San Diego County Biographies
 
DR. CHARLES M. JOHNSON

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


of El Cajon valley, was born in Jefferson County New York, his parents being 
Stephen and Mary (Pierce) Johnson; the former was a native of Connecticut, and 
was engaged the larger part of his life in the mercantile business in Jefferson 
County, New York, and had, in connection with his other business, large 
lumbering interests. He died at the age of seventy-five years, in 1860. He and 
his wife were second cousins and descendants of the Pierces and Paynes, who were 
the founders of the Madison University, New York.. They had eleven children, six 
girls and five boys, one of whom died in infancy. C. M. Johnson, the youngest of 
the family, was educated in New York and is a graduate of Jefferson Medical 
College, Philadelphia. From college he went into the army as associate surgeon 
in the Ninety‑ninth New York Volunteers. In 1865 he practiced one year in 
Watertown, then six years at Camp Vincent, New York, then returned to Watertown, 
where he remained until 1885.  During his residence there he was United States 
Pension Surgeon thirteen years. He was one of the founders of the New York 
Medical Association, and was sent in 1884 to see a patient in California, 
remaining three months. The following year he came over to look into the El 
Cajon and invested there, buying an undivided fourth interest in the Bliss 
tract, consisting of nearly 2,400 acres. In the spring of 1886 they broke up and 
planted 500 acres of Muscat vines and the following year 300 acres more, making 
800 in all. It is claimed to be the largest raisin vineyard in California or in 
the world. It is situated on the west side of El Cajon valley, and has several 
wide avenues through it bordered with cypress, Grevillea and Eucalyptus trees. 
They have built a packing house and several ranch houses, and have a town site 
of 150 acres. The principal depot is on it, and several residences. They have 
upon the mesa 800 or 1,000 acres in ten-acre tracts, considered to be the 
choicest orange land in the valley. There is also 300 acres of hillside land, 
partly adapted to olive culture. And they have 150 acres of granite land, 
containing large quantities of granite rock, suitable for monumental and 
building purposes; it takes a high polish, and as it is near the railroad tract, 
will make a valuable industry. The average number of horses used on the ranch is 
forty. There are about twenty-five men steadily employed, and during the picking 
season, about two months, there are as high as 200. The railroad runs through 
three miles of the ranch, and in addition to the town depot they have a mesa 
station. The principal owners are Dr. Charles Johnson, who is president of the 
company, and M. S. Marshall, who is superintendent and secretary; each of these 
has selected a home site of about sixty acres, and Mr. Marshall has built an 
elegant house and improved the grounds. Dr. Johnson has not yet built, but has 
reserved a most delightful site for his residence. He is still practicing his 
profession in San Diego, and is a member of the County and State Medical 
Associations. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for twenty-five 
years, and he and his wife are both members of the Baptist Church of San Diego. 
The Doctor was married in 1867 to Miss Helen Davis, a native of Adams, Watertown 
County, New York, born December 30, 1841. They have one daughter now living, 
born August 12, 1879. They have lost two children. The Doctor is still in life's 
prime, and has a most promising future.
 
SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California� Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  p.-  318-319