Louis and Englive Johnson
by Carol Johnson [email protected]
The Louis Johnson family (courtesy of Carol Johnson)
The Louis Johnson family (courtesy of Carol Johnson)
Lasse, the eldest child of Johannes Lasseson(born in 1805) and Brita Hansdatter (born in 1806 and married in 1833), was born on February 14, 1831. His sister, Guro Johannesdatter, was born in 1836, married Hallvard Ingvardsson(born in 1842), had a son named Ingvard Halvardsson in 1862, had a daughter, Anna Olsdatter (born in 1865) with Ola Olsson( born in 1833), and emigrated to the USA in 1866. His brother, Peder Johannesson, was born in 1838, married Kari Olsdatter (born in 1836) in 1863, and emigrated to the USA in 1866. Lasse's father had a daughter with Kari Ingvardsdatter, but she died at the age of two (1825-1827).
Ingeleiv was the third and youngest child of Nils Olsson (1778-1843). Nils married Barbra Hallvardsdatter (1782-1824) in 1818. Their first daughter/child was Brita Nilsdatter, born in 1819, and who married Orjan Jonson Oye in 1842. A son, Ola Nilsson, who was born in 1822, married Margrete Jonasdatter( who was born in 1828) in 1850, and died in 1853. After Barbra Hallvardsdatter died in 1824, Nils married Elisabeth Knutsdatter. From this union Ingeleiv was born on March 6, 1931.
Lasse and Ingeleiv were married while they were in their teens in Norway. There was little land left available to farm in Norway in the 1850s, and many adventurous young Norwegians left their homeland for America. Many of Lasse's friends and some cousins had come to America and written news of the vast opportunities and of all of the rich farmland available in America. The Gold Rush in the late 1840s and early 1850s started the mass emigration to America. Scandinavians trickled into the Midwest for twenty years. Norway lost one-fourth of its population between the 1820s and World War I. Scandinavians were drawn to America by the promise of owning their own land. The Homestead Act in 1862 attracted land-hungry Scandinavian farmers. Lasse became interested in the new land he was hearing about. Lasse's parents, Johannes Lasseson and Brita Hansdatter, lived on the husmannsplass Kjodnes ("Kjornes") under Groto farm, according to the Laerdal Bygdebok. They were farmers.
With their young family of three children, Bertha, Jennie, and John, plus Ingeleiv's elderly mother (Elisabeth Knutsdatter?), Lasse and Ingeliev Johannsen immigrated to America on March 27, 1862. (The Laerdal Bygdebok Volume II and III, contains birth records and emigrant records. It indicates that they emigrated from the husmannsplass Skorpa under the farm Nedre Ljosne, Laerdal. It is interesting to note that it gives the following birth dates for the three children: Brita/Bertha February 14, 1854, Gjertrud/ Jennie January 7, 1855, and Johannes October 30, 1858. According to Hans Frerik Arnesen, the migration papers for Sogn og Fjordane county, Laerdal parish lists them as migrating out of the parish bound for America on that date. There are no emigration records for the years 1861-1864. However, several emigration sail-ships left the city of Bergen during that time. In the early spring of 1862, there were about five or six ships, the nearest in time left on March 31, 1862. The route was from Bergen to Quebec, Canada.) Their trip to America on a sailing vessel took about nine weeks. It is thought that they, like other Norwegian immigrants, probably reached the New York Harbor, went by steamboat on the Hudson River and canal boats up the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York, where they crossed the Great Lakes in boats to Wisconsin. Enclaves of Swedes and Norwegians existed in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. These communities served as beacons of welcome to new immigrants. Lasse's family trekked to a Norwegian settlement in Dane County, Wisconsin, near Madison, the capital of Wisconsin. During the Civil War years of 1861-1865, they made their home there. During the time they saw and heard President Lincoln and his wife, whom they remembered was attired in a big hoop skirt as was the fashion at that time. In addition, they helped runaway slaves by giving them protection in their home. In the middle of April, 1866, Lasse's parents, Johannes Lasseson and Brita Hansdatter, emigrated to the United States (according to the Laerdal Bygdebok.)
In the fall of 1869, the Johannsens left Wisconsin with a larger family. They now had five children. Bessie was born in Wisconsin on January 1, 1863 (?), and Julia was born on February 16, 1867. At this time the family consisted of four girls and one boy. Lasse's brother, Peder Johannsen, and his family accompanied them. (The 1880 Census shows that Peder's name became Peter Johnson and his wife, Kari, now changed to Carrie, had one son who was born in Norway, Ole P., born in 1865.) They drove their team of oxen and covered wagon over the prairie land trail to Steele County, Minnesota. It was told how each member of the two families had to take turns walking as they journeyed to their new home. The trail went through sloughs and marshes, which impeded their progress. Finally, they settled in Havana Township, about six miles east of Owatonna, Minnesota. (The 1880 Census shows that in 1870 Peter and Carrie had another son, named John, who was born in Minnesota, a daughter, named Lulu, born in Minnesota in 1873, and twins, named Charles and Fanny, born in Minnesota in 1879.)
