CARL OSCAR JOHNSON HISTORY

Posted by Carolyn Johnson Christensen, grand daughter of Carl.

If anyone has a more complete history of Grandpa, I would appreciate reading it.  I put together this history many years ago, and hope to revise it soon. 

CARL OSCAR JOHNSON

In Asker Orebro, Sweden, on 2 March, 1865, Carl Oscar Johnson was born to Anna Louisa Erikson. Carl grew up in the household of his maternal grandfather and grandmother. His grandfather was listed as a soldier in the church records.

Only educatedguesses can be made about Carl's father. In Sweden, on the church records, Carl's last name was listed as Peterson, following the patronymic custom. Therefore his father was known as Peter. When Carl was older, he continued to use the last name, Peterson. He also , occasionally, used the last name of Johnson, and when he came to the United States where patronymics were not used, he settled with the last name of Johnson. Therefore, we could assume his father's name was Peter Johnson. Also, during his lifetime, he listed Anders Peter Johnson as his father on various church and temple records, as early as before 1907 in the Murray Ward Records. In other ward records, he listed himself as being born in Nerke, Sweden. In 1864, his mother was living, and it is assumed, working in an area, Boda in Asker where lived Anders Peter Johnson. She returned to the Kilsmo area in Asker in 1864, a few months before Carl was born. In 1866, when Anders Peter Johnson moved, he stated he was engaged to an Anna Louisa Nilsson.

Carl's mother died when he was 6 years old. This had been preceded by his grandmother who died when he was three. He was six years younger than any of his four uncles and aunts who lived in the home at that time. We can probably assume that Carl grew through his late childhood and teen years without the full benefit of motherly tenderness. Carl's grandfather died when Carl was 23, the year Carl joined the church.

It appears that at age 15, Carl left his grandfather's home and lived in Almunge, Stockholm Co., which is where he lived until he joined the church.

As Carl grew to maturity, he learned to love the soil and farming as did his father and grandfather. Carl was a strong boy, though not large. In his adulthood, he was about 5' 10" tall, and stocky.

During his early manhood, he worked in a lumber mill, and was put in charge of the workers as the foreman. Many times he had to intervene in a fight, using his physical strength to end a squabble.

Carl joined the church on 20 April 1888, being baptized and confirmed by P.G. Hanson in Allmunge.

Carl received the Priesthood in on 24 March, 1889 through Niels Anton, then labored as a missionary in the Solfvarbo and Sundsvall branches. This was one of three of Carl's missions.

While married to his first wife, he returned from America to Sweden and served two years from 1897 to 1899. He was set apart for the Scandinavian mission on 16 April, 1897 and returned on 10 June 1899. He was in the Stockholm branch for 7 months, and then served as president of the Upsala and Sundsvall branches for the remainder of his mission, baptizing 38 souls.

During his second marriage, when Carl was 47 years old, he left his wife with their 5 small children, ages 2 through 11 in Shelley to farm and went on a third mission, being set apart on 16 January 1912 from the Shelley Second Ward in Idaho to Sweden. He returned on 15 October 1914 on the ship, S. S. Celtic. During this third mission, Carl presided over the Morgongava Branch for 3 months, over the Sundsvall Conference nine months, and over the Stockholm Conference for 20 months. Missionary work was important to Carl, and he later became one of the seven Presidents in the 106th Quorum of Seventy.

After his first mission, Carl emigrated to Utah in 1891 where he settled in Murray and worked in the smelters, skimming copper, which he didn't enjoy. In 1900, in a Salt Lake directory, Carl was listed as a helper in the American S & R Co., residing in Murray.

In 1892/93, Carl met and married Emma Olsen who bore him a son in 1894, Oscar Wilford,and a daughter in 1896, Emma Oliva. As stated before, Carl left on a mission in 1897. Soon after he returned in 1899, his wife, Emma died.

Sometime in 1901 or 1902, Carl was re-acquainted with a young woman, Gerda Hanson, who had enjoyed hearing him speak in Sweden during his second mission. At the time, Carl was about 36 or 37 and Gerda was about 22. His children by his first wife were 6 and 8 years old. This re-acquaintance flowered into marriage in the Salt Lake Temple on 22 October, 1902, performed by John R. Winder.

Two children were born to Carl and Gerda in Murray, Gerda Adelia and Allen Oscar. Of course, Wilford and Ebba were a part of the family.

Carl left Murray with his family in May of 1907 because he disliked the smelters and mines, and wanted to farm and raise livestock, which he did in Shelley, Idaho. In Shelley, he settled on what is now the Hollis Harker Farm just below the east side of the Butte on the south side of the road. Later, he bought property in Shelley, and traded Etric Miller for property on the Taylor Highway, 1 1/2 miles east of Shelley.

He built houses on the property in town and on the farm. The property in Shelley was located kitty-corner from the old 2nd ward church on Locust Street. While living there in 1912, Carl went on his third mission while his wife was in charge of the farming. At that time, she was getting 20 cents on the hundred for potatoes which was unusually bad for that year. At home she had Wilford and Ebba, Gerda (age 11), Allan (age 9), Edith and Edwin (ages 4) and Ruth (age 2). In spite of the hardships created by this mission, Carl felt good about the call. In his diary her wrote, "1912. Shelley Idaho, the 14th of January. I take farewell of my loved ones to perform a mission in my father's land, Sweden. Wonderful feelings stream through me in
this moment of departure. The Lord has called me and my feelings are in tune with the call."

After Carl returned from his mission in 1914, four more children were born; Wallace, Walter, Bernice and Maurice. Carl moved his family permanently to the farm home in about 1927, when his youngest son, Maurice was 6 years old and he was 62 years old. The farm house was a mail order house from Montgomery Ward. Carl, with the help of his sons, and probably neighbors, built the house when the kit arrived. He planted many trees, some of which still stand as a reminder to his posterity living there of his forethought and love for nature. Carl also raised livestock on that farm.

As Carl's sons grew to maturity, Carl made sure each one would have a profession to fall back on. His love for farming carried down to two of his sons, Wallace and Maurice. Maurice, his youngest son eventually bought the farm on the Taylor Highway from his father and family.

Carl retired in 1938 at the age of 73. In 1942, he and Gerda moved to Idaho Falls to be near the nearly completed temple in order to do temple work when it was dedicated. Five years previous to this, Carl had spent three months of the 1936-1937 winter with his son, Walter, who was attending business college in Salt Lake City. While there, Carl did temple work. This was about nine years before the Idaho Falls Temple was completed.

As we can see from his history, Carl was a very devout person. His church work didn't stop with three missions to Sweden and temple work. He also served 15 years on the Shelley High Council. He spent 15 years trying to convert a very good friend, Peter Olson. After 15 years, Peter did join the church.

Carl read a lot of church literature and was very learned. Before Carl joined the church, he had smoked cigars. It may have been a struggle to give up the habit as he kept one cigar in his desk for many years as a reminder.

In his later years, Carl's 5' 10" frame filled out quite a bit. He never did go bald, and he wore a moustache all his life. He was a quiet, serious person who naturally received attention when he spoke.

Carl loved baseball, and listened to it a lot on the radio. He kept up on current events. A daughter-in-law tells that during the war, his family can never remember of him missing a news broadcast.

Carl loved cats and other animals. A son tells that at one time in his father's life, he had a huge gray tomcat that would spend hours riding on Carl's shoulder as he picked spuds in the fields.

At the age of 81, Carl Oscar Johnson died of a stroke on 9 April, 1946 after spending two days in the Idaho Falls hospital. His family and his community mourned the loss of a very wonderful person.