Pennsylvania Railroad and William Barton Johnson

PA RR Pay Car  WB on left, Dallas on right.

Our grandfather, William B Johnson, worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad all his life.   He was born in Port Norris, New Jersey in 1888 and lived with his family there until they moved to Camden in about 1896. He continued to live with his family until he was married.  At 20 years old in 1908, he was a clerk at the Pennsylvania Railroad and by 22 was an assistant paymaster.  He had only 3 years of high school and no college at all.  These pictures were taken approximately 1912 in Altoona, PA.  They show him in his paymaster rail car with his colleague “Dallas”.  Notice the sign above the teller cage “Count your money before you leave”.  This rail car traveled a circuit periodically to pay the railroad employees in the field.  In 1917, according to his World War I Registration Draft Card, he was paymaster of all classes of employees, for the Pennsylvania RR, under the direction of the Treasury Dept. at Broad St. Station in Philadelphia.  He paid about 13,000 Railroad employees semimonthly.

WB, as he was called, continued working for the railroad according to the census and city directories, through the years.  In 1920 he was 32 years old and was now a paymaster and still single.  He married Ethel R Bonsor and lived in an apartment at 417 Stonehurst at 69^th & Market, Philadelphia with Ethel and their newborn baby, Margaret.  By 1923 WB was 35 and the family moved to 1137 Langham Ave, Camden, a twin house.  During the next 10 years 4 more children were born. The family lived on Langham Ave. until Arthur H Bonsor, Ethel’s father, purchased 520 Prescott Rd. in Lower Merion, Montgomery County, PA for his daughter.  In 1940 when WB was 52, the whole family moved to Prescott Rd.  WB continued as Paymaster for the railroad.  In 1941 Ethel and WB divorced and he moved to Merion Gardens Apartments at City Line & Wynnwood Rd.  

WB Johnson climbed the ladder at the Pennsylvania Railroad until he attained the position of Chief Paymaster at the end of his career.  He retired about 1951 when he was 62.  I think he retired early because of his profound hearing loss.  He worked about 42 years for the railroad.  He died in 1953 at 65 years old after a long illness.

I know my father utilized his train pass given to him by his father.  Apparently all family members of of Pennsylvania Railroad employees were entitled to get a pass to ride the rails anywhere.  My father took a rail trip across country in the early 1950’s using his pass.  I must dig out his pictures and share them. The railroads are close to my heart since my husband has been working for the Union Pacific for almost 28 years now.

There is more to learn about this man and I plan to share other information later on.  Please send me any information you may have on our grandfather; my father never spoke of him so I know very little about him personally.  Please feel free to send comments, corrections, or questions about any of the current blogs or ideas for future ones.  Thank you again for reading this.

Pay Car with WB on left, Dallas on right