Born in Tennessee, Johnston served as a chaplain under General Kirby Smith’s command during the Civil War. He was fascinated with the idea of artesian water and moved to Georgia after he discovered a 550-ft deep well in Dougherty County. Soon after that, he established the state’s first artesian well, one that supplied a whopping seven gallons per minute. His burial site is easily recognizable by a distinctive vertical stone that resembles the Washington Monument. He married Martha Fannin Huguenin Johnston (1848-1934), who donated several acres in Lizella for Camp Martha Johnston, an institution beloved by many generations of Girl Scouts. The Johnston home, once visited by Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, stood on Georgia Avenue at the present site of the Mercer law school.
(1837-1905) (Magnolia, lot 1, row 124)
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