William Patterson Johnson was the older brother of President Andrew Johnson and their sister, Elizabeth Johnson, who died as a child. Both he and his brother were apprenticed by their mother to a tailor, James J. Selby of Raleigh, North Carolina, to learn a trade. Their father Jacob Johnson had recently died from the effects of saving several friends from drowning after their boat overturned. After serving in their apprenticeship for several years, on June 15, 1824 they ran away together. A $10 reward was advertised for their return on June 24, 1824, but they were never caught. William became a carpenter and made carpentry his lifelong profession. He married Sarah Giddings McDonough in 1832 in Raleigh, Wake, No. Carolina. They moved to Greenville, Greene, Tennessee where they had five children, then moved to La Grange, Troup, Georgia, where they had four more children. The last two children were born in Gerard, Russell, Alabama just across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia. Working as a carpenter all his life, William began making grist mills. He moved with his family to Brazoria, Texas, stopping to do roofing work in New Orleans along the way, then they moved on to Brazoria, Texas. There William went to work for J. H. Dance and Bros., who made grist mills and, later, fire arms (revolvers) for the CSA. The Dance brothers were also from North Carolina originally and also had been in Columbus, Georgia, so they may have met there. William and his family were in Brazoria for a couple of years. His daughter Olive died, probably of the Yellow Fever epidemic, the year before her father's death. Mid 1865, William was appointed by his brother President Andrew Johnson to the position of Collector of the Port of Velasco which was at the mouth of the Brazos River. A few months later, on October 9th, 1865, he was out "birding" in Velasco, and while crossing the Brazos River, his gun caught on a gunnel of the boat discharging its full load of pellets into his arm. On October 11th, his arm was removed as it had "mortified," i.e., become gangrenous. Doctors were ordered to help William, in company of armed Union soldiers, but they arrived too late to save his life. William died in Brazoria on the 24th of October 1865 with most of his family present. He was buried in Columbia Cemetery, West Columbia, Brazoria, Texas. His family returned to Tennessee where other family members lived.

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