George Johnson (supercentenarian)
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- For other people with this name, see George Johnson.
George Henry Johnson (May 1, 1894 – August 30, 2006) was, at the time of his death, California's oldest man at 112 years of age and one of the few surviving veterans of the First World War. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1917, and served in the Fourteenth Company, 154th Battalion. He did not see combat during the war (but served at Fort Greene, North Carolina and Fort Dix, New Jersey), and was believed to be the last surviving World War I veteran in California from 2005.
Born in Philadelphia, Johnson led a rich and eventful life – by his own accounts, he had rubbed shoulders at various times with Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford, and also claimed that his grandfather was U.S. President Andrew Johnson. His father, James Edward Johnson, the manager of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway station in Philadelphia, was alleged to be the illegitimate love-child of the former president. Though unconfirmed by independent journalists or academic researchers, some people address the facts of his father James' unusual position of authority for an African American, as well as the claim that James was present at the Gettysburg Address in 1863, as evidence that George Johnson was truly the grandson of the 17th president.
Johnson moved to San Francisco with his wife before April 1930 (despite news reports to the contrary, the 1930 census clearly lists him as living in San Francisco, a former veteran, and his father born in Kentucky, with wife Ida). In 1935 they moved to Richmond, California. They never had any children (possibly due to an injury George had suffered as a teenager), and lived in the house he built with his own hands in Richmond until he died.
He attributed his longevity to clean living free from drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Despite his rich diet, he remained in good health most of his life. The doctor performing the autopsy on Johnson remarked how physically well he was – his internal organs were said to be in the condition of someone half his age.
On March 2, 2006, George Johnson became the oldest-known living Californian, following the death of Marion Higgins, 112, of Seal Beach – a distinction he held until his own death at 112 as well. However, a woman one month older was validated not long afterwards, so George lost this status posthumously.
UPI reports at the time of Johnson's death mistakenly stated that he was the last surviving American veteran of World War I. There were actually at least seventeen other known American WWI veterans who were still alive at the time of Johnson's death, though the Los Angeles Times reported that Johnson was the last WWI veteran in California [1].
