Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Johnson, Ole S 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 13, 2006, 6:27 pm

Author: History of Grundy County, 1914

Johnson, Ole S. – For nearly sixty years the name of Johnson has been 
prominently connected with the progress and development of Grundy County, 
Ill., and the record of the family is one which reflects credit upon the 
locality.  It is a well-attested maxim that the greatness of a State or of a 
community lies not in the machinery of government, nor even in its 
institutions, but in the sterling quality of its individual citizens, in their 
capacity for high and unselfish effort and their devotion to the public good.  
In these particulars those who have borne the name of Johnson have conferred 
honor and dignity upon their section, and one who has proven himself a worthy 
representative of the name is Ole S. Johnson, a well-known and successful 
farmer of Nettle Creek Township.  Mr. Johnson was born in Miller Township, La 
Salle County, Ill., December 21, 1856, and is a son of Samuel O. and Ann 
Caroline Johnson, natives of Norway.  The parents came to the United States in 
1854 and located at Ottawa, Ill., where the father worked as a farm hand for 
several years, and then purchased land in Nettle Creek Township, where he 
still survives, the mother having passed away in 1894.

Ole S. Johnson received an ordinary education, and remained on the home farm 
until after his first marriage, at which time he moved to William Reardon’s 
farm in Nettle Creek Township.  Four years later he bought a farm of 160 
acres, which was partly improved, and this he has brought to a high degree of 
cultivation.  He has been successful in his operations, and in addition to 
general farming carries on the raising of Durham cattle, Norman horses and 
Poland-China hogs.  He is a man of superior business capacity and resourceful 
ability, his resolute purpose and keen discrimination enabling him to carry 
forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes.  He has long been an 
active member and liberal supporter of the Stavanger Lutheran Church.  In 
political matters a stanch Republican, he has served two terms each as 
Assessor and Justice of the Peace and in both offices has given evidence of 
superior executive ability.

On October 30, 1882, Mr. Johnson was married (first) to Miss Josephine 
Anderson, of La Salle County, Ill., who died January 12, 1887, having been the 
mother of three children:  Cora, who married Joseph Voga, of Mission Township, 
La Salle County; Agnes, who married Albert Knutson, of Nettle Creek Township, 
Grundy County; and Stanley, who is residing with his father.  Mr. Johnson was 
married (second) February 11, 1892, to Mrs. Malinda (Rathmuson) Jacobson, 
widow of Jacob Jacobson, and four children have been born to this union, 
namely:  Jasper, Milton, Silas and Irvin.  By her former marriage, Mrs. 
Johnson had two children:  Oscar, who is residing at Yorkville, Ill.; and 
Addie, who died at the age of twenty-six years.

page 842

Additional Comments:
Source:  History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. 
Publishers; 1914

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