February 10, 1854(1854-02-10) (aged 46) Washington, D.C.
Spouse
Jane Alricks
Children
4
Ovid Fraser Johnson (March 3, 1807 – February, 1854) was a Pennsylvania lawyer, who served as state Attorney General.
He was born the son of Jehodia (or Jehoidia) Pitt Johnson and Hannah Fraser (or Frazer or Frazier).[1][2] He was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county in 1831. He married Jane Alricks, a descendant of a New Netherland settler.[1] They had four children. The one named after the father also became a lawyer.[2]
Johnson was co-author, with Benjamin Parke, of A Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, from [7 Apr. 1830 to 15 Apr. 1835] (Harrisburg, 1836).
The 1838 election of Governor Porter led to the appointment of Johnson to state Attorney General when he was only 31 years old. Porter's re-election led to Johnson serving two terms. Johnson's most notable case was Prigg v. Pennsylvania, where Edward Prigg was tried by Pennsylvania for kidnapping a "fugitive slave", despite Prigg's acting under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. Johnson took the unusual view that the federal and state laws were actually compatible, a view that would be rejected by the Supreme Court.[3]
