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FRANK PEARSON JOHNSON
1872-1935
Frank Pearson Johnson, who became one of the Southwest's foremost
bankers and business leaders, was born August 9, 1872, at Lexington,
Mississippi, the first son of Herbert Pearson and Lucy Chase (Fultz)
Johnson. When he was five years old the family moved to Kosciusko,
Mississippi, where his father was a lawyer and publisher of a weekly
newspaper.
When Frank Johnson was eleven years old his father died leaving a
very modest estate which the mother determined should be conserved
for the education of the children, there being three brothers and
one sister. The youthful Frank showed a sparkle of the promise he
later fulfilled by being just as determined to earn his own
schooling, which he did, entering Mississippi A. & M. College at the
age of fourteen and being graduated with first honors in his class
and a B. A. degree four years later. While in school young Johnson
found time from his studies and his classes to serve as a military
cadet and advanced to captain before his graduation.
In 1890, in partnership with his brother, Hugh M. Johnson, he
bought the Kosciusko Star, of which his father had been editor,
consolidating it with another newspaper and by hustling and working
long hours the two brothers built the country weekly into a
profitable business.
Frank Johnson sold his interest in The Star to his brother in
1895 and moved to Oklahoma City where he was a school teacher,
editor, and in the insurance and mortgage business.
In 1901 he organized the Oklahoma City Savings Bank and it might
be said that there his business career really began. At the age of
29, this young man who as a poor boy had been thrown on his own
resources in a sleepy Mississippi country town, had become a bank
president. He had found his life's work and had entered upon a
career which he pursued with a singleness of purpose that was
certain to bring success.
The Oklahoma City Savings Bank had a capital of only $15,000, but
Frank Johnson made progress with it. In 1903 he effected a merger
with the American National Bank and the new institution had capital
stock of $100,000. Under his leadership, the American National Bank
became one of Oklahoma's strongest banks, capital being increased to
$500,000 in 1909 and to $1,000,000 in 1923.
Meanwhile, his brother, Hugh M. Johnson, had come to the First
National Bank of Oklahoma City after successfully operating the
First National Bank of Chandler, Oklahoma. For eight years the two
brothers headed banks across the street from each other at Main and
Robinson. Then in 1927 they decided to join forces again, as they
had in their youth, and the resulting merger and the later addition
of the Security National Bank gave Oklahoma City one of the
Southwest's largest financial institutions, the First National Bank
and Trust Company, with resources of more than $60,000,000.
Frank Johnson was president of the First National Bank and Trust
Company when his unexpected death came from a heart attack, October
5, 1935.
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