Rachel Kerr Johnson was born in February of 1837 in Hookstown, Pennsylvania. When she was eighteen, Rachel attended the Steubenville Female Seminary in Ohio, where she remained to teach upon her graduation. She returned to Hookstown in the fall of 1858 to teach at the Hookstown Select School. On June 5, 1860, Rachel married William Johnson. Closely following the wedding, they departed as missionaries for the Northwestern Provinces of India, where they stayed until 1884. She established herself as a homemaker during her husband's evangelistic mission. Upon their return to the States, Rachel became a frequent speaker at women's missionary society meetings in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and northern West Virginia. By 1887, Will and Rachel moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where Will had accepted an elected appointment to the presidency of Biddle University. In July of 1888, Rachel Kerr Johnson died of injuries sustained during a buggy accident.