Charlotte C. Johnston, 1845-1917

Charlotte C. Johnston was perhaps the most eclectically talented of the Johnston siblings. Early in her life she is said to have been an artist in watercolor and crayon and had a studio of her own. However, she later abandoned her art for a career on the stage. She was a gifted pianist and for a time, taught elocution. Charlotte was a member of the Boston Museum Company and provided dramatic readings and other stage performances throughout New England.[ii] In its collection, the American Antiquarian Society has several programs and other memorabilia from Charlotte’s stage career.

Charlotte was also an active staff member of the Sacred Heart Review, which published a lengthy tribute to her many talents, following her death in 1917. The Very Rev. Richard S. Cartwright of the Paulist Order, son of Mary Priscilla Johnston Cartwright, celebrated the High Mass of Requiem.[iii] Rev. Richard Stearns Cartwright would go on to become professor of homiletics at the Mission House on the campus of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.[iv]

Charlotte’s piety was consistent with the strong Catholic faith that came from her grandfather, Thomas Murphy. Her mother’s sister, Mary Priscilla Murphy, joined the Sisters of Charity. One of Mary Priscilla Johnston’s children, Rose Genevieve, followed her example and joined the Sisters of Charity in Halifax, Nova Scotia as Sister M. Eucharia. A son, William Cartwright followed his brother Richard in joining the Paulists and had a distinguished career in missionary and parish service.[v]

 

[i]American Antiquarian Society, The David Claypoole Johnston Family Box List,Box 13 Folder 4.

[ii]Brigham, Charles S., David Claypoole Johnston: The American Cruikshank; Reprinted from the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, April 1940; Published by the Society, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1941.

[iii]The Sacred Heart Review, Volume 57, Number 6, 20 January 1917.

[iv] Memorial to Rev. Fr. Richard Stearns Cartwright, CSP, Paulist Archives, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44547706

[v]Memorial to Rev. Fr. William John Cartwright, CSP, Paulist Archives, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44547707/william-john-cartwright