At first, they lived in a dugout in a hillside and then in a log cabin. For a few years they rented a parcel of land to grow wheat and other grain. In this way they earned money to buy their own land. Eventually they built their home on the land they homesteaded 1/4 mile north of the log cabin. During this time Emma was born in Minnesota on January 16, 1870. The 1870 census records mention that the Johanssen family members could not read nor write at that time. The children's first language was Norwegian, the native language of their parents. Carrie was born in Minnesota on August 7, 1871. Later, the younger children attended a little country school, but the school term varied in those days and was never more than four months.
The threat of Indians was real to the Johnson family. Indians still roamed the area where they lived, which was not far from the Rice Lake Woods. In fact, it has been told how the Indians came by the Johnson place and tapped on the windows or doors because they wanted food. Ingeliev told her young children to be very quiet and to hide under the big table, while she gave the Indians bread and other foods so that they would leave.
The Johanssen family worked hard building up the family farm, tilling the soil, and harvesting the grain by hand or with simple horse or ox-drawn equipment. It was remembered how after the harvest they hauled their wheat in a wagon pulled by oxen all the way to Red Wing, Minnesota to sell. Then they had to have it ground into flour there before they could return home. The journey took them a week to complete.
Deed records show Louis and Englive Johanssen bought a parcel of land in the southeast quarter of section 16 from a Mr. Erdman on January 31, 1874. At that time, Lasse's name was changed to either Louis or Lewis, Ingeliev became Englive or Mrs. Louis/Lewis S., and they changed the spelling of their surname from Johannsen to Johnson. A week later their youngest child, Nels, was born on February 7, 1874. Louis and Englive Johnson were now the parents of eight children, six girls and two boys. (The 1880 Steele County, Aurora Township Census lists Englive as Emma, with their children and ages as: John, age 20; Betsy, age 17; Julia, age 13; Emma, age 11; Carrie, age 9, and Nelson, age 6. The older daughters, Bertha and Jennie, were married in 1880 and not living at home.)
On May 31, 1883, they purchased "school land" from the state of Minnesota. Later, on October 7, 1891, Louis signed a promissory note for six hundred dollars to buy more of the surrounding land and making the farm a total of 120 acres. Their property included only a one-room log house with no other buildings. Louis signed the note with an "X" because he could not write his own name yet. In the 1890s Louis and his sons built a cozy humble home onto the old log house. The old part was then used as the kitchen and served the family's needs for decades. In 1907, sixteen years later, the promissory note was marked paid.
Louis and his brother, Peter, with their families, were among the early settlers. They became charter members of the Norwegian Aurora Lutheran Church. Early church records show the families' names as their children were brought to the church to be baptized and confirmed.
At the turn of the century only the youngest son, Nels, still remained on the family farm with his aging parents. Remembrances of Englive Johnson are very few, but it was known that she died of Tuberculosis on April 9, 1905, and was buried in the Aurora Lutheran Cemetery. Her obituary in the April 14, 1905 Owatonna newspaper stated, "In life Mrs. Johnson was a true Christian woman, winning the true friendship and esteem of all her acquaintances by her kindly deeds. She was a true wife, a fond mother, and a most excellent neighbor." Louis Johnson was described as short of stature. He had a chin beard, which he often stroked. He was known to be a spry man even in his old age. On his eighty-fifth birthday in 1916 he took his first ride on a new-fangled "motorized bike". Louis Johnson died on May 23, 1917. He was buried at the Aurora Lutheran Cemetery, which was located about two and one-half miles south of the home farm, where he loved, laughed, labored, and prayed. His obituary in the June 1, 1917 Owatonna newspaper stated, "Not withstanding the rain storm last Saturday afternoon, a large crowd turned out to the funeral of the late Louis S. Johnson at the house at noon and afterward at the Norwegian Lutheran Church. Mr. Johnson was an upright man, highly esteemed and honored by the entire community."
After the death of his father, Nels bought the family farm from his brothers and sisters. In the years that followed the Johnson farm became a gathering place for the families. Nieces, nephews, cousins, and kinfolk came for picnics, reunions, and old-fashioned gatherings many times a year. Some came to stay a day. Others came and stayed a month. The family ties remained strong until the fast pace and busy lifestyles came in the late 1950s.
Today Louis and Englive's great grandson, Eugene, possesses the only remaining family treasures: a mantle clock and shelf, two old trunks, one with the initials L.J. carved in it, a three-drawer oak chest, an 1882 Bible with Louis Johnson's name, birth date and baptism date, and a Norwegian lamp table.
The 1900 Census shows Loui Prestegard as the first cousin of Louis, born 2/1853 in Norway, 47 years old. Nels was the only child left
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