This story started as a tribute to a boy, who the McCracken family has placed flowers on his grave for decades despite not being related to him. Along the way, the story got bigger, more complicated with people moving all over the place and using different names on different days of the week, and I found connections to relatives and neighbors. This just proves that you need to be cautious when opening a can of worms because the simplest of stories can lead to a place you never expected.
The Story
All I ever knew was that my Uncle Dewey wanted flowers to be placed on the grave of Arden Johansen each Decoration Day, which is now called Memorial Day. I knew they were friends, Arden had lived across the road, and that Arden didn’t have family in the area.
For years, Jackie, Dewey’s wife, put flowers on the grave. When she was no longer able, my mom, dad, and sister took over. And, for the last three years, I have taken on the job.
I was hoping to find out how why Arden died at age 15. I also hoped to learn why his family left and where they went. Well, the story was a bit more complicated than that.
Introduction to the Johansen Family
In order to understand Arden’s life, it is important to understand a bit about his family history.
Grandfather Johansen
On November 21, 1832, Arden’s grandfather Peter T. Johansen was born on the island of Zealand near Copenhagen, Denmark. He became a sailor at age 14. He sailed to Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Australia, where he participated in the Australian gold rush. Finally, he sailed for America.
Peter went to Effingham County, Illinois where he married Mary Jane Layton in 1871. He settled down there for much of his adult life. He was the school treasure for 43 years and was a very prominent member of the community. However, one day he pulled up stakes and moved much of his family to Arkansas. As you can see, he was adventurous. Apparently, that was a gene he passed down to at least part of his children of his children.
The Move To Arkansas
In the fall of 1903, the family moved to Sharp County, Arkansas. Peter stated that the reason he was moving was that in Illinois he could not acquire enough land to leave a sizeable piece to each of his children. Land was both cheaper and more readily available in Arkansas, where he purchased 560 acres.
Peter and Mary Jane were joined in Arkansas by their son John (William), daughter Flora Charlotte “Lottie,” daughter Mollie, daughter Tillie and son Grover. Their son Layton apparently didn’t have the travel gene or his wife wanted to stay in Illinois. Tillie also didn’t last long in Arkansas, moving back to Illinois and marrying there. Likewise, William didn’t stay long. Between 1906 and 1910, William moved to Ford County, Kansas. However, William and his wife Mary, and children did not stay long in this location. Their oldest two Gladys and Seth had been born in Illinois. Then Peter had been born in Arkansas. Now, it was time to go back to Illinois where their next child Lloyd was born in February 1911.
Bourbon County
By fall 1912, William and family were in the Hiattville/Pawnee area in Bourbon County, Kansas. William was making plans to move into Ft. Scott. It was reported that he moved his household goods. However, in April 1913, William was a visitor at Rocky Vale School #78. This is just up the road from where I grew up. Either the move wasn’t completed or they didn’t last long in Ft. Scott.
Coal Oil
At the end of November, William and Mary left their young son (I assume this was Lloyd) with Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin Barker, who lived a half-mile east of them, while they went to church. This would have been at the house where I grew up. Anyway, Mrs. Barker was cleaning with coal oil. She sat a cup of it on the table and the young boy got it and drank some of it. He became ill and Mrs. Barker realized what had happened. She immediately induced vomiting and called for a doctor. Miracle of miracles, he survived unharmed.
Peter’s Death
The following spring, William’s father Peter, who had still been living in Arkansas, stayed with William. After Peter died, William and his mother accompanied Peter’s body back to Illinois for burial. His estate was handled in Illinois. An article mentioned that he owned 160 acres of land near Hiattville and other interests. However, it did not call out any land in Arkansas, where he had been living. I don’t know if he had already distributed that land to his children, he no longer mentioned it, or Hiattville simply made the paper since that is where he died.
Peter’s wife stayed in Illinois for an extended period. The following year she traveled back to Kansas to live.
Life Goes On
In 1915, William and his wife Mary were still living in Bourbon County with their children Gladys, Seth, Peter, Jesse, and a son whose name appears to be Reward. I believe this is the son that is later listed in records as Lloyd R.
William’s mother Mary Jane was also living in Pawnee Township between two Deesler families. The head of the household appeared to be J.H. Johnson. Note that the name was written for his name and then the name Johansen followed for other members of the household. Thus, I assume that his name was Johnson and that this was not a typo. Other members of the household included Mollie, Caley, Lottie, and a one-boys name which is not decipherable. I assume Caley was Callie, Mary Jane’s youngest son’s wife. Likewise, I am guessing that the one year old was Callie’s son as that matches with his birth year. Additionally, Lottie was married, but her husband was not with the family.
