St.
Clair County
Remnants Of The Past
JOHNSON, Waldo Porter
(1817—1885)
Senate Years of Service: 1861-1862
Party: Democrat
JOHNSON, Waldo Porter, (nephew of Joseph Johnson), a Senator from
Missouri; born in Bridgeport, Harrison County, Va., September 16, 1817;
attended public and private schools; graduated from Rector College,
Pruntytown, Taylor County, Va., in 1839; studied law; admitted to the
bar and commenced practice in Harrison County, Va., in 1841; moved to
Osceola, St. Clair County, Mo., in 1842 and continued the practice of
law; served in the war with Mexico as a member of the First Missouri
Regiment of Mounted Volunteers; member, State house of representatives
1847; elected circuit attorney in 1848 and judge of the seventh judicial
circuit in 1851; resigned in 1852 and resumed the practice of law;
member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C., in an
effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; elected as a
Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 17, 1861, to
January 10, 1862, when he was expelled from the Senate for disloyalty to
the government; served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War;
attained the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Missouri Infantry;
appointed a member of the Senate of the Confederate States to fill a
vacancy; resided in Hamilton, Canada, from August 1865 to April 1866;
returned to Osceola, Mo., and resumed the practice of his profession;
president of the State constitutional convention in 1875; died in
Osceola, Mo., on August 14, 1885; interment in Forest Hill Cemetery,
Kansas City, Mo.
Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,
1771-Present