the recorder's office has been engaged in his extensive practice.
July 25, 1908, he was elected to the legislature from the Twenty third district for a two-year term, having been active in politics since coming to Texas. He is a member of the Texas Bar Association and the Galveston County Bar Association. Also, a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Methodist church. He married, September 9, 1883, Beatrice Heath. Her father, D. H. Heath, a veteran of the Confederacy, was for many years a wholesale merchant of Birmingham, Alabama, but is now living retired. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have three children, Elmo, Roy and Marsene, Jr. (Historical Review of South-East Texas and the Founders, Leaders and Representative Men, Vol 2, by Dermot Hardy and Maj. Ingham S. Robert, by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910 )
==============================================================
Bio, link to father provided by Sherry # 47010546
Marsene Johnson, of Galveston, is considered the leading criminal lawyer of Southeast Texas. He and his sons, Elmo and Roy, make a strong legal trio, and their practice extends through all the local and state and federal courts. Some of the most noted criminal trials of Texas in recent years have had Mr. Johnson as principal attorney of one side or other.
One case, which he prosecuted resulted in the only important change in the commission form of government made since the granting of the charter in 1901, a case which has been followed in the courts of other states and in the federal courts. The original charter provided that three (a majority) of the city commissioners should be appointed by the governor of the state, only two being elected. This was in effect a continuance of the old custom of state control of municipal affairs. Soon after the inauguration of the commission government Mr. Johnson challenged the constitutionality of this particular section of the charter, and in the case of Ex parte Lewis, 41 Tex. Crim. App., 1, tried before the criminal appeals court of the state, this feature of the charter was declared unconstitutional and it was then amended to allow the election of all five commissioners by the people. This decision of the Texas court has recently been the leading precedent in the case of The People of Memphis vs. the State of Tennessee, decided in the United States supreme court in September, 1908, wherein the Memphis charter was declared invalid because the legislature had provided the appointive method of selecting commissioners.
Marsene Johnson was born at Cuthbert, Georgia, December 4, 1864. His father, Daniel, a native Georgian farmer, who had also served in the Confederate army, died at Vicksburg, Mississippi, March 14, 1873. His mother's maiden name was Emily Marsene Foster, also of Georgia, who died in August, 1885.
After attending the public schools of his hometown of Cuthbert, he learned the printing trade at Atlanta, and for several years was employed in the composing rooms of the Atlanta Constitution and other papers. He moved to Texas in 1881 and at Fort Worth continued his trade until 1890. In the latter part of that year, he came to Galveston. June 20, 1893, in the reform administration of Mayor A. W. Fly, he was appointed city recorder of Galveston and was reappointed in 1895, resigning the office in April, 1897. He had begun the study of law with his brother, Byron G. Johnson, at Fort Worth, and continuing it at Galveston was admitted to the bar in 1894, and since leaving the recorder's office has been engaged in his extensive practice.
July 25, 1908, he was elected to the legislature from the Twenty third district for a two-year term, having been active in politics since coming to Texas. He is a member of the Texas Bar Association and the Galveston County Bar Association. Also, a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Methodist church. He married, September 9, 1883, Beatrice Heath. Her father, D. H. Heath, a veteran of the Confederacy, was for many years a wholesale merchant of Birmingham, Alabama, but is now living retired. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have three children, Elmo, Roy and Marsene, Jr. (Historical Review of South-East Texas and the Founders, Leaders and Representative Men, Vol 2, by Dermot Hardy and Maj. Ingham S. Robert, by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910 )
==============================================================
Bio, link to father provided by Sherry # 47010546
JOHNSON, MARSENE
Marsene Johnson, of Galveston, is considered the leading criminal lawyer of Southeast Texas. He and his sons, Elmo and Roy, make a strong legal trio, and their practice extends through all the local and state and federal courts. Some of the most noted criminal trials of Texas in recent years have had Mr. Johnson as principal attorney of one side or other.
One case, which he prosecuted resulted in the only important change in the commission form of government made since the granting of the charter in 1901, a case which has been followed in the courts of other states and in the federal courts. The original charter provided that three (a majority) of the city commissioners should be appointed by the governor of the state, only two being elected. This was in effect a continuance of the old custom of state control of municipal affairs. Soon after the inauguration of the commission government Mr. Johnson challenged the constitutionality of this particular section of the charter, and in the case of Ex parte Lewis, 41 Tex. Crim. App., 1, tried before the criminal appeals court of the state, this feature of the charter was declared unconstitutional and it was then amended to allow the election of all five commissioners by the people. This decision of the Texas court has recently been the leading precedent in the case of The People of Memphis vs. the State of Tennessee, decided in the United States supreme court in September, 1908, wherein the Memphis charter was declared invalid because the legislature had provided the appointive method of selecting commissioners.
