Biography

11/29/1808 - 10/25/1872

JOHNSTON, William Freame, a Representative from Armstrong County; born, November 29, 1808 in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pa.; attorney (1829); appointed, District Attorney, Armstrong County (1829-1830); elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1836-1837 and 1837-1838 terms;  unsuccessful campaign for reelection to the House for the 1838-1839 term; reelected to the House as a Whig for the 1841 term; elected, Pennsylvania State Senate (1848); elected, President of the Senate (1848); acting, Governor of Pennsylvania (1848); elected, Governor of Pennsylvania (1848-1852); elected, delegate, National Whig Convention (1852); president, Allegheny Valley Railroad (1852-1858); director, Pennsylvania Insurance Company (1854); vice-president, Pittsburgh Dollar Savings Institution (1855-1857); elected, delegate, National Republican Convention (1856, 1866); unsuccessful campaign, United States Vice-President (1856); unsuccessful presidential appointee, Collector of the Port of Philadelphia (1866); engaged, iron manufacturing; salt manufacturer; engaged, oil production and refinement; died, October 25, 1872 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; interred, Allegheny Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.