1893-Oliver David Johnson

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(Just starting - Dave)

The Oliver David Johnson Family

Clicking on the Orange Title above will take you to Our Johnson Family Line.

Oliver's Family Group sheet presents his life in a nutshell.



A map showing the years in RED where he lived:


Oliver in 1896 at the age of 3 -


The 1900 US Census verifies they were still in Monroe, and their youngest child, Lexie, was born there in 1909.


1893 Oliver David Johnson was born September 2. Named after his father, Benjamin Oliver Johnson and his mother's father, David Emanuel Brown. He was the oldest of 7 children, in Monroe, Sevier County Utah and lived there until he moved to Gunnison, Sanpete County Utah with his family in 1910.



In 1910 he moved with his family, by team and wagon, First to Gunnison in Sanpete County, then on to the Uintah Basin where his father took up a homestead. The location of this homestead was either Monarch, about 12 miles northeast of Roosevelt, Utah, or Montwell about 10 miles northwest of Roosevelt. The family farm eventually was in Montwell, Utah.

Uncle Jack Johnson told me dad worked for a time in Delta before he worked in the coal mine area above Price, at Mutual Coal Camp. He also worked in the timber in the Uintah Mountains and I recall him saying he enjoyed this work more than any he ever did.

My earliest memories were while we were living at a saw mill in the Uintah mountains. At this time I was about four years and my brother Garn was about two. While daddy helped cut trees Mother and the other wives cooked the meals. Everyone ate together in a large dining room. The children took turns ringing the dinner bell which consisted of a large circular saw nailed to a tree which we would hit with a hammer.

My mother, Lydia Almira Taylor Johnson, became ill, so Daddy, Oliver David Johnson, took us to the valley. Shortly after this, mother had her third child, Vivian Oliver. We lived in a small house in Cedarview, Utah. An Indian, Johnnie Crow and his wife, brought us a rare delicacy at this time - a porcupine.

While living in Cedarview Daddy bought for us a new car; a Ford truck. I had scarlet fever here, and also had a chance to see my first airplane at the fair in Roosevelt. My next memories of where we lived was when we were on our way to the coal mines with two wagons. Mother's brother, Earl Taylor, drove one of the wagons. On the way we saw a peacock strut its tail and make a loud noise.

We lived in a boarded up tent at the small mining town of Rains and mother became
very ill with what they called "Quinsy" a severe inflammation of the throat with swelling and fever) while we lived there. Grandmother Johnson came to help at this time - My mother had a baby girl that did not live.

The next spring we moved to Delta, and our next move was to Springville, Utah, where Ila was born, Mother and I had our tonsils out the same day when we were living in our first house in Springville. I was put to sleep and mother had hers frozen; I often
wondered what it would have been like to have been awake during this surgery. While
living in a house across from Spring Creek by Ironton, Grandmother Taylor had a stroke
and Mother went to be with her, staying until she passed away.

The family then moved to a house up on the foothills. Grandpa Taylor was staying with us. we had a big melon patch and grandfather took a cot and his dog and slept out in the middle of the patch to keep the boys from stealing the melons.

The family then moved to a place across from where Daddy had bought a lot on
which he built a new house. Verl had been born before this move, and before we moved into our new house our brother Dee was born. Mother wanted this baby to be named Deon but Garn objected saying "if you leave 'on' off that would be alright" so he was named Dee.

My Dad worked at the steel plant at Ironton during these years in Springville. He
and other men were sent to help with a plant in southern Utah where the employees were on strike. My Dad was instrumental in getting the plant running again, after the strikers had burned blue prints and destroyed electric lines, because he dreamed where all the wires were to go, and he got the job completed.

The depression came which made work for everyone very scarce. Daddy had gone
to work wiring houses after he had quit the steel plant. We rented the upstairs of our new house and lived in the basement, but we finally lost the new house. We moved out to the Roylance farm along the highway to Provo and this is where we lived when I got married and where my son, David, was born.




















Details:
Name: Oliver Johnson Age: 26 Birth Year: abt 1894 Birthplace: Utah
Home in 1920: Cedarview, Duchesne, Utah House Number: X Residence Date: 1920
Race: White Gender: Male Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married Spouse's Name: Amina Johnson
Father's Birthplace: Utah
Mother's Birthplace: Alabama
Able to Speak English: Yes
Occupation: Turn Foreman Industry: Saw Mill
Employment Field: Wage or Salary
Home Owned or Rented: Rented
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Neighbors:
Household Members Age Relationship
Oliver Johnson 26 Head
Amina Johnson 20 Wife
Melva Johnson 3 Daughter
Garn Johnson 1 Son

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1920 - ODJ For some reason, Oliver gave up his farm in Duchesne and became a foreman at a lumber camp (near Delta Utah?) and is said to have stated it was the happiest time of his life. He loved working with machinery. Did he see an add in the paper? Talk to a friend at a nearby lumber mill?

