February 25, 1945 (Sunday)

WARD BOULARD GIVES THE SERMON. HANK GOES FLYING.

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Cold snappy wind.

I went to church.

This was layman's day

and Warren Bergy had

charge of service.

Ward Boulard gave the

talk, very good.

Minister + wife were

absent.

Jack, Lucille + Mary

here this evening.

Hank went to Air Port.

Did some flying.

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Today, Laity Sunday (Laymen's Day) is celebrated the third Sunday in October. According to a United Methodist Church website umcdiscipleship.org the "first recorded observance of "Laymen's Day" was in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in 1929." But it wasn't an officially designated day across the entire United Methodist Church until 1941.

When Ward Boulard and Warren Bergy led the service at the Methodist Church in Bowne Center in 1945, Laymen's Day was still a fairly new tradition. A brief note in the February 22, 1945 edition of the Lowell Ledger made mention of Laymen's Day with Warren Bergy presiding.

Edna makes note in journal on this day that Jack (Edna's son-in-law), Lucille (Edna's daughter) and Mary (Jack and Lucille's daughter) pay a visit. Seeing names of all of the frequently mentioned names in Edna's journal makes me realize that I should create a "Character Key" or something of the like to make it easier for people reading along to know who people are and how they fit in. Stay tuned. That is coming soon.

This is the first time I have seen Edna reference Hank's flying. Perhaps she mentions it in earlier journals but I have skipped over a couple of years. The last journal I worked on of hers was from 1941.

Hank was just learning to fly in 1945 but it wasn't a passing fancy. He would continue to fly for decades after that. And, at least two of his children, Steve and David would also learn to fly.

One of the things I remember most about the farm from when I was a kid in the 1970s were airplanes. Well, airplanes and cows.

The house where my father grew up and where my grandfather still resided at the time was adjacent to the farm where Edna and Henry lived and raised their family. One of the fields extended from Johnson homestead to the west, running behind my grandpa's house. When I was kid, a portion of that field contained a runway and landing strip. There was an out building / hangar that housed, as I recall, one (possibly two) red and white airplanes. I am not sure if they were existing farm buildings that were converted to house the planes or if they were built purposely for the planes. I am sure one of my cousins (Hank's kids) might be able to say for sure.

Sometime in the early 1970s, my cousin Steve (Hank's oldest son) took my brother and I, along with my parents, for our first plane ride. In my memory, my grandpa was along for the ride as well. I was probably only 5 or so at the time. It is an experience that, over 50 years later, remains one of my earliest childhood memories.

Steve Johnson with Jill and Marc Johnson getting ready to fly (circa 1971)

February 24, 1945 (Saturday)

EDNA HAS TROUBLE BREATHING. SHE ALSO PLAYS EUCHRE.

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Nice sunny day.

Thawing a little.

Did usual Sat cleaning.

Had a hard time

getting my work done

as I was so short

of breath all day.

I transformed feathers

into new pillows last

evening and the fine

feather dust affected

my lungs and caused

shortness of breath.

Kate and Bill out

to-night. Played euchre.

Men won 2 games more

than we women.

Awfully tired to-night.

---

In the 1950s, Good Housekeeping published a weekly schedule for a typical housewife.

• Monday: Grocery and Kitchen

• Tuesday: Laundry

• Wednesday: Bedrooms and Bathrooms

• Thursday: Linens and Living Room

• Friday: Groceries, Defrost Fridge, Dining Rooms & Halls

• Weekend: Free Day/Family Day

This is the 1940s and Saturdays were also work days on the farm for Edna and Henry and their family. In her journal, Edna often remarks "did usual [insert weekday} chores.

On this Saturday, Edna isn't feeling well. She is having trouble breathing which she attributes to the feather dust she inhaled while making pillows the night before.

In journals from previous years, Edna talks about their chickens. She hasn't referenced them in this journal but I am going to make a leap and assume she is using chicken feathers collected from the farm to assemble her pillows.

We know now that poultry dust contains bird feed, bedding material, bird droppings, feathers and dander, dust mites, fecal deposits, and more! It's no wonder Edna was having respiratory issues.

Despite being tired and not breathing well, Edna played a few rounds a euchre with Kate (her sister-in-law) as her partner. I am not sure how many games they played but the men won two more rounds than the women.

Edna and Henry often play euchre with friends and family and it seems that they always pair off by gender and not as couples. Edna always makes note of the score between men vs. women. She doesn't say so outright but I think she takes a bit of pride when the "ladies" give the "men" a run for their money,

What hashtag would she be using if her journal entry in 1945 were a Facebook post in 2024?

February 23, 1945 (Friday)

EDNA RECEIVES TWO LETTERS

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Snowed again last

night - colder to-day.

Hank to Ed

home this P. M.

Read a nice long

letter from Maybelle O. J.

She is completing plans

for her funeral in the

event of her death wants

me to make one song

selection for her.

