Born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, Johnson attended Cumberland University and read law to enter the bar.
He was a teacher in Tennessee from 1880 to 1885, and was principal of the Government Indian School in Fort Bennett, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota) from 1886 to 1887, and of the Government Indian School in Fort Hall, Idaho Territory (now Idaho) from 1888 to 1889.
[2] Johnson received a recess appointment from President Woodrow Wilson on November 2, 1915, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Utah vacated by Judge John Augustine Marshall.
[1] On September 30, 1927 Johnson was shot three times while mounting the bench in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The assailant, Eliza Simmons was angry at Johnson for ruling against her in a case decided in 1924 involving the death of her husband in a 1910 mining accident.