The Johnson Brothers
Behind the Johnson & Johnson name, there were three brothers: Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson. So why isn’t the company called “Johnson & Johnson & Johnson?” The reason is simple: even though Robert Wood Johnson had the idea for the company and led it until his death in 1910, the business is actually named after his two brothers.
Robert Wood Johnson
Robert Wood Johnson was born in 1845 in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania and in 1861 – with two brothers already in the army during the first year of the Civil War — he became an apprentice at age 16 in Wood & Tittamer, an apothecary in Poughkeepsie, NY, belonging to his mother’s cousin.
After learning the business, which involved mixing medicinal plasters, he moved to New York in 1864 to continue his career in the wholesale medication business. In 1873, Robert Wood Johnson formed a medical products business with George Seabury, called Seabury & Johnson. The relationship between the partners was not always calm, and apparently it wasn’t improved when Seabury, in a business meeting, successfully recommended hiring his younger brother. This caused Johnson to hire his own younger brothers: Edward in 1876 and James in 1878. Since Robert Wood Johnson had a total of five brothers, Seabury was worried that he potentially could end up employing all of them if he didn’t put his foot down. In 1876 Robert Wood Johnson saw eminent British surgeon Sir Joseph Lister speak about antiseptic surgery, and he got the idea to start a business producing the first-ever sterile surgical dressings, an idea that became more and more attractive as disagreements with Seabury escalated.
Here are some die stamps and an envelope from Seabury & Johnson. The die stamps are pre-1883, when Johnson was still a partner in the firm. Incidentally, the information on this site is mostly correct – the company eventually was acquired by Johnson & Johnson, but in 1933. Here is another site with a little bit of Seabury & Johnson history.
(Edward Mead Johnson (L) and James Wood Johnson (R))
Early in 1886, Robert’s younger brothers, having left Seabury & Johnson, formed a new company – Johnson & Johnson — based on the idea of manufacturing sterile surgical dressings. Edward Mead Johnson’s abilities were in advertising and sales. Youngest brother James Wood Johnson was a gifted engineer, good at designing and building new production machinery, a skill he had honed at Seabury & Johnson. Once Robert was free of his obligations to Seabury & Johnson, he joined the new firm, bringing his business talents, capital, and the force of his personality to get the new company off the ground. The familiar Johnson & Johnson logo is actually based on James Wood Johnson’s handwriting, which can be seen below his photograph.
Edward Mead Johnson became interested in products to help digestion, and in the late 1890s, he left the Company to head the American Ferment Company, which made a product that helped infants who were unable to digest milk. In 1905 he changed the name to Mead Johnson & Company. The Johnson brothers knew something about starting successful businesses, because over 100 years later, Mead’s company (which has no connection with Johnson & Johnson) is still going strong too.
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I am Stephen Johnson, grandson of James Wood Johnson, son of Edward Mead Johnson. I think that there should be more of a mention about the ground breaking productas that both companies brought to market, not just at the turn of the century but in later years as well. The Johnson family is very diverse in its interests and the offspring of the founders are spread all over the country. None of wich remain affiliated with either company other than through stock holdings. JnJ having gone public in the sixties and Mead Johnson having merged with Brist Meyers in the sixties as well.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for commenting on the blog! You’re the first member of the Johnson family who’s left a comment. I certainly will include more about some more recent groundbreaking products and other developments in Johnson & Johnson history. (As part of the parameters of this blog, I don’t post on current products, so that’s why you only see historical information.) I do post on more recent historical topics than the 1800s/early 1900s, though, depending on the subject of the post…so please keep reading! Since Edward Mead Johnson left the Company early on (1890s) to start his own business, he’s the founder we have the least information on, which is why you haven’t seen a lot of posts about him. If you have any stories about him while he was at Johnson & Johnson that you’d like to share, feel free to post a comment or share them by email. All three of our founders were remarkable people who did a lot to change health care.
If you’re looking for information and insight on what Johnson & Johnson is doing today and on current products, please check out Johnson & Johnson By the Way, our media relations blog, at http://www.jnjbtw.com.
I know this is off topic… but if you won’t post it perhaps you could forward it to Stephen F. Johnson so that he may reply to me if he so desires?
I was wondering if you, Stephen F. Johnson, might be an engineer that worked for Boeing in the early-mid eighties?
That’s all.
Thanks,
Antonia
Dear Margaret,
My name is Jill L. Ware I live in Evansville, In…My grandfather went
to work for Meads’ when he was 16yrs old in 1916, in the mail room.
He, upon his retirement in 1963 was a vice president for Meads’!
My grandfather and Mead became very good friends over the years
that gramps worked for him…gramp’s name, (Adolph “Mel” Melzer
Gerard.) Mead’s, was a huge part of my family growing up and when I
was sixteen years old we moved into, Lambert Johnson’s home…….
A home that Lambert had built in 1957, very very close to his cousin
Daniel Johnson’s home. In fact, their famlies’ built a horse stable
in between the two homes to share.
Margaret, I have been trying for over ten years to finish
the story of my parents home in conjuntion with that of my
grandparents life connection to their home, via the Johnson
family. It’s been a very difficult task. Insofar, as material
that’s available to me is concerned.
I would be very grateful if you could pass my comments onto
Stephen Johnson. Without a Johnson family member, being able to
fill in the many many blanks I have in my historical
accountings—I would simply end up with conjecture at best
insofar, as why Lambert and Daniel left Evansville. And both left
very quickly—almost silently and very near the same time?
