ROGER MILLS COUNTY - BIO THE O.L. JOHNSON FAMILY Submitted by : William G. Kishbaugh, 05 Sep 2002 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ==================================================================== Roger Mills County- Bio THE O.L. JOHNSON FAMILY SETTLERS OF THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE Oliver Ludwick Johnson was born in 1854 in Trondheim, Norway". While he was just a small boy his family sailed on a sailing ship from Norway to Canada and then to the Port of Chicago, Illinois. His parents were "coopers" by trade and they made wooden barrels. After arriving in Chicago O.L.'s father served in the "war of rebellion", as O.L. called it. His family was living in Chicago at the time of the great Chicago fire. The family wrapped their belongings in their bedding and carried them to a city park in an effort to avoid the fire. The kids did not recognize the seriousness of the situation and just enjoyed their picnic day in the park. While yet in his teens, O.L. left Chicago. No-one knows for sure what he did when he first left home, but he probably followed the expansion of the railroad westward. He eventually make his way to Hays County, Texas. And it was there in Hays County, Texas that he met his future wife "Alma Rebecca Emmons". In 1879 O.L. was operating a gristmill at Wimberley,TX when he married Alma. They soon had three little girls (Julia, LeNora and Leona). They also had a son "Guss", who died as an infant. In about 1887, the Johnson family, like many others of the time, decided to seek their fame and fortune in the newly opened frontier. Many families were ill prepared to face the rigors of frontier life but Alma had been raised in the south/central Texas countryside. The Johnson family left Hays County and traveled by horse drawn wagon towards the Texas Panhandle. Daughter LeNora Johnson, in later years, dictated her memoirs to her daughter Mable. Part of this biography is based on those memories. In those memoirs, LeNora related how they traveled in a horse drawn wagon and how the girls made a game out of seeing who could pick up the most dry cow pies for their mother to cook with. She also told how they crossed the Red River and entered the panhandle of Texas. She said they travelled up the south side of the Canadian River until they reached an area about fifty miles upriver of present day "Canadian", Texas . There they camped for a week or so to rest up. LeNora commented "my father found what he thought to be the garden spot of the West, right in the center of this cattle country on the north side of the Canadian River". She said that her mother and the girls helped Pa build a dugout for them to live in, until they could finally build a more permanent sod house. She also related how a big cow outfit called the "Turkey Track Ranch" controlled this country and how one day the Turkey Track people showed up and told O.L. he had to leave and "that settlers were not allowed". The "Garden Spot of the West" that they settled on was very near the Billy Dixon place at "Adobe Walls", in Hutchinson County Texas. It was located on the south side of Adobe Walls Mountain. It was during the second battle of Adobe Walls that Billy Dixon shot an Indian warrior off his horse 7/8th of a mile away, while the indian was sitting on his horse on top of that mountain. Billy Dixon was a famous early day Army Scout, Plainsman and Buffalo Hunter who had participated in the battle and later settled there at Adobe Walls. Adobe Walls was designated a Post Office in that year of 1887 and Billy Dixon (at that time still a single man), became the Postmaster there. LeNora said that in addition to operating the Post Office, Billy Dixon had planted a small orchard and also opened a store for the convenience of the cowboys. He sold canned goods, tobacco, candy, boots and Stetson hats. For a period of time, Alma Johnson ran Billy Dixon's store and farm and O.L. became a mail carrier for Billy Dixon. O.L. carried the mail to and from Canadian, Texas, a distance of about 50 miles each way. LeNora said that he initially carried the mail by horseback and later began using a buckboard pulled by two horses. She related how her mother, would sometimes wait up late into the night just waiting to hear the sound of horses hoofs and the safe return of her husband. She told how O.L. would come home from his mail run and tell Alma and the girls of his narrow escapes and sometimes how he and his horse came near drowning in the treacherous flooded streams along the way. She said that her father was proud that he