Rec'd air letter from

Fern Aldrich of Texas telling

of the sudden death of

May Aldrich, Howard's

mother in Florida. Howard

+ Warren bringing remains

for burial to Bowne Center

cemetery.

---

Well of course I needed to know more about Maybelle O. J.

At first, I thought it was Maybelle A. J., not O.J. But a quick call to my dad helped me out. Dad said Maybelle was a Johnson and that she had been a nurse but he didn't recall the exact relationship.

I did a little digging and found May Bell Johnson listed on our Ancestry.com family tree. From there I was able to determine that she was likely the woman I was looking for.

Maybelle Olive Johnson, according to her obituary, began training as a nurse in 1899 at Baptist Hospital in Chicago. She continued to work and train as nurse until ill health caused her retirement.

When Maybelle wrote to Edna in 1945 about her funeral plans she had been mostly bed-ridden for over ten years. It would be another 12 years before she passed away in 1957 at the age of 79.

Maybelle was the daughter of John Chandler Johnson and Mary Nash

Edna's mother-in-law is Eleanor Nash.

Eleanor (Edna's mother-in-law) and Mary (Maybelle's mother) are sisters.

Also, Edna's father-in-law is James Chandler Johnson. James and Maybelle's father John Chandler Johnson are brothers.

James and John married sisters Mary and Eleanor.

Edna is married to Henry Alden Johnson, Sr. The son of James and Eleanor.

So, Maybelle is Henry's cousin.

Now that we got that all figured out, I am sad to say that I don't know much more about Maybelle. But I do have a fascinating story to share about the sisters Eleanor and Mary.

Eleanor and Mary were born in Ohio to Alden Nash and Olive Noyes Poole. Eleanor and Mary were two of nine children born to the couple.

• Alden Lorenzo Nash (1836-1837)

• James Morrison Nash (1838-1916)

• John Merton Nash (1841-1844)

• Daniel Lorenzo Nash (1843-1935)

• Elenor Louisa Nash (1847-1897)

• Mary Elizabeth Nash (1849-1923)

• Alden Jay Nash (1851 - 1931)

• John Augustus Nash (1854 - 1922)

• Francis Rosalia Nash (1857 - 1946)

In 1852, when Eleanor was five and Mary just three-years old, their father Alden Nash sold his property in Ohio, loaded his family into a covered wagon and travelled to Bowne Center, Michigan.

In 1966, Olive Nash Bergy (the daughter of John Augustus Nash) recorded the story she had been told about the journey, writing it down on paper.

"In October 1852, two years before my father (John Augustus Nash) was born, Grandfather (Alden Nash) sold his property in Welshfield, Ohio and he and grandmother (Olive Noyes Poole Nash) and their 5 children aging from 1 year - 14 years, came to the wilderness of Michigan with a covered wagon.

Alden had a one horse buggy for his wife and his sister Clarissa Waterman to travel in. They crossed Lake Erie from Cleveland, Ohio to Detroit, Michigan and were soon on their way to a new world and a new life.

Uncle Dan (Daniel Nash) rode in the wagon and held onto his two sisters - Aunt Mary (Nash), 3 years and Aunt Eleanor (Nash), 5 years - to keep them from being bounced out of the wagon. Uncle Dan was only 9 years old. Uncle Jim (Nash) was 14 years old and Uncle Alden Nash II was a baby of 1 year. My grandfather was 41 years old and Grandmother was 36 years. The going was rough as they went over logs, mud, and bad roads day after day."

If you want to read the entire account of the journey, just click the link below.

Journey to Bowne Township in Michigan.pdf

Download PDF • 102KB

This photo of the Nash siblings was taken around 1915. From left to right are John, John's wife Alice, Daniel, Frances, Mary and Alden II.

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Parents of the nine Nash children, Alden Nash and Olive Noyes Poole Nash.

Edna's in-laws, James Chandler Johnson and Eleanor Louisa Nash on their wedding day, July 4, 1865.

The name most bestowed upon individuals in the Nash and Johnson lineage seems to be Alden.

Alden and Olive Porritt

Alden Nash named two of his own sons Alden.

Eleanor named her own son Henry Alden (Edna's husband).

Henry's sister Lydia named one of her children Alden. This Alden...Alden Nash Porritt had a twin sister Olive. She died when she wasn't quite a year old but Olive was a commonly given name in my lineage for awhile as well.

Henry and Edna named one of their sons Henry Alden (Hank).

Many of Hank's grandchildren were given Alden as a middle name.

My own son is named Alden.

I hope it is a name what will continue through the generations so that the story of Alden Nash himself and the stories all of the Aldens who came after him will live on in our family history.

I know I will share more of their stories on this blog at some point in the future. Especially those of Alden Nash himself. Until then, in case you have ever driven a stretch of road in Kent County, Michigan name Alden Nash ....the answer is yes. Read more about it here: https://lowellsfirstlook.com/alden-nash-man-of-mystery/

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Update:

After I published this post, my parents found a picture of Maybelle O. Johnson in her nurses uniform.

Maybelle Olive Johnson