John Rochelle Lee Johnson, Sr., was born in Nansemond County, Virginia, in 1869. After receiving his degree from the College of William & Mary in 1893, he commenced a career of education and scholarship that would continue throughout his lifetime. He earned a Master's degree in English literature from the University of Chicago by attending summer sessions there in between academic years spent in Franklin, Virginia. In Franklin, Johnson would serve as a high school teacher and then principal before leaving to teach at the college level. He was a professor of English at Radford State Teachers College beginning in 1916, and then returned to the College of William & Mary as a professor in the Department of English in 1928. He would go on to serve in this position for the next nineteen years, during which time both of his sons attended and graduated from the school. He died in 1953 at his home in Williamsburg and was survived by his wife, Susie (Rawls) Johnson.

Robert Bruce Johnson, the younger son of J.R.L. and Susie Johnson, graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1933 and followed his father's example by becoming an educator in the state of Virginia. He began teaching at Glen Allen High School in Richmond, Virginia, in 1934, and continued in that position until he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in September 1942. During his service in World War II, Johnson trained as an airplane mechanic at Lowry Army Air Field base in Colorado and eventually reached the rank of corporal in the Eighth Army Flying Force Fortress group stationed in England. Following his discharge from the army in September 1945, Johnson returned to teaching in Richmond and lived there until his death in 1977.