| Summary: | my first chore in the morning was to put kerosene in the lamps and wash the chimney. My father was a well driller and many of his wells are still in operation. He was also a good mechanic and had a large shop and a good assortment of tools. Mildred and Ernest spent many hours in the shop making wagons and contraptions on which to ride. They also learned to roller skate in the hay loft of the barn. I recall two occasions when we caused our parents some concern. One time when we were home alone, we took a young colt and had it harnessed and hitched to an old buggy. We were about to start out when they came home; a little angry, but so thankful the adventure had gone no further. Another time, one of the McLatchy beys came in a small coupe. There was a gang of us and we decided to go to Cartwright. The car wouldn't hold all of us, so we tied the same old buggy behind and were on our merry way before father realized what we were doing. We made a successful trip to town and back, much to the relief of our parents. Our first car was a 1913 Overland, and I don't believe it was ever over one hundred miles from home. Our second car was a Dodge. One time mama went to Fairview by train and papa had gone to Charbonneau in the old Overland. Mama was very concerned when Ernest met her with the new Dodge. She called papa by phone to see if she should let Ernest drive her home. Papa thought it was okay. Ernest was about twelve years old at the time. There were nine children in the family, two of whom died in infancy. Leonard in Illinois, and Morris in 1910 and was the first one buried at Yellowstone Point Cemetery. Leona had an artistic nature and was always looking in the catalogues and sewing the latest dresses and hats for her dolls. She did some nice oil painting, too, due to the help of our teacher, Margaret Putnam (now Mrs. George Larson of Alexander). Leona is married to Severin Carlson and has two daughters. They operated a hotel in Superior for thirty years, and are now retired and living there. Florrie was our tomboy and if there was nothing else to do she would make an attmpt to ride one of the pigs. She married Ed Berlandi of Buford, who died thirteen years ago. She lives in Sutherlin, Oregon, near her only son, Ed. Mildred became Mrs. Milton Olson and is the only one to remain near our old home. The rest of us like this very much, as we are able to return to the scenes of a happy childhood. They have two children, Lila (Mrs. Gene Larsen) of Culbertson, Montana and Milton, Jr. at home. Milton passed away in 1975. Ernest worked for Red Owl and Naional Stores in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and married Minnie Orton. He died at the age of 53, and is buried in Yellowstone Point Cemetery. Alice was married to Virgil Ludington of Williston where she lives. He died in 1974. They had seven children and she visits them, going from coast to coast. Billy was the youngest and after our mother died in 1929, he spent many hours with Aunt Jane. He joined the Navy and saw much of the South Pacific. He was in some fierce battles around the Aleutian Islands. On his return he married Helen Swanson of Indiana. He died at the age of 53, too, and is buried in Fort Snelling Military Cemetery near St. Paul, Minnesota. His six children live in Minneapolis. I was the oldest in the family and married Vernon Bailey. We have three sons, two live here and one in California. We are retired and live in Minneapolis. I am amazed when I think of the past, that there were so few fires. We children carried lamps around, up and down stairs, and never had an accident and others must have done likewise. In looking back, there was sorrow, too, of course, but "time heals all wounds" and nature can help us to forget. So only happy memories are left of our lives on the prairie, like going to Uncle Roy's and spending the night and if it was winter time he always popped corn for us. I shall be forever grateful to our parents for our home in North Dakota. Mother passed away suddenly in September 1929. In 1936, father married Esther Sauer of Tolley, North Dakota. She taught school several years before their children, Alan and Margaret were born. Father passed away from a stroke in June of 1947, and is buried beside mother in Yellowstone Point Cemetery. Esther Johnson and children then moved to Hamilton, Montana to be near her sister where she taught school for many years. From there she moved to lone, Washington where she taught and then retired, making her home there. Her two children graduated from college with Alan living in Portland and Margaret in Boston at this time. Esther spent a summer in Alaska with a sister who lives there, and also in the Boston area where history seems to come to life. She comes back to the Cartwright area each summer to visit. Roy Johnson Family. From left: Roy, Vernon, Grace, Forrest, Margaret and Nelle. ROY N. AND MARGARET WOOD JOHNSON Roy N. Johnson was born February 6, 1885, on a farm near Audubon, Iowa to William and Catherine Johnson. While very young he moved with his parents to Laramie, Wyoming for three years, then back to Morris, Illinois and in 1905 the family homesteaded in the Cartwright area. Roy attempted to file on a homestead two miles northwest of his parent's claim, but by this time the land had been designated as being in the Fort Buford Military Reservation. He filed an appeal, broke up some land and built a log house and secured his claim when the Reservation was opened up for homesteading. Some of the homesteaders did not intend to make a home when they filed, but came for the adventures it offered, and then either mortgaged or sold out to neighbors. In the fall of 1907, Roy's brother-in-law (Urb Leach) bought a threshing machine and a new twenty-six horsepower Minneapolis straw burner steam engine. Harry Butterfield ran the separator, George Corbett hauled water, Roy Johnson was fireman and Urb ran the engine. They first did some threshing across the Little Muddy east of Williston and then Ralph Raum who had a cable ferry five miles east of Williston agreed to ferry the outfit across the Missouri into McKenzie County, the separator was hauled across without any mishap, using three teams of horses to pull it up the steep hill off the ferry. The north bank of the river where they loaded the engine was soft quicksand so they had to lay three- inch planks on the roadway. They ran the engine to the middle of the boat. George Corbett was at the end of the boat (48) Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
|
|---|