Charles A. Johns

Charles A. Johns was an American lawyer, jurist and politician who served as the 47th Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court.
Johns also served as mayor of Baker City in Eastern Oregon and as a justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines while that archipelago was under U.S. jurisdiction.

Early life:
Charles Johns was born to James McClellan Johns and Elizabeth Ann Darby Johns in Jackson County, Missouri.
In 1858, the family immigrated to the Oregon Territory and settled in the Willamette Valley.
Charles was then educated in the local schools of Marion and Linn counties.
For college he attended Willamette University in Salem, where he graduated in 1878 with his Bachelor of Arts.
He was admitted to the bar in 1881.
The following year Johns married Mabel Ellis with whom he fathered three children.
He would also have three children by his second wife Elizabeth Busch.

Political career:
After being accepted to practice law, Johns then became a judge in Polk County, Oregon, in the Willamette Valley from 1883 to 1885[ and served as mayor of Baker City in Eastern Oregon from 1900 to 1908.
He was also a lieutenant colonel on the staff of Oregon Governor Theodore Thurston Geer.
In 1912, Charles Johns moved to Portland, Oregon, where he practiced law.

On June 4, 1918, Johns was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court to replace Wallace McCamant by Governor James Withycombe after McCamant resigned.
Johns then won election to a full six-year term that same year, but resigned on October 7, 1921, following his appointment to the Supreme Court of the Philippines by U.S. President Warren G. Harding.
In 1924, he served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from Philippines.
Johns served on the Philippine court until dying in office on January 11, 1932, at the age of 74.

Wikipedia

Judge Johns Dies At Portland Home – Federal Jurist Succumbs After Long Illness.

Hope of Regaining Health and Returning to Post at Manila Retained Until End.

Charles A. Johns, 74, noted Oregon jurist and for the past ten years as associate justice of the supreme court of the Philippine islands, died last night at the home of Charles S. Laughton, 732 East Twentieth street North, as the result of an illness that had kept him bedfast for several months.

Judge Johns is survived by his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Johns, three small children, Barbara, Marguerite and Eleanor, all of whom were at the Portland residence at the time of his death; three children by a former marriage, Claude Johns, Seattle; Charles A. Johns Jr., San Francisco; Mrs. Ruth Mewmeyer, Salem, and by two sisters, Mrs. Dorcas Neal, Beaverton, Or., and Mrs. Ada Ralston, Portland.

Justice Johns was born in Missouri in 1857 and was brought to Oregon the following year by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James McClellan Johns, the father being a well-known pioneer merchant. The family came to this state by boat via the Isthmus of Panama.

The early boyhood of the jurist was spent at Scio, Or., and it was there that he first attended school. When he was 14 years old the family moved to Marion, near Salem. From there he was enabled to Attend Willamette university and was graduated from the law school there in 1881.

After working for a short time in the sheriff's office at Salem, he went to Dallas, Or., to engage in his first law practice. It was there that he married his first wife, Mabel Ellis, and to this union three children were born.

From Dallas he went to Baker City and subsequently was elected mayor. In 1912 he came to Portland and practiced law until about 14 years ago, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Oregon supreme court.

After serving out his appointment he was elected to the same post and served until, through the efforts of Senator McNary, he was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of the Philippines in 1921 by President Harding.

Mrs. Johns had died several years before that date and a short time before sailing to take over his new duties he was married to Elizabeth Busch, an Oregon girl who was graduated from the state university in 1913, and who survives him.

A staunch republican and with an ardent interest in politics, Justice Johns was elected a delegate from the islands to the republican national convention at Cleveland in 1924 and helped to nominate Mr. Coolidge for president.

Last May the jurist became seriously ill and after treatment by Manila physicians was ordered to Mayo brothers' clinic in Rochester, Minn. Here he underwent an operation and about four months ago came to Portland with his family. He had been bedfast since that time.

After his graduation of Willamette university and his entry into public life, Justice Johns established a record of achievement and a reputation for impartial justice and integrity that distinguished him. His kindly treatment and at the same time impartiality toward the island races caused all to revere him there. Until the last he hoped to recover and be able to return to Manila. He never resigned his justiceship and was a member of the court at the time of his death.

It was through the efforts of Justice Johns that the practice of keeping court records at Manila in Spanish gave way to use of the English language, and he caused court arguments there to be carried on in English when possible. After illness forced him to sail for the United States he received many letters from both natives and white people of the islands praising his work and wishing his speedy recovery and return.

[The Oregonian, 12 Jan 1932, pages 1 & 2; w/photo]

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Sep 26 2022, 15:51:23 UTC

  ---

• Residence: June 1 1870 - Oregon, USA
• Race: White
  • Reference: 1870 United States Federal Census - SmartCopy: Sep 26 2022, 17:27:12 UTC