Christmas on the Western Front If you've read "(Not) Home for Christmas, Part 1", you've seen this photo, and you also know how Emil and the Augustana bandsmen had spent Christmas of 1917. Christmas, 1918 found Emil "billeted" with the Bougnot family in Doulaincourt, Hte Marne, with Theo Lenz as a roommate. The Armistice had …
Category: family history
Dainty Refreshments
Newspapers From the Past, Part 2 This is Stengrim and Charlotte Detlie, in a photo I can only guess is from the 1920s. You've seen their wedding photo in "Daddy and Some Babies" and "The Rest is History". Charlotte was my Grandma Edla Johnson's mother, and Stengrim was her stepfather. Edla's father Nels Nelson was …
(Not) Home for Christmas, Part 1
So I decided to search "Christmas in Doulaincourt 1918"... At first I was excited to see the name Theodore Lenz in the first result that came up. Hey! Somebody else wrote about Theodore Lenz? This is too cool, I thought. I'm going to learn something more about one of Grandpa Johnson's army buddies. I was …
Cast of Characters
Grandpa's Book, Part 2 You may remember that at the end of "The Forgotten Bandsmen", I said there were interesting stories about quite a few members of the Augustana Band/123rd Field Artillery. Some of the stories are kind of humorous, like the one about draftee Frank Vasco, who refused to be told when to use …
The Forgotten Bandsmen
"Grandpa's Book" Part 1 Most people in my family know that our grandfather, Emil Johnson, was a band corporal during World War 1, and that based on his letters, he was a prolific writer. Perhaps as a result of having been a reporter for the Ludington Daily News as a young man, he most often …
Newspapers From the Past, Part 1
Ludington Daily News The postcard on the left shows the Ludington Daily News building in the early 1900s. My grandfather, Emil, (the one typing) worked there for several years starting in 1913. There was also the Record Appeal, a weekly publication that would condense the main stories from the Daily News, and add other news …
Finding Frank, Part 1
No, I sincerely doubt if that's him. Frank is first mentioned on this blog by Foster in "Why You Probably Shouldn't Try to Eat a Broom". I guess you know I haven't given up on finding Frank. I won't go so far as to say it's become an obsession with me, but I've spent hours …
Pets From the Past, Part 4
The Story of Skoot Growing up, I had always heard about Skoot. As the family dog of my father's childhood, he obviously was a beloved pet. However, it wasn't until I found a notebook of my grandmother's and a memoir written by my grandfather that I truly began to appreciate the significant part he played …
Letters to Emil, Part 2
Ludington Daily News If you've read "Letters to Emil, Part 1", then you will recognize the front page article about the fire at the Rath building in 1916. Since I found the website with articles from before 1930, I have been fascinated with the Ludington Daily News. So this time we're going to take "Letters …
Letters to Emil, Part 1
Learning Swedish from "Google Translate" This is my great grandfather, Nels Johnson, in his tailor shop in Ludington, Michigan. I'm not sure of the date, or of the exact location, because he had a few different shops in Ludington over the years. If you remember, he's the one who made the wool quilt that Foster …