William B. Johnston. This gentleman is the fifth of a family of six children born to Robert Johnston and Mary Johnston, nee Beadles. These parents, who by birth were Virginians, settled in Rutherford Co. Tenn. about 1817, and there in November 1820, William B. Johnston was born. He was educated in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where in early life he became a salesman, thus beginning a merchantile career of twenty years duration. Mr. Johnston came to Paducah in 1864, and three years later established a plow manufactory, which for some years had a profitable existence. He is now the owner of extensive real estate in Kentucky and Tennessee, has retired from active business and is still a resident of Paducah. In 1852, in Tennessee, he married Mary Ellis, who died in 1860, leaving a daughter Ella Johnston, who died subsequently. His present wife to whom he was married in 1867, was Medora Small, daughter of Braxton Small, a well known and early settler of McCracken County, Ky. As the result of this union he has one child named Phillip Braxton Johnston. Mr. Johnston is a worthy member of the Baptist Church, and a man universally honored for his many virtues.

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