BIOGRAPHY - CAROLINE JOHNSON
Mrs. Caroline Antoinette Johnson is numbered among the highly respected residents of Roberts, Illinois, where since 1906 she has made her home. She was born in Denmark, February 15, 1840, a daughter of Christian and Catherine Johnson, whose family numbered ten children. The daughter was reared in her native country and being left an orphan at the early age of thirteen she was then compelled to make her own way in the world.
At the age of twenty-five Miss Caroline Antoinette Trandberg gave her hand in marriage to James Johnson, who was likewise born in Denmark, the date of his birth being January 29, 1830. immediately following their marriage they emigrated to America, the year 1865 witnessing their arrival in Illinois. They first located in Washington county, where Mr. Johnson worked at his trades of carpenter and stone-mason, making his home there for six years, when in 1871 he came with his family to Ford county. He rented a farm in Peach Orchard township, which he operated for two years, at the same time carrying on his work as a carpenter and stone-mason. In 1874 he purchased eighty acres of land, situated on section 24, Peach Orchard township. He improved the place with good buildings and carried on general agricultural pursuits there until his demise, which occurred October 18, 1906, and thus passed away one of the highly respected citizens of this section of the state, for during his residence here, covering a period of more than three decades he had gained a host of warm friends who esteemed him for his genuine personal worth. One brother, L. P. Johnson, still survives.
Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Johnson disposed of her farming property and removed to Roberts, where she purchased a nice residence which, with her daughter, she now occupies. In addition to this property she also owns another residence and three acres of land in the village beside eighty acres of farm land in Iowa, from which she derives a good rental.
Mrs. Johnson became the mother of five children but three of the number are now deceased. The two surviving daughters are: Arnoldina, the wife of Andrew M. Nelson, a resident of DuPage county, Illinois; and May C, who resides with her mother. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have two sons, Le Roy, aged twelve years; and Melvin, aged six. Being herself left an orphan at an early age, Mrs. Johnson has always felt a deep interest in those deprived of parental love and care and through the kindness of her heart has taken into her home two orphans, one Alma E. Anderson, now seventeen years of age, having been reared by her from an infant of eighteen months, while Earl Rowcliffe, who became a member of her household at the age of fifteen months, is now a little lad of five years. Mrs. Johnson was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church but is now independent in her religious views. She is a gentle, kindly woman, charitable in her estimate of every one, and in Roberts and Ford county, where she has so long made her home, she has a host of warm friends.
Extracted 16 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 675-676.
