She was one of the first American woman to serve as president of a co-educational university.
[1] In 1884, she married Ashley S. Johnson, an evangelical minister from Tennessee.
They moved to South Carolina after their marriage, where they engaged in church planting and Ashley started a correspondence school for Bible studies.
[3] Johnson was keen to maintain the university's independence, rejecting an offer to join the conservative Christian Restoration Association.
[1] Her only child was born in 1891, but died at birth; the complications rendered her infertile.