Born on his family’s farm in Mingo, Ohio, Thomas Lynn Johnson (1855–1926) graduated from the National Normal School, a two-year teacher’s college, before entering the law program at Boston University (LL.B., 1878). He took up law practice in Cleveland, eventually joining the firm headed by John Griswold White, and served as president of the Cleveland Bar Association from 1912 to 1914. A local history written in 1917 described Johnson’s career as “one of quiet and undeviating devotion to his profession. He has never cared to take an active part in political affairs, although, as a citizen interested in good government, he has always been ready to co-operate in measures looking toward better civic conditions.” He died at his home in Oberlin.