wax products manufacturer, b. near Elyria, Ohio. He moved to Elkhorn, Wis., with his family in 1841. He began his business career as an office boy with the Milwaukee and La Crosse R.R. Co. and later established a book and stationery business at Kenosha in partnership with Ezra Simmons. In 1882 he moved to Racine where he became a parquet flooring salesman for the Racine Hardware Manufacturing Co., and in 1886 he purchased the flooring business from the company. A few years later he established his own factory for manufacturing floor waxes and wood finishes. When his son, HERBERT FISK JOHNSON, b. Kenosha, became a partner in 1906, the firm was renamed S. C. Johnson&Son. Herbert became president of the firm on his father's death in 1919, and served in this office until his own death in 1928. He was largely responsible for the international expansion of the company, and had widespread business affiliations in Racine and in other cities. F. L. Holmes, et al., eds., Wis. (5 vols., Chicago, 1946); S. C. Johnson and Son, This Company of Ours (Racine, 1954); Racine Times-Call, Dec. 8, 1919; Racine Journal-News, Feb. 15, 1928.Learn More
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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]
