Napoleon Bonaparte Johnson (more often written as either N. B. Johnson or Napoleon B. Johnson) was born on January 17, 1891, in Maysville, Oklahoma (then in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory). He was the oldest child of John Wade and Sarah (née Mays) Johnson, who had three other children, as well. John Johnson was half Cherokee, and his wife was white, making Napoleon and his siblings one-quarter Cherokee. The father was a professional stock trader and an elder in a local Presbyterian church. John raised his son like any other native Cherokee boy and saw to it that he started his education in a local Presbyterian mission school. He moved to Claremore in 1905, which he called his home most of his life. His formal education ended with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree at Cumberland Universi