Merced-Stanislaus County CA Archives Biographies.....Johnston, Albert Oscar 1871 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 10, 2006, 3:08 am

Author: John Outcalt (1925)

ALBERT OSCAR JOHNSTON

   There is something commanding respect and honor in the personal appearance of
a man, and if to that is added a character of sterling worth we have a gentleman
of whom any community is proud and does well to place in the foremost ranks of
representative citizens. That is what we have in Oscar A. Johnston, dealer in
hardware in Irwin, Cal. A man of powerful frame, large and generous-hearted, he
has made his way to the top by an integrity of character, skill and native
genius that have been the admiration of all who know him.

   Mr. Johnston was the fourth of six children namely: Amanda, Mrs. Bjork,
Sweden; Edward, who died single in Denver, Colo., 1910; Carl, who died single in
Calexico, Cal.; Albert Oscar, our subject; Leonard F., a rancher in Irwin;
Theodore, still in Sweden.

   The son of Johanas and Anna Charlotte Johnson, he was born in Jan Kjoping,
Sweden, April 24, 1871. His early education was obtained largely in the shop of
his father, who was a blacksmith; it was there he got the principles of
iron-working which made him an expert machinist. He was brought up and
instructed in the faith of the Swedish Lutheran Church and passed his
confirmation. Then, like all aspiring youths of red blood he began to think of
what he was going to do in the world. His eyes were turned to the New World
beyond the sea; accordingly on March 27, 1888, he embarked at Gottenberg on the
Cunard line for England and after eight days in Liverpool he set out again for
America and arrived in New York in April, 1888. His seventeenth birthday was
passed on the train on the way from Chicago to Waverly, Nebr., where he found
employment with his uncle, for whom he worked five years. With his earnings he
was able to buy a threshing outfit, which he ran with unprecedented success.
Being a natural machinist, he was able, not only to repair machinery of all
kinds, but to make the tools to do it with, and he ran a whole season without
losing more than an hour on account of a breakdown. For eight years he carried
on this business threshing thousands of bushels of wheat, and he had a
corn-sheller with a capacity of a thousand bushels an hour.

   In May, 1902, he came out to the Hilmar Colony in California and bought 160
acres of land for himself and brother, who is living on that land. On December
1, 1906, he came to Turlock and engaged in farming and blacksmithing. He also
had a blacksmith shop in connection with his farm for some years in Irwin. When
he came to Irwin he sold part of his 160 acres to his brother and improved the
rest of the farm with buildings. In 1918 he entered the hardware business in
Irwin and built the A. O. Johnston brick block, 50x75 feet and further improved
his sixty-acre farm; later he built a frame addition of the same dimensions,
making a fine business block.

   On February 6, 1915, he was married to Miss Hulda B. Anderson, a native of
Minnesota and daughter of A. T. Anderson, now living in Irwin. There are two
children of this union, Freda Olivia and Veda Evelyna, pupils in the Hilmar
School. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston are both members of the Swedish Evangelical
Mission Church. The name was originally Johnson but was changed to Johnston on
account of confusion of names in the postoffice.

   Mrs. Johnston's parents, A. T. Anderson and Hannah (Nelson) Anderson, were
married in Minnesota and were farmers at Eagle Bend, Minn. They came to
California in 1912. They had two children, Hulda Beatta, now Mrs. Johnston, and
Nels T., who served in France, was wounded and honorably discharged. The
Andersons own a farm of twenty acres near Irwin. Mrs. A. T. Anderson was born in
Sweden in 1867 and came to America when she was eleven years old.


Additional Comments:
From:

HISTORY OF
MERCED COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
WITH A
Biographical Review
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
JOHN OUTCALT

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1925


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/merced/bios/johnston646nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/

File size: 4.6 Kb