Who are our distant cousins?

Who are our distant cousins?

Joseph and Olena Johannsen had 8 children during their marriage.  I would like to explore each child with their family and share who they were and where they ended up.  So I will start with the eldest and work down the list.

Christine Isidori Johnson, born Oct 28, 1877 in Christiana, Norway (Oslo).  She came to New Jersey with her mother and sisters sometime between 1885-1887 and settled in Port Norris, New Jersey.  By 1995 the family moved to Camden.  Christine lived in Camden with her family until 1899 when she married Walter Price on April 26 in the Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church on 3^rd and Pearl Street.  Christine was 21 and Walter was 24 years old.  Walter was born Aug 1874 and was from PA and had a 6^th grade education.

Christine lived with her husband Walter Price in Camden and they had their daughter Mildred Christine in Feb 1900, at 210 Elm Street, Camden.  Walter was a foreman at a Hat Manufacturer and they rented their home.   

In July of 1905 Christine gave birth to another little girl, Isegeborg V.  She soon died on March 24, 1906 and was buried in Harleigh Cemetery, Camden.  Isegeborg grandparents, Joseph and Olena, had purchased the plot in 1895 to bury their daughter Esther.

In 1910, the Price family lived at 210 Elm St.  In 1916 their son William Joseph was born.  By 1920 they moved out of Camden to Washington Ave., Magnolia, Camden, NJ.  Walter was still at the hat factory and daughter Mildred, now 19 years old, worked as a stenographer in an insurance office.  Christine took care of the family at home and little William was 4 years old.

By 1926, Mildred Price, Christine and Walter’s daughter, married Edward G Taylor, born 1897. They had a daughter named Mildred Jane Taylor

               Christine and Walter still lived on Washington Ave. in Magnolia in 1930 and owned their home worth $4,000. The census listed they had a radio in the home.  Walter continued to be a hatter at the Baily Co.  In 1938 Edward and Mildred Taylor had their second daughter, Shirley in Magnolia.

               Christine died on Aug 1, 1939 in Magnolia at age 61 years old.  After his wife’s death, Walter, 65 years old, went to live with his daughter Mildred and her husband Edward Taylor.  Mildred Jane was 14 and Shirley 12 years old.  They all lived in the family home at 430 Monroe Ave, Magnolia.  Edward Taylor was an automobile dealer and owned his own business.

               I found where Mildred Jane married a Mr. Fister and she died in Marlton, NJ, but I am not sure when.  I also don’t know if she had children.  I am not sure if Shirley Taylor ever married or had children.  I don’t know anything about William Joe Price born in 1916.  I wonder if we have distant cousins out there?  Could they give us additional information about our “Johnson” roots in Sweden or Norway?  If anyone has any information about these “cousins” please let me know. 

I plan to continue with ancestor profiles in future blogs.  Thank you so much for all your help!

Picture 1911 in Magnolia.  Mildred Price (left) Miss Eva? (middle) brother William Barton Johnson (right) and Mildred Christine Price (11 year old girl).

The Johnson Family  -   Beginnings in America 

The “Johnson” branch of our family arrived in the United States approximately 1886 (I am still trying to find migration papers) with Joseph Oscar Johnson.  His wife Olena Marie Sverine Mickarelson and three daughters, Christine Isidori, Marie Elfrida Ronghil, and Ingeborg Gustava came with him or soon after.  Joseph was born in Sweden March 1, 1845.  Olena was born in Norway on Oct 25, 1852 in probably what is now Olso. This city was named Christiania until 1925 when it reverted to its original name of Oslo.  Christine, Marie and Ingeborg were born in Christiania and probably lived there until their journey to America.  Christine Isidori was born on Oct 28, 1877, Marie Elfrida Ronghil was born Aug 25, 1881 and Ingeborg Gustava Josephinia was born Sept 23, 1883. I was able to locate Ingaborg and Marie’s baptismal records in Oslo in the old Church records.  The “Johnson” name was the American version of their name of “Johannsen” as listed in the church records.  The family lived in Port Norris, New Jersey by 1888 when William Barton Johnson was born on March 22 according to the birth records of New Jersey and his WWI Registration Card.  I don’t know why they went to Port Norris but would love to know any theories.  His brother Joseph Peter was born soon after in Nov 27, 1889 in Port Norris, New Jersey. 

Another boy was born, Norman Johannes Johnson probably in Dec 1891 and died in 1892. I am not sure where the family was living at that time. By 1894 they were living in Camden, New Jersey because Esther Normandy Johnson was born in 1894 on Feb 10.  They were living at 221 York St. a little house near the river.  She died soon after her first birthday on March 8, 1895. Joseph purchased a burial plot in the Harleigh Cemetery in Camden in the Mt Hope section the day before she was buried. The cemetery was rather new at the time, it had opened in 1885.  Walt Whitman was buried there in 1892. 

On Oct 27, 1895 Olive Ella Julia Johnson was born in Camden while the family lived at 427 Erie.  The family continued to live in Camden but did move several times over the years.  The following is a list from the Camden City Directory tracing Joseph Johnson residences and his occupations:

1895 – seaman, 427 Erie
1896 – laborer, 931 N 3^rd
1897 – seaman, 931 N 3^rd
1898 – ship carpenter, 931 N 3^rd
1899 – clerk, 931 N 3^rd
1900 – wharfbuilder, 221 York
1901 – mariner, 221 York
1906 – sea captain, 221 York
1909 – mariner, 603 N 3^rd
1910 – sea captain on Coaster, 316 Elm (from 1910 census)
1911 – residence at death, 221 York (according to death certificate)
1911 - 316 Elm (according to obituary)

As your read over Joseph’s occupations, he was definitely involved with the maritime industry. I need to continue to research this aspect of his life to find more information.  Any ideas or information?

