William M. Johnson was born in Newton, Sussex County, N. J., December 2, 1847, and received his preparatory education at the Newton Colle- giate Institute and the State Model School at Trenton. He was graduated from Princeton College with honor, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1867. Subsequently he also received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. Mr. Johnson read law in Trenton with the late Hon. Edward MT. Scudder until the latter's appointment to the bench, and afterward in the same city with Garret D. W. Vroom, now and for several years State Law Reporter, and was admitted to the bar of New .Jersey at Trenton in June, 1870, as an attorney, and in June, 1873, as a counselor, As a member of the firm of Kingnran & Johnson he successfully practiced his profession in Trenton from 1870 to December, 1874, when he moved to Hackensack, Bergen CouiftN,, where he has since resided, becoming one of the recognized leaders of the Bergen County bar. In connection with an extensive legal business, and as a progressive, public spirited, and liberalminded citizen, he has achieved a wide reputation and an honorable stand- ing throughout the State. He is one of the most conspicuous figures in the public and political life of his section. He has appeared in a large number of very important cases, and is universally regarded as one of the ablest and most talented lawyers of the county, eminent in the profession, and remarkably successful as an advocate and counselor. His sound judgment, his integrity, his broad legal attainments, and his fine sense of honor as a man have won for hint the confidence of not only his clients, but of the entire community, in an unusual degree.

He is also one of the influential leaders of the Republican party in the State, having served on the Republican State Committee in 1884, and being a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1888. In the autumn of 1895 he was nominated and elected State Senator from Bergen County for a term of three years, and so ably and satisfactorily did he discharge the duties of that office that in 1898 he was re-elected for a second term of three years. He has been active in proposing and shaping legislation in the interest of the taxpayers of both the State and his district, and has served as Chairman of the Committees on Appropriations, State Library, and the Judiciary and as a member of the Committees on Boroughs and Townships and State Hospitals. In 1898 and 1899 he was the leader of his party on the floor of the Senate. He was the first Republican senator ever elected in Bergen County, and received 6,287 votes in 1895 and 6,999 in 1898; these facts speak volumes for the popularity, the confidence, and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens, while his re-election by an increased vote attests the satisfaction he has rendered in this important trust. In 1900 he was elected President of the New Jersey Senate and became Acting Governor during the absence of Governor Voor- hees in Europe in May, 1900, and in August of the same year he was ap- pointed by President McKinley First Assistant Postmaster-General of the United States, vice Perry S. Heath resigned.

Senator Johnson has also been prominent in the local affairs and public interests of Hackensack, where he has so long resided. He has held various town offices, has served on the Hackensack Board of Education, and has taken for many years a deep interest in the development of the public school system. " The Johnson Public Library," costing nearly $50,000, was erected in 1900 by Mr. Johnson, at his own expense, and presented by him to the Town of Hackensack. Outside of the lines of his profession he has been eminently successful in the management of a number of business in- terests. He was one of the original organizers and founders of the Hackensack Bank, and has served upon its directorate continuously from its organization to the present time. He is also President of the Hackensack Trust Company. He is likewise a prominent member and one of the officers of the Second Reformed Church of Hackensack, while he is also a member of the Oritani Field Club, the North Jersey Country Club, the Hamilton Club, the Lawyers' Club, and the Princeton Club of New York. In every capacity and relation in life Senator Johnson has exhibited consummate ability, a broad and liberal knowledge, and a commendable public spirit and enterprise. Privately lie is possessed of scholarly attainments, and is universally respected for those virtues which make up the loyal friend and honest man.