Things began changing again in January 1917. Foreclosure proceedings were held for the property where William lived. Several different families, some of which were known to have lived on the property, were listed in the suit. Thus, a variety of issues may have arisen with paperwork or some non-payment. Before 1920, they would move to Nebraska.
Arden’s Life
Now enter William (Arden) Johansen who was also known as Billie. He was born July 17, 1917. But, where? And, to what parents? Before we can answer that question, let’s look into Arden’s life and continue to keep an eye on other members of the Johansen family.
Rocky Vale
The first mention I found of Arden in records or newspapers was in April 1922 when Arden and his brother Jack visited O’Ella and Ester McCracken. It was followed by a busy fall. Arden started school at Rocky Vale in September. The featured photo at the top of this article is Rocky Vale students in 1926. O’Ella, Ester, Dewey, and Howard are in the photo. Plus, two little McCrackens not yet in school. I believe the boy in front with suspenders might be Arden and the boy far in the back could be Jack. If you recognize those two boys as someone else, please let me know.
Then, in October of that year, Arden and Jack went with their Aunt Charlotte “Lottie” to Ft. Scott. And, in November, he landed on the sick list. Then, in December, when Arden’s grandmother Mary Jane Johansen, who suffered from arthritis and didn’t get around well, fell against a hot stove, Arden came to the rescue. At only five-years-old, he couldn’t help her directly, but he was able to run outside and find his Aunt Charlotte, who was able to assist his grandmother.
The next year included day to day life with additional visits to other neighborhood families. His brother Jack wrote letter to Santa that year that was printed in a Ft. Scott newspaper. It is much like the ones that children write today except that he didn’t ask for an iphone or video games.
Illnesses & Injuries
In the spring of 1924, Grandma Johansen was not well and was confined to bed. Her son William came from Nebraska to see her and his sister Charlotte. It was believed that William was going to buy a farm east of Pawnee. However, I have not found any indication that the purchase took place.
Just before his birthday, Arden had a significant mishap when he somehow got two large nails stuck in his foot. That keep him in bed for a few days so that the foot could heal. Around Christmas of that year, a newspaper in Illinois reported that two of Grandma Johansen’s children were traveling to Kansas because their sister had died of pneumonia. I believe this is a misunderstanding because none of their siblings died at that time and the next February it was reported locally that Charlotte was still recovering from pneumonia.
Location, Location, Location
Location, Location, LocationIn the 1925 state census, Arden and Jack were shown living with their Aunt Charlotte and their grandmother Mary Jane, where I suspect they had been living since at least 1922. They were listed with one household between McCracken family and them. The map shows the property of Roy Cornelius, Charlotte’s husband. So, Arden did indeed live right across the road from Dewey.
In December 1925, Charlotte filed for divorce from her husband, who I had never found to be living with her. She stated that he had abandoned her in Chicago some years earlier. The land she lived on had belonged to her parents. Her husband Leroy (Roy) Cornelius had made a deal with her mother that he would get the land in exchange for taking care of her mother for the remainder of her life. He not only hadn’t taken care of her mother. He hadn’t been present in her life for at least five years as the last record I have of them together was when they were renting property in Miami County, Kansas in 1920. Thus, her divorce suit asked for the land to be awarded to her as compensation. She had taken care of herself, her mother, and the land. She was awarded the property.
Sometime between the time the divorce was finalized and the end of 1927, Charlotte married Stanley Calvert. They continued to live in the Hiattville/Pawnee area. In January 1928, Charlotte required surgery and she died a few days later. She was buried at Hiattville Cemetery.
Moving Away
Apparently, Stanley continued to care for Arden, Jack, and Grandma Johansen. Later that year, Mary Jane’s son Layton and her son-in-law John Hanna came and moved Grandma Johansen back to Illinois to be cared for by their families. The next March, Stanley and the boys moved to Waverly, Kansas where Stanley had family.
Arden’s Death
On June 29, 1933, Arden died in Waverly, Kansas. The cause of death of the boy who was not yet 16 was typhoid. His body was brought back to Hiattville for burial. He is buried next to his Aunt Charlotte, who helped raise him. It is assumed that his aunt’s second husband had purchased two plots and used the second one for him. Like in their days of youth, Arden, Billie as Dewey called him, is right across the road from Dewey. The two friends are buried only a few feet apart.
