Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Johnson, Alfred 1857 - 1917
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 23, 2007, 11:54 pm

Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

ALFRED JOHNSON.

    Alfred Johnson, recently deceased, was one of Lincoln township's best-known
and most substantial farmers and was the proprietor of a farm of two hundred
acres in section 28 of that township. He was a native of the kingdom of Sweden,
but had been a resident of this county for more than thirty years. He was born
in Sweden on March 10, 1857, son of John Benson and Brigitta Johnson, natives of
that same country, who spent all their lives there and who were the parents of
six children, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: Herman,
deceased; Amelia, deceased; Josephine, deceased; Edwin, a farmer in Lincoln
township, this county, and Klaus, who is still living in his native land.

    Reared in Sweden, Alfred Johnson remained there until March 31, 1884, when
he sailed for this country in company with a cousin, with a view to joining the
considerable Swedish colony that had been established in this county. He arrived
at the station at Frankfort on April 4, 1884, with just two dollars and fifty
cents in his pocket with which to start in a new country. Without delay he
secured employment on the Spiller farm, engaging his services there at the wage
of sixteen dollars a month, and was thus engaged for two years, at the end of
which time he had saved two hundred and fifty dollars. With that money he bought
a team of horses, a set of harness and a wagon and thus equipped for work on his
own account rented a farm of sixty acres in Rock township. That was in 1887 and
those who recall the two dry years that followed that date may have some notion
of the discouragement that must have attended Mr. Johnson's first attempt at
American farming. The succeeding two years, however, were better and at the end
of that time he saw his way clear to the purchase of a small farm. It was then
that he bought eighty acres of the farm on which he is now living, assuming in
that transaction a couple of mortgages carrying twelve and one-half per cent,
interest. During the first year of Mr. Johnson's ownership of that farm he
raised excellent crops and he felt that he was "getting on his feet" in the new
land. This emboldened him to build a house on the place and that structure, a
building fourteen by twenty feet, left him, including the outstanding obligation
on his land, seventeen hundred dollars in debt, but he continued to prosper and
by the time of his marriage seven years later had the place all paid for and
admirably improved. In 1903 Mr. Johnson bought an additional "forty" and in 1905
bought another "eighty," which gave him an excellent farm of two hundred acres,
on which he and his family were very pleasantly situated. The farm house, an
admirably appointed dwelling of nine rooms, sets well up on an attractive knoll
and is approached by a beautiful driveway bordered by maples and evergreens
planted by Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. In addition to his general farming Mr. Johnson
gave considerable attention to the raising of live stock and did very well, his
Durham cattle and Duroc-Jersey hogs being a source of a good bit of extra revenue.

    On February 21, 1900, Alfred Johnson was united in marriage to Netta Lew,
who also was born in the kingdom of Sweden, November 1, 1867, daughter of Jons
Assarsson, who was born on October 29, 1816, and died on April 4, 1898. Mrs.
Johnson traces her genealogy back in an unbroken line to the year 1500 and the
family, beginning with Bengt, have lived on the same farm in Sweden for three
hundred and twenty-two years. Jons Assarsson married Ingrid Johanna Palsdatter,
who was born on September 6, 1828, and who died on December 18, 1890, and had
the following children : Anna Brita, Per, Petronella, Karl Lndwig, Neta, John
and Nils. In May, 1888, Mrs. Johnson came to America in company with her
brother, Johan, their destination being the Swedish settlement in this county,
where they had kinsfolk living. After a few weeks spent there she went to Kansas
City, whence she presently returned to Sweden and there resumed her place as a
teacher; but later returned to the United States and at Cambridge and Boston,
Massachusetts, was engaged as a teacher in an evening school. From there she
went to Rock Island, Illinois, and there entered Augustana College and after a
course in that institution returned to Kansas and was engaged as a teacher in
the parochial school in the Swedish settlement in this county, and was thus
engaged for two years, at the end of which time she went to Kansas City and
there taught school for a year. She then returned to Marshall county, where she
married Mr. Johnson. Mrs. Johnson has had a fine career as a teacher and a
student and has written considerable poetry which has been published and which
occupies a well-defined place in the "History of the Swedish Settlement of
Marshall County."

    To Alfred and Netta Johnson five children were born, namely: John Arthur,
born on December 10, 1900; Walton Alfred, July 3, 1902; Reuben Milton, March 6,
1904; Ruth Signe, October 21, 1905, and Herbert Theodore, February 15, 1907. Mr.
Johnson was a member of the Swedish Lutheran church and of which he was a member
of the deaconate and secretary of the local congregation. For twelve years he
was treasurer of the church, with which he had been connected since 1888. Mrs.
Johnson is secretary and treasurer of the Ladies' Aid Society of the church and
gives her earnest attention to the various beneficences of the church, as well
as to all local good works, helpful in promoting all movements having to do with
the advancement of the general welfare of the community in which she lives. Mr.
Johnson was a Republican, as is Mrs- Johnson, and was a member of the school
board. He took an active interest in local political affairs and was an earnest
exponent of good government.

    Mr. Johnson died on May 7, 1917, and was buried at the Swedish cemetery on
May 9, 1917.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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