Charles R. Johnson

Charles Robinson Johnson (1830–1904) was a merchant in California who traded his goods from sailing vessels up and down the coast of both California and Mexico. He was a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of that city, and was the Los Angeles County clerk.

Personal

Johnson was born in 1830 in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Before his marriage, Johnson was known as "a famous playboy"; in 1851, he was married to Dolores Bandini, daughter of Juan Bandini, in San Diego, and they had one child, Charles A. Johnson. They lived for eighteen years at 451 South Main Street, the site of the future Rosslyn Hotel, then moved to 112 East 12th Street.

Johnson was stricken with apoplexy and died March 25, 1904. Interment was at New Calvary Cemetery.

During the French intervention in Mexico (1861–67), Johnson again went to sea with a trading vessel that supplied Mexican ports along the coast. He then made an "extensive tour through the interior, under the protection of" General Ignacio Pesqueira, at that time the governor of Sonora.

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