I heard the “family lore” saying that Joseph died aboard a ship after being hit in the head by the sail boom, but unfortunately that is just lore.  According to Joseph’s Death Certificate, he died in the US Marine Hospital of Baltimore, MD on April 23, 1911.  This hospital was a government supported service for the care of US mariners.  I believe that it merged with Johns-Hopkins Hospital in the early 1900’s, but the building is still there.  On the death certificate the doctor recorded seeing him from Feb 9, 1910 until his death.  I am not sure if he was in the hospital all that time or just having periodic visits, but he did die in the hospital.  He died from Carcinoma of the Bladder at 66 years old.  I am told this cancer is caused by heavy smoking.  His body was sent to Camden, NJ for burial in the Harleigh Cemetery. On April 25, 1911, an obituary was printed in the Camden Daily Courier:

JOHNSON – On April 23, 1911, at Baltimore, Md., Joseph Oscar, husband of Olena M. S. Johnson, aged 66 years.  The relatives and friends of the family are respectfully invited to attend the funeral services on Wednesday afternoon, April 26^th, 1911, at two o’clock, from his late residence, 316 Elm St., Camden, N. J.  Interment private at Harleigh Cemetery.

Olena continued to live until Nov 27, 1930 and was buried next to her husband. She was 79 years old and lived in the Camden County Asylum, Gloucester City, N.J. as an inmate according to the 1930 census the year she died.  This was a county supported facility for the destitute and infirmed.  It was part Almshouse, part insane asylum, part TB hospital near what is Lakeland Hospital today. Her daughter Ingeborg Thomas arranged the funeral and lived at 63 Roberts Ave., Haddonfield, New Jersey.  In 1941, Ingeborg had new grave markers erected on her parent’s graves.  Those are the gravestones we see now.

 

This is just a start of the information on our family.  Please email me any other information or ideas you have so I can continue filling in the pieces for our family history.  I will continue to write about this family and explore all the children of Joseph and Olena. 

 So until next time, take care and enjoy your family.

Tricia

(Spellings and dates did vary throughout all the records so it is difficult to say with accuracy the dates of events.  I tried to use the most sourced dates and names.)

 

Hello Relatives,

Here is something fun I found and thought you might like it.  Ethel Bonsor Johnson (1892-1960) lived in Camden as a girl and young women.  I found a newspaper article in the Philadelphia Inquirer dated Friday, May 19, 1916.  The headline is as follows:

“Camden Turns Out for Big Civic Celebration Parade

Brilliant Auto Parade in Camden

Pretty Girls Play Prominent Part in Spectacle for Civic Celebrations”

 

The newspaper picture displays some cars with people driving them in the parade.  The top right picture is of Ethel Bonsor at the wheel when she was 24 years old.  The car is her father’s, Arthur Bonsor and it is filled with her friends.  They won 1^st place in their division according to the paper.  I remember photos the Julie Johnson had sent me and found a photo taken of that event. (I know the caption says F. Bonsor, but that must be a typo, should have said E. Bonsor)

 

 I translated some of the article for easier reading:

 

Exposition Showing Progress of City Opened by Mayer Ellis – Numerous Industrial Exhibits

 

Resplendent in decorations 300 cars participated in the automobile parade began yesterday in Camden as one of the features of the civic celebration... Wednesday night by the Board of Trade dinner and which comes to a close tomorrow night.  Not only Camden business and professional men, but those from various South Jersey towns as well as this city participated in the parade witnessed by several thousand persons who lined the principal thoroughfares.

     Pretty girls were prominent in the parade.  In one car was Miss F. Bonsor, daughter of Arthur Bonsor with half a dozen of her chums.  Mrs. William Sheer was accompanied by mix of her feminine friends, all wearing red carnations on their heads.

 

Class D:  Best undecorated car driven by a woman and filled with women, Miss F Bonsor, $3, ..  Miss Elna Phiton, Mrs. Williams Sheer, Mrs. Esther Casey and Mrs. William Welch.  (I did not translate all of it, just the interesting parts.)

 

This event must have been a highlight of the spring in Camden and it sounds like everyone enjoyed it. I am trying to find out about driver license procedure during that time in Camden, did Ethel have one? Does anyone know what kind of car this is?   Didn’t Ethel or Alice drive for the Red Cross?  I would think that Arthur Bonsor probably participated in the trade fair featuring his butter, eggs and chickens.   It is fun to see how they lived and what they experience.

Have fun with your family and hope to hear from you soon!
Tricia

 

 

April 10, 2014

Welcome Family! 

I have been “doing” Genealogy since 1980 off and on when I have time.  I feel it is important that I share what I have discovered and I want to recruit all of you to contribute to our Family Tree.  I like the names and dates, that information is the bones, but really what makes our family interesting is the stories, the pictures and the history.  I want to collect as much as I can and put it in a format that can be distributed to anyone who wants it, to share it and pass it down to our children and grandchildren.  I have been scanning old photos, collecting facts and listening to stories and now think a blog would be a good way to start sharing this information.  With this blog I can post the information I know researched or heard, you all can comment and contribute and I will capture it all and put it onto a disk, book, flash drive, etc., anything and give it to anyone that would like it.  I don’t know everything, far from it.  My family unit, “Bill, Marge, Tricia and Mary Liz”, moved every 3 years and were the “Gypsies” of the family.  I missed out on all the family gatherings and knowing my cousins and hearing the old family stories.  Please help me add to my collection or obsession.  Please feel free to comment, correct or change anything I post.  I welcome everything.  Add your email so you get my Blog when new items are posted and please feel free to comment.  Thank you so much for reading this and participating in this family adventure.  Spread the word about this blog and invite everyone to participate.  I look forward to communicating with each of you.

Tricia