Andrew "Frank" Johnson, Jr.

Andrew Johnson Jr., commonly known as Frank Johnson, was born on August 5, 1852, in Greeneville, Tennessee. He was the fifth and final child of Eliza McCardle Johnson and Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, who served from 1865 to 1869. Frank Johnson’s siblings included Martha, Charles, Mary, and Robert Johnson, born between 1828 and 1834. His birth occurred 18 years after his next-oldest sibling.

In 1860, at the age of eight, Frank was recorded in the U.S. Census as residing in Greeneville with his mother and two older brothers. During the American Civil War, his father was often absent, traveling for political work, while Frank stayed in East Tennessee with his mother at his sister Mary’s residence in Carter County. The Johnson family was reunited in Nashville in 1863.

During his teenage years, Frank Johnson lived at the White House, sharing the residence with the children of his older sisters, Martha Patterson and Mary Stover. He attended Georgetown Academy in Washington, D.C., and later studied at Vermont Episcopal School for the 1865–66 term.

By the 1870 census, he was listed as Franklin Johnson and was working as a store clerk in Greeneville, reportedly at a shop owned by his brother-in-law William R. Brown, who was married to his sister Mary. A Cincinnati reporter described him that year as a "genteel-looking youth." His primary occupation was as a journalist and newspaper editor for the Greeneville Intelligencer, a weekly paper likely founded to support his father's candidacy for the U.S. Senate. His partner in the newspaper was Thomas Maloney, who had previously served as private secretary to Andrew Johnson and married Frank’s niece, Lillie Stover, in 1875.

Frank Johnson ran for a seat in the Tennessee state legislature in August 1876 but was unsuccessful in the primary election. On November 25, 1875, he married Kate May "Bessie" Rumbough, the daughter of James Rumbough of Warm Springs, North Carolina. At the time, Frank was 23 years old, and Bessie was 18. Soon after, she reportedly returned to her parents' household due to concerns over Frank’s drinking habits.

Throughout his adult life, Frank Johnson struggled with alcoholism. He later worked as a farmer in Carter County, Tennessee. Subsequently, he managed a cotton mill at Union (now Bluff City), Sullivan County, Tennessee, which came into his possession through foreclosure by the heirs of Andrew Johnson.

Frank Johnson died suddenly on March 12, 1879, at the age of 26 in Union Depot, his death attributed to tuberculosis, possibly complicated by alcoholism. His passing was described as unexpected. He was buried in the family burial site at the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery on Monument Hill. He died without children.

In contemporary accounts, Frank Johnson was characterized as being "genial, cultured, friendly, and popular." A newspaper note a year before his death referred to his brief involvement in journalism and politics, noting that he exhibited little interest in public life at that time, but leaving open the possibility of future prominence.