He sinks To Rest

Mournful and distressing news for the People of Cherokee Georgia.

It is with unspeakable sorrow that we are called upon to announce the death of Col. Abda Johnson, who departed this life on last Sabbath afternoon. Since January last he has been confined to his room and house suffering with a severe and painful attack of rheumatism. Under the skilful and devoted medical attention he had so far recovered from his very dangerous attack as to inspire almost certain hope of a speedy restoration to his usual health. Evidently he was on the high road to health and the resumption of his usual duties as a member of the bar of the Cherokee circuit, thus relieving the minds of his family and friends of the great anxiety which his disease created.

While sitting alone in his library room on Sabbath last he was heard to make an unusual noise, as if of suffocation, when on some of his family entering the room he was found struggling for breath and in a few moments after being laid down ceased to breathe forever.

Thus has this long and painful contest ended, and our whole ?? left to mourn this loss.

“Death loves a shining mark.” In the last few years has this truth been most painfully illustrated among the members of the bar of the Cherokee Circuit: First, Col. Warren Akin, the well known and able lawyer and member of the Confederate Congress; Next, the Hon. Dawson A. Walker, former judge of the Superior court of the Cherokee Circuit and afterwards associate justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia; Next the Hon. Amos T. Akerman, former Attorney General of the United States and a member of Gen. Grant’s cabinet, and justly regarded as one of the ablest lawyers of the Commonwealth; and last, though not least of all, our departed fellow citizen and friend, Col. Abda Johnson, former legislator of the State, Colonel in the Confederate service, and at the time of his death the generally admitted and pronounced leader of the bar of this circuit. This high position, so proudly gained and worthily worn, ranked him decidedly among the first lawyers of the state and long will it be before the gap created by this decease shall be filled if ever.

In the intercourse of life he was the unpretending, modest, yet elegant and accomplished gentleman, and without any pretentious mannerism, was the most courteous, kind, considerate and polite gentleman we ever knew. Strong in his attachments, he was an invaluable friend, leaving kind remembrances behind him on the hearts of the poor and obscure of his goodness and unblazoned charities.

No kinder husband, no more gentle and tender father than he. The family and the social circle have lost their best and most valued ornament, while among his brethren of the bar but one sentiment of deep regret prevails at the departure of their foremost man. We look for him involuntarily in the room where the court is now in session, and the painful knowledge of his lamented taking off turns us away to the little mound in the neighboring cemetery, where in silence he shall sleep until the trumpet sounds. And here we leave him, slumbering in the faith of the Methodist church, of which he was a strong believer for more than half a century.

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August 25, 1881 Page 1
Colonel Abda Johnson.

An Interesting Sketch of the Deceased by An Army Companion.

[A two column article originally published in the Atlanta Constitution; see issue of July 14, 1881]

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November 17, 1881, Page 3

Tribute of Respect to the Memory of the Late Abda Johnson, of Cartersville by the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Georgia. [died July 10, 1881]

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March 9, 1882, Page 1

The Late Col. Abda Johnson.
The Cartersville Bar Drafts Resolutions Commemorative of Their Late Brother.

[Long article—see earlier death notice.]