Ed Johnson Family

Eddie Monroe Johnson and Eva Majeane Johnson were brother and sister to one another and married into both sides of my family.

Ed Johnson married my mother's mother, Sadie Hollaway Kirkland, and his sister, Eva, married my Dad's father, Pete Christenson. Their father, Bernt Johanson Egeberg, Bernt Johnson,was also the half brother of my Dad's mother.

Now aren't you confused? And people wonder why I feel that way once in awhile. See the Egeberg/Johnson family Chart to sort it out.

Ed Johnson's father, Bernt Johnson, was quite a mechanic and inventor. Ed probably inherited some of the skill but was looking for something else to work on besides cotton gins. As a young man he had followed the harvest north through the mid-west and may have seen parts of the country unfamiliar to his parents. He attends the Sweeney School of Auto Mechanics in Kansas City, Missouri in 1920. At that time this was one of the biggest schools in the country for automobile mechanics. Students came here from all over the world. It boosted of having one of the largest cafeterias, dining halls and electric signs in the world. It's ten story building dominated the landscape to hold 3,000 students, 800 of which could live in the building. In 1918 the flu epidemic saw 2,300 were infected which put the entire school in quarantine while 15 students died. Although it was dominately a place for auto mechanics and machinists it later added the airplane to the devices and training. It collapsed as a school with Great Depression. My grandfather used this training to set up a gas station and garage in Cranfills Gap for the local farmers but many farmers were near to loosing their farms and money was scarce. Ed, Sadie, Chris and Violet lived together during the Depression to save money.

During the Depression he travels to the Northwest where he worked for the CCC in the forest and may have worked in one or more of the national parks when the snow had made it possible to get back onto the trails. Ed traveled to Dallas with his step-mother "Carrie" Nielsen Johnson weekly for cancer treatments of the jaw and stayed with the Taylor family who were neighbors of Sadie's family. "Carrie" eventually dies of the infection in 1934.

1934- Ed and Sadie get married. Ed and Sadie had no children of their own. They did help to raise their grandchildren while all the families lived in Gary, Indiana during WWII.

Emroy Christenson, Thelma Ane, Ed and Elroy in Gary, Indiana about 1942.
photo in the collection of Elroy Christenson

He eventually gets work with the United States Steel plant in Gary, Indiana from WWII to his retirement. He worked his way up the ladder and was a foreman of mechanics on a rolling line in the steel mill. Because of his relocation to Gary my own parents moved there looking for work. While they were there I was born. Ed enjoyed woodworking, building bird houses and fixing up antiques. His work in this noisy environment ruined his hearing. In his last years he also became diabetic. Jo Nell, his daughter-in-law took him in to manage his health since she along with Roy were also diabetic.

c1965- After his retirement he and Sadie moved into a home they had built in Cranfills Gap, Texas. They remained here until Sadie became ill and then moved in with Chris and Violet Christenson until 1980. He was a member of St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Cranfills Gap, TX where he was buried.

        Friends and family of Mr and Mrs. Eddie M. Johnson entertained with a "housewarming" in the new home of the Johnsons Sunday afternoon Feb. 21 from 2 until 5 p.m.
       After guest registered, they were served punch or coffee, cookies, mints and nuts from a beautifully decorated table. Miss Nelda Jean Kirkland of Ft. Worth served the refreshments. The guest were invited to view the new home. Many beautiful and useful gifts were also brought to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson for their new home.
      Those registering and entertaining during the afternoon were Major and Mrs. Roy Kirkland and Nedra of Sheppard Air Force Base, Mr. and Mrs. Chris M. Christensen and Janice of Grand Prairie, Mrs. Eva Christensen, Dale and Larry of Arlington, Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Grimland, Diane and Ronnie of Clifton, Nr. and Mrs. Chas. O. Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Johnson and Dennis, Mrs. Frona Carson, Mrs. Dennie Pendleton all of Cranfills Gap.
       Other registering were Pastor and Mrs. Marvin Ottmeres, Mrs. Harry Blue, Mrs. Willie Schibler, Mr. and Mrs. H. T. Turner of Clifton, Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Tergersn, Mr. Otto Reesing, Mrs. Oli Carlson, Mr. and Mrs. Belvin Swenson, Mr. and Mrs. G. M. Phillips, Mrs. Gunder Lason, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Christensen, Mers Malinda Rohne, Mr. and Mrs. Jim Jenson, Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Huttson, Mr. and Mrs. Bernt Bertelson, Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Tendall, Mrs. B. O. Tindal, Mrs. W. P. Tindal, Mrs. Mary Hanson, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Bertelsen, Mr. and Mrs. Si Johson, Mrs. Alfred Nelson, Mrs. Eddie Anderson, Mr. and Mrs. Ovie Huse, and Mrs. James Grimland. \
                                        [page 2, The Cranfills Gap Index, Friday, February 26, 1965]

John.Christ.dutne.121k.jpg
photo in collection of Elroy Christenson

click her for a larger picture and image map with hot links (33k file) This is a gathering of the Johnson brothers and sisters with Pete Christenson and Rohne family relatives.(standing L to R.) Johanna Bertelson,Marie Christenson, Bill Bertelson (Johanna's husband), Mary Ann Christenson(sister of Johanna), Ann Christenson (Pete's dau.), Emory Christenson, Clara Johnson, ? Dillon , Violet Christenson, Cora Johnson, ? , Sadie Kirkland, Chris Morris Hanson(Johanna and Mary Ann's half brother), Eva(Johnson) Christenson, Chris M. Christenson, Chris Johnson, Martin Michelson, Paulina (Rohne/Christenson/Hanson)Michelson, Bill Johnson, Collett Johnson, (kids & seated L to R) Burton Christenson, Johanna Christenson, Pete Christenson, Leldon Christenson(Pete's youngest), Vernell Johnson(Cora's dau.) Ed Johnson is taking the picture and not included.

Mrs. Eddie M. (Sadie) Johnson died November 3 in Chris Christenson home in Grand Prairie, after a long battle with cancer.
   Mrs. Johnson was born February 13, 1897, Portland, Arkansas, to Willie and Eugenia Holloway. She had an older sister, Clyde Bainbridge, who proceeded her in death several years ago. She still has an older brother, Ernest Hollaway, living in Corning, Arkansas.
    She was married to Forest Kirkland in 1917 in Arkansas. To this marriage, two children were born, a daughter, Mrs. Chris (Violet) Christenson of Grand Prairie, and son, Roy Kirkland of Lake Alvardo. This marriage lasted thirteen years.
     In July 1934, she married Eddie M. Johnson in Hamilton. They lived several years in Cranfills Gap and then Eddie went to work at U. S. Steel Mill in Gary, Indiana. He worked 25 years there and retired to build a house at Cranfills Gap. They lived there until her last illness, during which time they lived with her daughter, Violet.
    Survivors include her husband, one daughter, one son, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
   Funeral services were held at St. Olaf Lutheran Church., Services were conducted by Rev. Lawrence Jenson, and Mrs. Jenson sang two songs accompanied on the organ by Mrs. Albert Meissner.
    Pallbearers were Thomas Johnson, Eugene Perry, Glenn Perry, Grand Prairie; C/W 3 Dean Lovett, Fort Polk, Louisiana; B. A. Johnson, Waco; and Ivan Johnson, Joshua. Mrs. Johnson was buried in the St. Olaf Cemetery.