Albert Mussey Johnson (May 31, 1872 â€" January 7, 1948), was an
eccentric millionaire who served for many years as president of the
National Life Insurance Company, built Scotty's Castle in Death
Valley, and was variously partner, friend, and dupe of infamous Wild
West con man Death Valley Scotty, for whose outrageous antics he later
served as financier.Albert Johnson was born into a prominent family in
Oberlin, Ohio. He was the son of Albert Harrison Johnson (1838â€"1899)
and his wife Rebecca A. Jenkins (1842â€"1915). Johnson's father was an
extremely wealthy man who owned several banks, a utility company, and
a few stone quarries in the vicinity of Oberlin. He was also President
of the Arkansas Midland Railroad Company, which was based in Helena,
Arkansas.Although records of Albert M. Johnson's early life are
frequently contradictory and uncertain, it is known that he was given
a very religious upbringing. It has been asserted numerous times that
Johnson was raised a Quaker, but some sources indicate that due to the
close affiliation between Johnson's grandparents and John Shipherd,
Presbyterian minister and founder of Oberlin College it is far more
likely Johnson's family was Presbyterian or Congregationalist. Either
way, however, Johnson lived a devout lifestyle and was a lifelong
non-smoker and teetotaler.Johnson attended Oberlin college for one
year before transferring to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
While a student in the civil engineering program at Cornell, Albert
met and fell in love with Bessie Penniman, a fellow student at
Cornell, and the daughter of a wealthy fruit and nut rancher from
Walnut Creek, California. Albert Johnson graduated from Cornell in
1895, and a year later married Bessie. Albert Mussey Johnson Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter