Notes
Johnson, Etta Pease
[joan'sfam.FTW]
(Excerpts from a letter by Joan to Dawn Schuette McKinnon) 'I will
tell you what I remember about my grandmother. She was a very short, somewhat "chunky" lady who was always very busy. She and my grandfather
traveled a lot, most of the time while I was growing up they lived in Texas in the winter and came to Green Lake in the summers. My
grandmother seldom took care or "baby sat" us (my sister, Joyce and I
and my cousin Jack Lillyblad who spent summers at Green Lake with us), but when she was at Green Lake, she kept us busy! We hauled rocks from
the lake for her rock bankings and gardens earning a penny a rock, or we watered her flowers and did other outdoor projects. She worked outside
most of the time - my mother (your Grandma Ella Mae) did the housework and cooking! It wasn't always work, however, as she encouraged us to
"perform" and be enterprising! Every summer (with her encouragement) we
would spend weeks planning and producing a circus and invite friends or neighbors to come to it We also formed the "Bennett - Lillyblad" odd job
company, charging $ for 'extra chores we weren't required to do. We played cards and games, in the evenings (just like our family did later
at Green Lake). She loved having of people around and often invited friends and neighbors to visit. She played golf with Grandpa Johnson and
sometimes we got to go and caddie.'
Now, I will quote from her diary. She started writing it in Red
Wing, Minnesota, July 28th, 1927 and first reviewed her life to that point: "The story of my life as I remember it. . my real name is
Mary Etta Pease. . . I was born Sept 23rd 1875 in New London, Minnesota. We lived there a couple of years, then moved to Ortonville, Minnesota.. .
(my brother Wallace was 15 months older than myself) . . . my father, Addison Pease was a carpenter - especially building bridges (probably
over the Red River of the North for the Great Northern (or Northern Pacific) R.R. He would go away on Monday morning and stay all week . .
my mother would put my brother and me to bed to sleep at one o'clock and she would go to a shop and sew until 5. We never got any money from my
father . . In Oct of 1879 - one afternoon as my brother and I were playing in the yard, a man drove up. He had 2 heavy horses and a lumber
wagon. He was my mothers' brother Will Wright. He had not shaved for 6 weeks - so we thought he was an Indian or some bad man - we ran in the
house and locked the door. .. he came in the window and told us he was our uncle and would not harm us . . when my mother got home he was
holding both of us on his lap rocking us and telling stories. Then he went down town and bought some meat and other things to eat. It was the
first time I could remember having meat and good things to eat. After we were put to bed my mother and uncle sat up a long time and talked and she
told him the truth. That it was not so bad in the summer as long as we had the cow, and as long as we didn't need any fire, we could play in the
yard after we woke up from our nap . . but that now it was coming winter she really didn't know what to do, so he told her to pack up and come
home with him to her father and mother, for they were keeping a hotel in Willmar, called the "Willmar House" . . . it took us two days to get to
Willmar."
I will condense what happened next. Addison Pease came to Willmar
and tried to coax Etta and Wallace to go with him, finally he kidnapped Wallace and took him to New York state . . her (Etta's) mother,
Margaret, got a divorce . . Addison Pease kept Wallace, they eventually moved to the state of Washington - Spokane area. Contact was kept with
this family over the years and Joan now communicates with Sue Pease Ellingson. Etta and her mother lived at the Willmar Hotel (House), which
was owned by Margaret's parents (Mary Tilden and William Wright). When Etta was 7 her mother married James Johnson, an "elevator man " (managed
grain elevators). In 1890, Etta went to live with her grandmother, Mary Tilden Wright on her farm in Arvilla, North Dakota while her mother and
stepfather went to South Bend, Washington, but they only stayed about 9 months. Etta lived with her grandmother for two years and did not go to
school during that time. However, when the family got back together, she finished high school and went to the Willmar Seminary (Lutheran) and
became a country school teacher. She taught for two years when she was 19 and 20. In 1896 she mentions that her grandmother (Mary Tilden Wright)
took her to White, So. Dakota to visit her (Mary's) sister Ann (very likely Lydia Ann Dolson who lived in New London at one time).
In Willmar, Etta worked summers in a store run by George W.
Johnson. He took her to dances. George W. Johnson and Mary Etta Pease were married November 17, 1896 sending out 500 invitations to the
wedding. They received gifts such as "a bedroom suite, a dining room set, 4 rockers", etc. etc. (the gifts are listed in the newspaper article
about the wedding-see appendix). Between 1897 and 1907 they had 5 children. I think George W. owned and operated a drug store or possibly a
creamery in Willmar at the time they were married. He also ran a delicatessen, a candy factory and an ice cream store (Carnation Dairy
Lunch in Crookston, Minnesota). Apparently George was in business with his brothers and they ran up debts and finally dissolved the various
businesses, and paid off all the family debts. They were never poor, all the brothers did well, so the dissolution was probably just a business
move. However, they were not rich either. One moment George and Etta would be living in a 10 room house and the next, in 4 rooms above one of
their businesses!
The next venture was a "claim" in Montana. George W. sent Etta and
two daughters (Ella Mae and Vendla, the two youngest). She wrote a separate little diary of her life in Montana. (see appendix).They were
required to stay on the claim for 7 months out of the year. Upon returning from the claim one year, she told George W. they would have to
make other arrangements! (In other words, she didn't want to go back to Montana ). They got some money together and bought a theatre in Red
Wing, Minnesota. They opened Feb. 12, 1915. It was, I presume, a vaudeville theatre - this was before movies came along. Theodore played
the piano, Urban played "traps" (drums, etc), Etta sold tickets, Marguerite ushered. The next spring, March 10, 1916 Etta did have to go
back on the claim one more time in order to hold it - they were trying to sell it which they eventually did. Then they bought the Metro Theatre in
Red Wing. Also two houses on Main Street in Red Wing. They must have done all right and Etta and George went on several trips. In January of
1919 George was asked by the city to manage the city owned Sheldon Auditorium (now a restored historic landmark in Red Wing). He started at
$150.00 a month, by May 1926 he was making $5,000 a year, which was considerable in those days. All of the children had jobs in the theater
until they got married or moved out on their own. My uncle Urban traveled with road shows in his youth, uncle Ted eventually went to
Chicago and pursued a musical career. Etta writes- " In Oct. 1931 - Etta
Pease Johnson quit selling tickets -she stated 'I had sold tickets ever since we came to Red Wing in 2/11/15, i.e. 16 1/2 years!"
My grandmother wrote many more diaries and journals. None as interesting as the first, describing her early life. I have all of her
journals! In my opinion, she was quite a remarkable woman - never talked about raising children ( which she obviously did!) but more about her
adventures in life (which she enjoyed!). I was never very close to her, but I somehow always knew she was an accomplished woman. She suffered a
stroke when I was about 6 years old (1936), but continued a reasonably active life until she died on September 13, 1945 in McAllen, Texas.