Marsene Johnson was born at Cuthbert, Georgia, December 4, 1864. His father, Daniel, a native Georgian farmer, who had also served in the Confederate army, died at Vicksburg, Mississippi, March 14, 1873. His mother's maiden name was Emily Marsene Foster, also of Georgia, who died in August, 1885.
After attending the public schools of his hometown of Cuthbert, he learned the printing trade at Atlanta, and for several years was employed in the composing rooms of the Atlanta Constitution and other papers. He moved to Texas in 1881 and at Fort Worth continued his trade until 1890. In the latter part of that year, he came to Galveston. June 20, 1893, in the reform administration of Mayor A. W. Fly, he was appointed city recorder of Galveston and was reappointed in 1895, resigning the office in April, 1897. He had begun the study of law with his brother, Byron G. Johnson, at Fort Worth, and continuing it at Galveston was admitted to the bar in 1894, and since leaving the recorder's office has been engaged in his extensive practice.
July 25, 1908, he was elected to the legislature from the Twenty third district for a two-year term, having been active in politics since coming to Texas. He is a member of the Texas Bar Association and the Galveston County Bar Association. Also, a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Methodist church. He married, September 9, 1883, Beatrice Heath. Her father, D. H. Heath, a veteran of the Confederacy, was for many years a wholesale merchant of Birmingham, Alabama, but is now living retired. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have three children, Elmo, Roy and Marsene, Jr. (Historical Review of South-East Texas and the Founders, Leaders and Representative Men, Vol 2, by Dermot Hardy and Maj. Ingham S. Robert, by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910 )
==============================================================
Bio, link to father provided by Sherry # 47010546
Marsene Johnson, of Galveston, is considered the leading criminal lawyer of Southeast Texas. He and his sons, Elmo and Roy, make a strong legal trio, and their practice extends through all the local and state and federal courts. Some of the most noted criminal trials of Texas in recent years have had Mr. Johnson as principal attorney of one side or other.
One case, which he prosecuted resulted in the only important change in the commission form of government made since the granting of the charter in 1901, a case which has been followed in the courts of other states and in the federal courts. The original charter provided that three (a majority) of the city commissioners should be appointed by the governor of the state, only two being elected. This was in effect a continuance of the old custom of state control of municipal affairs. Soon after the inauguration of the commission government Mr. Johnson challenged the constitutionality of this particular section of the charter, and in the case of Ex parte Lewis, 41 Tex. Crim. App., 1, tried before the criminal appeals court of the state, this feature of the charter was declared unconstitutional and it was then amended to allow the election of all five commissioners by the people. This decision of the Texas court has recently been the leading precedent in the case of The People of Memphis vs. the State of Tennessee, decided in the United States supreme court in September, 1908, wherein the Memphis charter was declared invalid because the legislature had provided the appointive method of selecting commissioners.
Marsene Johnson was born at Cuthbert, Georgia, December 4, 1864. His father, Daniel, a native Georgian farmer, who had also served in the Confederate army, died at Vicksburg, Mississippi, March 14, 1873. His mother's maiden name was Emily Marsene Foster, also of Georgia, who died in August, 1885.
After attending the public schools of his hometown of Cuthbert, he learned the printing trade at Atlanta, and for several years was employed in the composing rooms of the Atlanta Constitution and other papers. He moved to Texas in 1881 and at Fort Worth continued his trade until 1890. In the latter part of that year, he came to Galveston. June 20, 1893, in the reform administration of Mayor A. W. Fly, he was appointed city recorder of Galveston and was reappointed in 1895, resigning the office in April, 1897. He had begun the study of law with his brother, Byron G. Johnson, at Fort Worth, and continuing it at Galveston was admitted to the bar in 1894, and since leaving the recorder's office has been engaged in his extensive practice.
July 25, 1908, he was elected to the legislature from the Twenty third district for a two-year term, having been active in politics since coming to Texas. He is a member of the Texas Bar Association and the Galveston County Bar Association. Also, a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Methodist church. He married, September 9, 1883, Beatrice Heath. Her father, D. H. Heath, a veteran of the Confederacy, was for many years a wholesale merchant of Birmingham, Alabama, but is now living retired. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have three children, Elmo, Roy and Marsene, Jr. (Historical Review of South-East Texas and the Founders, Leaders and Representative Men, Vol 2, by Dermot Hardy and Maj. Ingham S. Robert, by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910 )
==============================================================
Bio, link to father provided by Sherry # 47010546
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