Arden’s Parents
Now, lets turn our attention back to the question of who were Arden’s parents? And, where was he born. We know that he was a grandson of Peter and Mary Jane (Layton) Johansen as there are multiple references to this relationship. We also know that Charlotte was said to have been Arden and Jack’s aunt. References also indicate that Arden and Jack were brothers. We also know that Jack was born around 1914 and Arden was born in July 1917. Additionally, a couple of references list Jack as Heber or a similar name. I also saw one article that said that they lived with Charlotte after their mother died. However, other articles about her caring for the boys do not mention this piece of information.
For completeness, let’s consider all of Peter and Mary Jane’s children that were living at the time that the boys were born. Layton and his wife lived in Illinois the entire time. They never had children and both lived to be over 80. Likewise, Tillie and her husband lived in Illinois. They had one son and whom they raised. Thus, it seems extremely unlikely that they would ship subsequent children off to live with an aunt in another state. Charlotte is a consideration even though they claimed she was an aunt. However, they were not living with her in 1920 and there is no reason that she wouldn’t have claimed them as her own since she raised them.
Now that we have removed half of the Johansen siblings as possible parents, let’s consider the other three more likely ones.
William and His Wife Mary
I considered William and Mary as their parents. They had a son Jesse E., who was about the age of Jack and who also used that nickname. But the questions that immediately came to mind was, “Why have Jack with them at times, but never Arden? And, why these two of all their children?” Even if they would have been the youngest two, that would have made more sense.
While living in Nebraska, William did come to visit, but it never mentioned that he was visiting his sons. Additionally, Mary did not die young. I looked at that fact over and over with such a common name. However, evidence points to him being married to the same Mary Lane throughout their life while living in at least six states (Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Mississippi, and Virginia).
This possibility although interesting as their son Jesse/Jack was the right age shows up too much with his parents. He is with them in each census and shows to be consistently living in Lincoln, Nebraska. Thus, I believe they are not his parents.
Mollie
Mollie it seemed had some type of issue as she shows up at the state hospital at Osawatomie in records from 1920 throughout the rest of her life. I don’t know the first date that she was there, but it was after 1915 and before 1920. That said, I also found records for a woman with her name and birth year living in Fort Scott in the 1950s. So, perhaps she was in and out of the hospital. Could she have been their mother? This seems possible. Jack could have been the one-year-old boy that is listed in the 1915 state census. However, he is listed after Caley (Callie) and not with Mollie. Additionally, I don’t know where they would have been in 1920 since they weren’t with Charlotte and Grandma Johansen.
Grover & Callie
The woman Caley (Callie) in the 1915 census with Grandma Johansen would appear to be son Grover’s wife. I am assuming that the one-year-old boy was her son. In September 1918 when Grover registered for the draft, they were living in Arizona. He was working as a miner at that time. It is possible that she had another son and then she died. Tracing Grover and Callie has been very difficult. This makes me wonder if are the parents.
UPDATE: I believe I can now conclude that Grover and Callie are his parents. I remembered seeing Arizona somewhere in the records. I dismissed it at the time because I had not found any of the family to have been in Arizona and other records appeared to indicate that they didn’t know. However, that aligns relatively closely with the draft registration.
What it was like for Arden?
I am trying to imagine what life was like for Arden. He may have never known his parents at all. And, if he did, it would have been only when he was very young. He was raised by an aunt, who I imagine loved him as her own. But, still not the same. Then, she died. And, Grandma moved away. He was left with his brother and his aunt’s husband. Then, the three of them moved away.
It must have been even worse for Jack as he would have been a bit older. And, on top of all that Arden went through, he lost his brother, too!
Afterward – The Connections
While living around Hiattville/Pawnee, William was mentioned in the company of C.C. Callow, L.F. Lozier, Mr. Runkle, and Elias Deesler.
McCracken
The first McCracken connection to his associates came through L.F. Lozier. His daughter Fern married Grandpa Joseph Andrew McCracken’s brother Lemuel Lewis “Lem” McCracken.
Deesler
I researched the name Deesler, as I knew this family. Well, it turns out that William didn’t just associate with Elias Deesler; he was related to him. William’s mother Mary Jane Layton’s sister Christina had married William Henry Deesler, Elias’ father.
I knew Elias’ son Raymond (Earl) and his wife Pearl. Matter of fact, in high school, I took care of Pearl, who was elderly, when her daughter’s family was away.
McCracken via Deesler & Barton
The Deesler family had another connection to our family. William Henry and Christina (Layton) Deesler’s son Pomeroy married Ada Maude Barton whose brother Fred Franklin Barton married Florence Edna McCracken, Andrew McCracken’s brother William T. McCracken’s daughter.
Prompt: Friend, associate, Neighbor
#52ancestors52weeks