Samuel Curtis Johnson (December 24, 1833 – December 6, 1919) was an American businessman. He was the founder of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., of Racine, Wisconsin.
Life
Samuel Curtis Johnson, Sr., was the son of Phineas Miller Johnson and Orra Ann Collins. Johnson had deep New England roots; his great grandfather Henry Johnson married Abigail Hubbard, a great granddaughter of Rev. George Phillips, one of the founders of Watertown, Massachusetts. Johnson's immigrant ancestor Henry Johnson arrived in the Connecticut Valley from England in 1626.[1]
In 1882, Johnson moved to Racine where he became a parquet flooring salesman for the Racine Hardware Manufacturing Co. In 1886, he purchased the flooring business from the company and renamed it Johnson's Prepared Paste Wax Company. A few years later, he established his own factory for manufacturing floor waxes and wood finishes. When his son, Herbert Fisk Johnson, Sr., became a partner in 1906, the firm was renamed S. C. Johnson & Son.[2]