The Johnson Farm located southwest of Odebolt in section nineteen of Wheeler Township, was purchased by Andrew W. Johnson in March 1874 from Iowa Railroad Land Company for six dollars and sixty cents an acre.

Andrew E. Johnson, son of Johannes and Assarina Ifvarsson, was born in Sweden, Aug 12, 1846. Died February 26, 1929.

In 1871 he left his family in Sweden and came to America arriving with thirty-five cents in his pocket, all his worldly goods.

He spent some time in Pennsylvania working for a railroad, and it was through his association with the railroad that he learned of the procedure for buying land in the west.

In March 1874 he came to Iowa and purchased his land. A small house was erected at once. There was only one other house, to the northwest, for a distance of sixteen miles to Ida Grove.

The lumber for Andrew's first house was hauled from Vail. The house had a floor space of fourteen by twenty-two feet. He found tomahawks on the hill where he built his first house. Another important job was to dig a well, and Andrew chose a site close to a creek. He dug his well with a spade and it was probably twelve to fifteen feet deep. The well has never gone dry.

While the first year was a year of preparation for next year's planting, they did plant and harvest one small crop. In the spring they slashed the tough prairie sod with an ax and dropped kernels of corn in the slits. The harvest in the fall was ten bushels.

Andrew became an American citizen October 24, 1876. In 1880 Andrew married Augusta Lunberg.

Andrew and Augusta had twelve children; Amyie, Emil, Lillian, Elmer, Seth, Joseph, Mabel (Mrs. Martin Hamlin), Esther (Mrs. Joe Samuelson), Henry, Enoch, Minnie and Evelyn.

Evelyn Johnson has a life estate on the home place and is living [1977] there on the farm known as Forest Hill Farm.

Evelyn graduated from Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls. She taught school for a total of twenty -two years and has taught every grade from one through twelve. In later years she returned home to care for her aged mother and for Minnie and Elmer.

click photos for enlargement

Also see - Pioneer Series, Andrew E. Johnson

(Transcribed by Kim Tholl, Dec.2002. Photos scanned by B. Horak

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