The Johnson Family, originally from Missouri, came to Texas in 1844, moving several times before finally settling in Hays County. Thomas Johnson and his wife, Catherine Johnson, had six children. Thomas Johnson, a schoolmaster, established the Johnson Institute in 1852, thirty miles north of San Marcos. The Johnson Institute was a private secondary school with a coeducational student body. Three of the Johnson children would later teach there. A family member of particular interest is the daughter, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Ellen Johnson, born on May 9, 1840 in Cole County, Missouri.

Lizzie taught at various schools in the Austin area. She also had “unusual financial ability” and was hired in the 1860s to keep the books for some local cattlemen. Using the funds she earned from teaching and bookkeeping, Lizzie started investing in cattle herself and did quite well. Well enough in fact that she was able to register her own brand on June 1, 1871. She then bought a ten-acre plot of land in Austin on which to keep her cattle. She continued to flourish financially, buying a large, two-story house two years later and forming a reputation as a very successful “Cattle Queen.” Lizzie Johnson is thought to be the first woman ever to ride up the Chisholm Trail with her own cattle under her own brand.

On June 8, 1879, Lizzie married Hezekiah G. Williams, though a prenuptial agreement stipulated that Lizzie would keep her own property and control her own financial affairs. Together, the couple would continue to succeed in business, though at the time it was well understood that Lizzie was the real factor behind their success. They became community leaders in Hays County, even involving themselves in politics, trying to move the county seat from San Marcos in 1908.

The Johnson Family, originally from Missouri, came to Texas in 1844, moving several times before finally settling in Hays County. Thomas Johnson and his wife, Catherine Johnson, had six children. Thomas Johnson, a schoolmaster, established the Johnson Institute in 1852, thirty miles north of San Marcos. The Johnson Institute was a private secondary school with a coeducational student body. Three of the Johnson children would later teach there. A family member of particular interest is the daughter, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Ellen Johnson, born on May 9, 1840 in Cole County, Missouri.

Lizzie taught at various schools in the Austin area. She also had “unusual financial ability” and was hired in the 1860s to keep the books for some local cattlemen. Using the funds she earned from teaching and bookkeeping, Lizzie started investing in cattle herself and did quite well. Well enough in fact that she was able to register her own brand on June 1, 1871. She then bought a ten-acre plot of land in Austin on which to keep her cattle. She continued to flourish financially, buying a large, two-story house two years later and forming a reputation as a very successful “Cattle Queen.” Lizzie Johnson is thought to be the first woman ever to ride up the Chisholm Trail with her own cattle under her own brand.

On June 8, 1879, Lizzie married Hezekiah G. Williams, though a prenuptial agreement stipulated that Lizzie would keep her own property and control her own financial affairs. Together, the couple would continue to succeed in business, though at the time it was well understood that Lizzie was the real factor behind their success. They became community leaders in Hays County, even involving themselves in politics, trying to move the county seat from San Marcos in 1908.

Hezekiah died in 1914, and Lizzie inherited the bulk of Hezekiah’s estate. This, added to her own property holdings, formulated a rather large collection of assets spanning several businesses located in Travis, Hays, Llano, Trinity, Jeff Davis, and Culbertson counties. Once her husband died, she moved into a building she owned on Congress Avenue in Austin, renting out other floors to tenants and continuing to manage her own affairs. She became somewhat reclusive and had little company in the way of friends or family. She had several eccentric habits noted by Austin citizens— for example, despite her relatively vast wealth, her clothing appeared ragged, and she limited her meals to a bowl of vegetable soup from a local café. Because of these habits, people were surprised to find out after her death on October 9, 1924, that Lizzie Johnson’s estate totaled nearly a quarter of a million dollars. She is buried in Austin.

Sources:

Taylor, T.U. “Johnson Institute.” Frontier Times. Volume 18, Number 5, Feb. 1941.

Duncan, Roberta S. “Elizabeth Johnson Williams.” Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed April 7, 2010.