Alvin Jewett Johnson was born on September 23, 1827, in Wallingford, Rutland, Vermont.

He was a teacher, book agent, and publisher. After working on the family farm from an early age, he enrolled in the Black River Academy, supporting himself by working on farms in the summer and teaching lower school in winter. In 1849, he moved to Lunenburg Court House in southern Virginia, where he taught for three years. In 1853, he returned North and became the general agent for C.C. Colton’s Atlas in Boston. In 1857, Johnson moved to New York and the panic of 1857 brought him an opportunity to purchase the Atlas. He became the head of A.J. Johnson & Co. He reformed the system of subscription canvassing and reconstructed the Atlas, which became famous all over the United States as “Johnson’s Illustrated Atlas”. In 1860, Johnson published another competing atlas, “Johnson's New Illustrated (steel plate) Family Atlas, with Descriptions, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical” and in 1867, "Johnson's Canada West".

In 1851, he married Lucia Helena Warner (1828-1886). He died on April 22, 1884, in New York City, New York.

Alexander Johnson was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at McGill University in 1857. From 1886 to 1903, he served as Vice-Principal of the University.