JOHNSON, ANDREW K. AND ANNA W. (HANSEN)

by Mrs. Lucille Jenkins

Entry F224 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

A.K. Johnson Family, 1920. A.K., Anna, Laverne, Elwin.

Andrew Johnson was born November 11,
1867 in Sheyatland, Sweden in the county of
Rumshulla. He passed away at the Ord,
Nebraska Hospital at the age of 97 years, 10
months and 18 days. In Sweden he learned
the shoemaking and harness making trade.
At a early age, he traveled with his sewing
machine and tools from neighbor to neighbor
making shoes for the season. He went to
school until he was 15 years old and was
confirmed in the Luthern Faith in 1881.

In the spring of 1885, he came to the United
States to stay with an older brother and sister
which had settled at Oakland, Nebraska. In
1886 he worked in helping to build the
Burlington and Union Pacific railroads. In
1888, he went into the harness building at
Ord, Nebraska. He also was in the harness
business at Scotia, David City and Grand
Island, Nebraska.

In 1909, he married Anna W. Hansen of
Ord. They drove with a horse and buggy to
a near by town for their honeymoon.

Anna W. Hansen was born at Ord on
October 21, 1879. She was raised on the farm
with six brothers. Being the only girl she
became the seamtress for the family. She
traveled with her sewing machine from
neighbor to nieghbor doing the sewing for the
season. She continued to sew for neighbors
during her married life. She died on Decem-
ber 27, 1931.

In 1911, Andrew and Anna moved to the
Kinkaid Homestead which Andrew had filed
in 1906. It was located in South Cherry
County, 20 miles northeast of Mullen. In
1915, they moved to Mullen to start the
harness and shoe repair business. In addition,
he bought cream and eggs, sold saddles,
bridles, harness, boots and other leather
articles.

In 1921, he returned to live on the ranch
until 1940 when he sold the ranch and moved
to Ord to live with his sons.

To the union of Andrew and Anna, five
children were born: Laverne, Elwin, Lucille,
Evelyn and one child dying in infancy. The
children attended a rural school, Dist. 111,
Cherry County through the 8th grade. This
was better known as the Wells School.

Andrew had help to promote building the
school in the Wells precinct. Everyone in the
neighborhood donated lumber and time to
build it. A man in the neighborhood was hired
to teach the school. The children's ages
ranged from 7 to 21 years who attended.
Laverne and Elwin graduated from Ord High
School and are living there now. Lucille and
Evelyn graduated from Hooker County High
School. Lucille taught school in Cherry and
Hooker Counties for six years. She married
John Evert of Hyannis, Nebraska in 1940.
The last year she taught school was 1944-45
in a bedroom of her home while she took care
of her two children, John age 2 and Marilyn,
age 1 in an adjacent room of the home. Evelyn
taught the Reigle School and the Fred
Andrews school in Cherry County. In 1944,
Evelyn graduated from Nurses training at
Grand Island, Nebraska. She married Wil-
lard Jackson of Allis, Oklahoma and to this
union two children were born, Dan and Mike
Jackson.