Johnson, Cone

Cone Johnson, son of Samuel Caraway and Emily (Swilling) Johnson, was born on June 11, 1860, at Dawsonville, Georgia. He attended Emory College (Oxford, Georgia) and Peabody College (Nashville, Tennessee), where he received the B.A. degree in 1880. After graduation, he moved to Tyler, Texas, where he taught in the East Texas University for two years and read law in the office of Col. W. S. Herndon. In 1883 he was admitted to the bar and maintained an active law practice in Tyler for forty years. While a young lawyer, Johnson served successively as a state representative in 1886 and state senator from 1888 to 1892.

Quickly gaining a reputation as an excellent speaker and debater, Johnson first came to state-wide attention in 1887 when he was drafted as the “champion for the anti-prohibitionists.” It was during this period that Johnson first met and debated with Joseph Weldon Bailey in what was to become a long-lasting political feud.

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