never once lost his mail pouch. Even though the Comanche was no longer considered a great threat to travelers, the panhandle country was still a dangerous place. Aside from the infrequent threat of the nearly defeated Comanche bands; Badmen, outlaws and robbers still roamed the countryside. O.L. made friends with a number of the cowboys in the area. LeNora said that one of these cowboys was John Caffey. She told how John Caffey once said " Well Johnson, I am not supposed to talk! I am working for the Turkey Track outfit, but they do not have all of this country leased and if you want to settle here, you can file in their horse pasture and tell THEM to git". So that is exactly what O.L. did. LeNora said "he went to the County seat and filed on the land in the Turkey Track horse pasture - on a little creek, with the mountain that Billy Dixon killed the Indian on, becoming the north boundary of his claim". LeNora said that years later Mr. Caffey would delight in telling that story and laughing about it. In the summer of 1891, their son "Richard Malcom Johnson" was born there at Adobe Walls. Soon after, in April 1892, O.L. made the famous Oklahoma land "run". He settled on a piece of property located along the Washita River where Strong City is now located. It is located near the south side of Hwy 33 where a highway bridge now spans the Washita. He not only farmed the homestead but also established a sawmill on Elk Creek and a grist mill in nearby Hammon. In September of 1893 he obtained a contract for $462.00 to build a jailhouse, on the southeast corner of the vacant Courthouse Square in Cheyenne. The structure was to be 23ft long, 14 ft wide and 10ft high. On March 1, 1895 the Cheyenne Sunbeam Newspaper reported- "O.L. Johnson reports a large quantity of logs stacked for his mill on Elk Creek". During these early years the Johnson family continued to grow and to develop their homestead along the Washita River. The 1900 US Census shows that the Johnson's now had 7 living children out of 10 born. In January 1901 O.L. filed for final proof of his homestead stating that he had cultivated 15 acres in 1892, 30 acres in 1893 and gradually increasing it to about 70 acres for nine seasons in all. He also stated that he had made improvements on the land consisting of a house, barn, sheds, outhouses, corrals, well, cistern, orchard , and fencing, all worth about $1000. He also stated "I have a gristmill in Hammon, Custer Co., O.T. " (O.L. later bought the Tom Cherry place adjacent to his original claim). A few years after the turn of the century O.L. & Alma sold their homestead and moved their family to Elk City, where O.L. became involved in several businesses. In 1907 O.L. Johnson owned the "Elk City Light and Power Company ", the first electric company in Elk City. He also owned a "Gin" in Elk City and also became a co-owner of the "Elk City Packinghouse", with Mr. John Stahl as his partner. After several years as a businessman in Elk City, O.L. bought the old "Dettimore Ranch" on the Corrumpa River near Seneca, Union County, New Mexico, where the North Canadian River finds its head. Suffering financial setbacks like many ranchers in the area, he left the ranching business and began a sawmill business near Jemez Springs, in Sandoval County, NM. In 1920 he had a contract sawing logs and providing rail ties for the Cuba Extension Railroad. His sons & daughters all married and his son "Richard Malcom Johnson" having died from injuries received in WWl, an ageing O.L. Johnson struggled to run his sawmill with the help of local Indian employees. O.L. died of a heart attack at La Ventana, NM in 1928 while still operating his sawmill in the mountains. His pioneer wife "Alma" died in Albuquerque, NM , in 1930. Both of these early settlers (Oliver Ludwick Johnson - 1854-1928) and his pioneer wife (Alma Rebecca [Emmons] Johnson- 1855-1930) are buried in the Clayton NM Cemetery, along with their son (Richard Malcom Johnson- 1891 -1920). *********************************************************************** Written by: William G. Kishbaugh - Winkelman , Arizona All Rights Reserved - 2002 *********************************************************************** Bibliography: 1-Transcribed copy of an original LeNora Johnson letter. 2-Johnson Family Genealogical Records. 3-Handbook of Texas On-Line (Billy Dixon) 4-"Light 'n Hitch" (pg 113) by Laura Vernon Hamner. Copy on file at Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum , Canyon Texas. 5-BLM Homestead application records for O.L. Johnson. 6-Newspaper articles from "Cheyenne Star".