Was it the companies’ sale to Bristol? Personel reasons? A
combination of the two? Or, were there other things going on…
Stephan Johnson, being Mead’s son had to have lived here in Evansville
—further, he had to have heard or known somthing about his
relatives departure from here?
Margaret I would be very very grateful if you can pass this comment
onto Stephan Johnson…Perhaps, after talking with him
I will be able to put an ending a period onto my writings’!
That would be amazing, as I’ve been hitting concrete walls
on this subject since 1998!!!
Thank you Margaret in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Jill L. Ware
13 Oak Meadow
Evansville, In. 47725
(812)319-9094
jilli1119@gmail.com
Hi Jill,
We don’t have any contact information for Edward Mead Johnson’s descendants. Since Mead Johnson left Johnson & Johnson early in our history to start his own company, we have very little information about him. Your comment is up on the blog, and if any of his descendants see it, they will be able to get in touch with you if they have the information you’re looking for.
Margaret
I just happened upon this site and was more interested in comments from above. I am Lambert Johnson’s daughter (Mead’s cousin, although we called him Uncle). Please forward this on to Stephen or other family members to contact. It would be fun!! Although we moved to St. Louis, we are all spread around the country as are most of my cousins.
Hi Tish,
Glad to have another Johnson family member on Kilmer House! By means of your comment, your information is on the blog, and your cousins should be able to contact you by leaving a message in the comments section. So if any of your cousins are reading this, they will be able to find a way to get in touch with you. If you use Facebook, another option could be to search for your cousins there as well — I just got back in touch with some of my long-lost cousins that way.
Margaret
I have a question, unless I am not understanding completely your blog has a descrepency. If Stephen is the grandson of James wood Johnson and son of Edward mead Johnson, wouldn’t that make James the father and edward his son? If that’s the case the company would have been started by the father and his 2 sons. I mean i know fathers often name their first born after themselves so that could also be a possibility.
Hi Crystal,
The original Edward Mead Johnson and James Wood Johnson who founded Johnson & Johnson were brothers. The Company was founded by three brothers: Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson, all of whom have descendents. There are multiple generations using those names, or variations thereof, in the Johnson family. It’s possible that Mead Johnson named a son after his brother.
If any members of the family are reading and can shed some light on Crystal’s question, please feel free to leave a comment!
Margaret
I live in St. Louis and are wanting to get ahold of Trish Johnson. My family has a connection to Mead Johnson and I have in my possession several letters and pictures of Mead Johnson’s grandson Elmer C. Wirtz Jr. I also have many letters from Mead’s wife to her grandson Elmer. I am trying to connect the dots as Mead’s wife married Elmer C Wirtz Sr and they had a son Elmer Wirtz Jr. on October 12 1915. Elmer’s wife died shortly after but I cannot find her name or any information on her.
Dan,
We don’t have any contact information for Edward Mead Johnson’s descendants, but your information is up on the blog, so any interested members of his family would be able to get in touch with you about the letters and pictures.
Margaret
Margaret,
Thanks for the note. I meant Tish Johnson not Trish who indicated she lived in St. Louis. Hopefully I will hear from her.
Edward Mead Johnson B 1852 – D 1934 had four children
1 Edward Mead Johnson Jr (Ted) died in 1930 at age 42. He had a heart defect as a child which somewhat imspired his father into research which did prolong his life.
Son – Daniel Mead Johnson d Jan. 22, 1993 Very instrumental in building the company.
2. Lambert D Johnson d 1955 – Do not know the descendents
3 Dorothy Wood Johnson – Married Elmer C Wirtz Sr in 1914-15 and died sometime shortly thereafter
Son – Elmer C Wirtz Jr. d June 21 1942 in the Phillipines after the Bataan Death March.
4. James Wood Johnson was living in NY State back in the mid 40′s but have no futher information.
I stumbled on this blog searching for information about my grandfather, Lambert D. Johnson Sr. and see that my cousin, Patricia Johnson has already found it.
Tish,
If you read this note, I gave Meredith photos from my mother’s albums that hopefully you will received since Robin was just here. Most of the photos were taken by Padu and are fascinating. Pictures of Johnson Place as well.
Jeanne,
I have a couple of legal documents with Lambert and I believe some letters from Lambert to Elmer C Wirtz Jr. and Elmer C. Wirtz Sr if you are interested in getting a copy of them. I cannot find much about Dorothy Johnson Wirtz regarding her death but I believe she died during the flu epidemic in Philadelphia in 1918. I live in St. Louis and I believe Tish does as well.
Phillip Johnson here; grandson of Lambert D Johnson. He had
3 children: Gloria, Lambert Jr. ( my father), and Evelyn. Lambert Johnson Jr has 5 children: Jennifer + Robin living in Virgina; Phillip and Patricia ( Tish) living in St Louis; Lambert Johnson III in Florida.
Mead Johnson and Co was recently spun off from Bristol Myers.
To Jill, above, the Lambert Johnson Jr. family left Evansville and moved to St. Louis, Mo. in 1964. I have never delved into the reasoning for the move.
Mr. Phillip Johnson,
If you are interested in meeting at a mutual location in St. Louis I would be interested. I live in Webster Groves. cell phone 314-422-9316. I have photos of your Great Grandfather Mead and several letters.
Dan Garland