Oscar Vitalis Johnson (1890 - 1971)

Born 17 Feb 1890 in River Falls, Polk, Minnesota, USA

Ancestors

Son of Håkan August Johnson and Anna Sophia Johaneson

Husband of Grace Edith (Murdoch) Johnson — married 14 Nov 1917 in Tacoma, Pierce, Washington, USA

Descendants

Died 21 Jan 1971 at age 80 in El Sobrante, Contra Costa, California, USA

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Kay Wilson [send private message] and John Patrick [send private message]

Biography

Oscar Vitallis Johnson was born February 17, 1890 in River Falls, Minnesota to Håkan Johnson and Anna Johaneson. In 1910, at the age of 20, he was living in Tacoma with his brother Walter and his sister Ellen.^[1] He was working as a shingle packer in a shingle mill. His brother was a tally man in a saw mill, and their sister had a dressmaking business.

O. V. married Grace Murdoch in 1917 in Tacoma.^[2] By this time he was working as an accountant or bookkeeper for a utility company. All of Grace and O.V.'s children were born in Albany, Oregon in the 1920's.^[3] Doug, their oldest, was born in the hospital, but the two younger children were born at home because their doctor thought that was safer than being in the hospital. The family moved back to Tacoma and were there in 1930^[4] when O.V. lost his job because of the depression. One of O.V.'s Albany friends, not knowing he was out of work, wrote from San Francisco to let him know there were job openings. So they moved to San Francisco. The depression worsened, and when a job opened in Needles, California, they moved to Needles.^[5]

O.V. and Grace moved to Rossmoor in ____. Grace died in 1969 and O.V. in 1971.^[6] O.V. died of heart failure, was cremated at Fairmont Memorial Park, and his ashes were scattered at sea.

Notes

According to Dorothy JOHNSON HUGHES, O.V. was out of work for 3 weeks during the Depression. During this time, he sold pencils. Another company merged with his, and they didn't need two bookkeepers. O.V. and Grace moved to San Francisco so he could work for a new company [California Pacific Utilities Company, according to Walt HUGHES' PAF file]. This company eventually didn't need two bookkeepers, either. He then took the branch manager's position for CPU in Needles. They drove a 1928 Chevrolet, and had the opportunity to stop under each bridge on the way to Needles to get water for the car! In Needles, miners would come into town looking for grubstakes. O.V.had a friend with a mine "out in the sticks." O.V., Grace, and the 3 children headed to the mine in their 1928 Chevrolet without telling anyone where they were going. The car's fuel line broke. At age 12, Bob fixed it with a hose from a tire pump! According to Dorothy Johnson Hughes, in Needles, O.V. was manager of the gas, electricity and telephone company. He was responsible for getting electricity from Hoover Dam to Needles (Searchlight, NV was about halfway). O.V. was also responsible for a separate laundry business on the property. Grace kept the books for the laundry and taught the Mexican women how to iron men's shirts. In exchange, the laundry did O.V.'s shirts. O.V. would occasionally invite people to his home for dinner. One of the guests was Rex Bell, a star of cowboy movies. He was married to Clara Bow (who O.V. and Grace did not meet). Rex wanted electricity for his ranch, so was nice to O.V. Rex Bell later became governor of Nevada. According to Dorothy Johnson Hughes: Over the years, O.V. & Grace's son, Bob, had many run-ins with a bully, Billy Carr. In 1943 Billy's father traveled to San Francisco to tell O.V.'s boss that O.V. was not doing a good job. As a result, O.V. was transferred to San Francisco as a demotion. However, the next person who took his job in Needles realized that he had been doing a good job. In 1931, when the family left Tacoma, they kept their home at 3211 N 8th St. and rented it to former neighbors, the Robert Hagers. In 1943 they sold the Tacoma home to buy a home at 4489 Moraga Ave., in Oakland (for about ,000). After WWII, home values increased so much more rapidly in the Bay Area than in Needles, it turned out that the transfer to San Francisco was a good thing for them. According to the Johaneson Family History, O.V. was an Auditor for Pacific Gas and Electric in San Francisco. According to David Murdoch Johnson, O.V. made beautiful wooden doll beds for the Salvation Army in his retirement.

Accountant for 50 years, last employer Calif Public Utilities

1913

Started at the gas company at $35/month^[7]

14 NOV 1917

Stenographer/^[8]

18 JAN 1920

Accountant/^[9][10]

1929

Auditor for gas company @ $250/month^[11]

Residence

18 JAN 1920

924 E 2nd St, Albany, Oregon^[12]

04 NOV 1917

Tacoma, Pierce, Washington^[13]

21 JAN 1971

1108 Oakmont Drive #1, Walnut Creek^[14]

DNA

• Paternal relationship is confirmed through Y-chromosome DNA testing. Kenneth Johnson FTDNA kit #202680, and his second cousin, FTDNA kit #177420, match at a Genetic Distance of 2 on 67 markers thereby confirming their direct paternal lines back to their MRCA Håkan August Johnson, the great grandfather of each. FTDNA indicates that the probability the two share a common ancestor within the last 3 generations is 31.83%.
• Maternal relationship is confirmed by an autosomal 23andMe test match between Kay (Johnson) Wilson and JL, her 3rd cousin . Their most-recent common ancestors are John Johansson and Christina Bringeldotter, the great great grandparents of both Kay (Johnson) Wilson and JL. Predicted relationship from 23andMe: third cousin, based on sharing 57 cM (.76% DNA shared) across 3 segments.

Sources

1. ↑ Year: 1910; Census Place: Tacoma Ward 8, Pierce, Washington; Roll: T624_1665; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0284; FHL microfilm: 1375678
2. ↑ Ancestry.com. Washington, County Marriages, 1855-2008 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
3. ↑ Year: 1920; Census Place: Precinct 7, Linn, Oregon; Roll: T625_1496; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 287
4. ↑ Year: 1930; Census Place: Tacoma, Pierce, Washington; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 0188; FHL microfilm: 2342246
5. ↑ Year: 1940; Census Place: Needles, San Bernardino, California; Roll: m-t0627-00290; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 36-59
6. ↑ Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1940-1997 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000.
7. ↑ Source: #S198 Page: Letter to his sister Carolina, dated 7/3/1929
8. ↑ Source: #S237
9. ↑ Source: #S94
10. ↑ Source: #S58 Data: Text: Accountant, electric co.
11. ↑ Source: #S198 Page: Letter to his sister Carolina, dated 7/3/1929
12. ↑ Source: #S94
13. ↑ Source: #S237
14. ↑ Source: #S137

• Year: 1900; Census Place: River Falls, Red Lake, Minnesota; Page: 7; Enumeration District: 0329; FHL microfilm: 1240782
• United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Oakland, Alameda, California; Roll: 5649; Sheet Number: 71; Enumeration District: 67-299