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Nennie and Alpha Johnson

Husband's Full Name:  Nennie Johnson

Husband's Place of Birth:  West Salem, Wisconsin

Husband's Father's Name: Nils Jensen

Husband's Mother's Name: Unknown

Husband's Siblings' Names: Albert, Mary Gunderson, Dave, Dora Olson, Anna Anderson, Ole, John

Wife's Full Name:  Alpha Skogmo Johnson

Wife's Place of Birth:  Minneota, Minnesota

Wife's Father's Name:  Anton Skogmo

Wife's Mother's Name:  Johanna Skogmo

Wife's Siblings' Names:  Thomas, Anna, John, George, Jacob, Arthur, James, Magda Ingvaldson, Arthur, Johanna Owen, Harold

Children's Names: Harriet Everett, Winnifred Gustafson

Johnson, N re.jpg

Nennie Johnson came to Manfred in the 1895 from West Salem, Wisconsin.  His sister, Annie, her husband, P.B. Anderson and family, and his brother, John, wife Malina and family, lived on farms a short distance west of Manfred.

 

Nennie built the Hotel Johnson in connection with a barbershop and recreation parlor. He was the barber.

 

In June of 1905, he was married to Alpha Skogmo. They had two daughters, Harriet and Winnifred.

 

About 1908, Nennie sold the hotel and built a business across the street. For a few years he had a barbershop and recreation parlor there. But about 1921 he turned it into a general store. Anton Aasand was his business partner for several years.

 

Nennie carried on many hobbies in the back end of the store. He collected guns, Indian artifacts and many other things. He made a clock from a buffalo head, a chair from longhorns and buffalo horns. He took a mail order course in taxidermy and had a case full of birds and animals that he had mounted. He tried his hand at oil painting, carving wood, etc. At his home he built a fountain and he raised bees in his yard.

 

He sold the store to Rudolph Peterson about 1944. He died December 27, 1945 at his home in Manfred.

 

His wife Alpha moved to Greeley, Colo. early in 1946, and a little later she returned to Manfred to sell her belongings. Her house was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Ed Olstad.

 

Alpha went back to Greeley and was married to Ernest Kruse. Alpha died at Greeley. She was nearly 94 years old.

 

Harriet Johnson married Leonard Everett in June 1932 at Manfred. They lived in Omaha, Neb., Minot, Rapid City, S.D. and Greeley, Colo. before moving to Kimball in the Nebraska Panhandle in June of 1947, where Leonard had bought a Gamble Store. He operated it for 11 years until his death in May of 1958 at the age of 51.

 

Their children are: Wayne, four children, Honolulu, Hawaii, Judy Lopez, (four children), Sidney, Neb., Neil, (three children), Wauconda, Ill., Jill Osborn, (three children), Suffern, N.Y., and Ruth Bell, (two children), Ventura, Calif.

 

Winnifred Johnson, married Frank Gustafson, at Missoula, Mont. in February of 1941 and they lived at Alberton. Frank was an engineer on the Milwaukee Railroad. They adopted a daughter, Lynn, who lives at Reno, Nev.

 

Winnie now lives in a mobile home court near Apache Junction, Ariz.

 

Source:  Growing With Pride - 1981

 

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