Edit: Drilling for Oil Wells in the area was just beginning.

1920 May 6, ODJ family moved to town.


1920 September 20 ODJ family moved to the sawmill.





I'm still searching.

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1923 - Springville

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1942- Orem



































His Oldest Child, MELBA wrote:

My earliest memories were while we were living at a saw mill in the Uintah mountains. At this time I was about four years and my brother Garn was about two. While daddy helped cut trees Mother and the other wives cooked the meals. Everyone ate together in a large dining room. The children took turns ringing the dinner bell which consisted of a large circular saw nailed to a tree which we would hit with a hammer.

My mother, Lydia Almira Taylor Johnson, became ill, so Daddy, Oliver David Johnson, took us to the valley. Shortly after this, mother had her third child, Vivian Oliver. We lived in a small house in Cedarview, Utah. An Indian, Johnnie Crow and his wife, brought us a rare delicacy at this time - a porcupine.

While living in Cedarview Daddy bought for us a new car; a Ford truck. I had scarlet fever here, and also had a chance to see my first airplane at the fair in Roosevelt. My next memories of where we lived was when we were on our way to the coal mines with two wagons. Mother's brother, Earl Taylor, drove one of the wagons. On the way we saw a peacock strut its tail and make a loud noise.

We lived in a boarded up tent at the small mining town of Rains and mother became
very ill with what they called "Quinsy" a severe inflammation of the throat with swelling and fever) while we lived there. Grandmother Johnson came to help at this time - My mother had a baby girl that did not live.

The next spring we moved to Delta, and our next move was to Springville, Utah, where Ila was born, Mother and I had our tonsils out the same day when we were living in our first house in Springville. I was put to sleep and mother had hers frozen; I often
wondered what it would have been like to have been awake during this surgery. While
living in a house across from Spring Creek by Ironton, Grandmother Taylor had a stroke
and Mother went to be with her, staying until she passed away.

The family then moved to a house up on the foothills. Grandpa Taylor was staying with us. we had a big melon patch and grandfather took a cot and his dog and slept out in the middle of the patch to keep the boys from stealing the melons.

The family then moved to a place across from where Daddy had bought a lot on
which he built a new house. Verl had been born before this move, and before we moved into our new house our brother Dee was born. Mother wanted this baby to be named Deon but Garn objected saying "if you leave 'on' off that would be alright" so he was named Dee.

My Dad worked at the steel plant at Ironton during these years in Springville. He
and other men were sent to help with a plant in southern Utah where the employees were on strike. My Dad was instrumental in getting the plant running again, after the strikers had burned blue prints and destroyed electric lines, because he dreamed where all the wires were to go, and he got the job completed.

The depression came which made work for everyone very scarce. Daddy had gone
to work wiring houses after he had quit the steel plant. We rented the upstairs of our new house and lived in the basement, but we finally lost the new house. We moved out to the Roylance farm along the highway to Provo and this is where we lived when I got married and where my son, David, was born.


Oliver and Almira stories were put together by a son Dee.

(This is a frail attempt to portray the life of a gracious human being who kept many journals throughout her lifetime, most of which were lost in a fire which destroyed the family home.)

Oliver David Johnson, was born September 2, 1893, in Monroe, Sevier County, Utah, to Benjamin Oliver Johnson and Emily Caroline Brown. I recall very little of dad's stories about his youth, except that he enjoyed wrestling and said he was quick.

In 1910 he moved with his family, by team and wagon, to the Uintah Basin where his father took up a homestead. The location of this homestead was either Monarch, about 12 miles northeast of Roosevelt, Utah, or Montwell about 10 miles northwest of Roosevelt. The family farm eventually was in Montwell, Utah.

Uncle Jack Johnson told me dad worked for a time in Delta before he worked in the coal mine area above Price, at Mutual Coal Camp. He also worked in the timber in the Uintah Mountains and I recall him saying he enjoyed this work more than any he ever did. Dad worked for a time for Henry Wyman who apparently had considerable land and an unusual sense of humor. Many are the stories dad would tell of the exploits of Henry Wyman, his guns and buggy racing.

I recall in the back of my mind a story of dad saving Uncle Verl in a swimming incident.

Dad married the sixteen year old daughter of Jabez W. Taylor from Cedarview on October 6,1915. Her name was Lydia Almira Taylor. This was a beautiful match and this gracious woman gave love and respect and admiration that I have never seen duplicated in a marriage since. They lived for a time in a log house in Cedarview where the three oldest children, Melba, Garn, and Vivian Oliver were born. They then moved to Carbon County, where dad, who had taken a correspondence course, worked as an electrician in the coal industry.

The folks were involved in an auto accident while on a fishing trip with Uncle Verl and Aunt Eva Johnson, in Wyoming.

After working in Carbon County dad moved his family to Springville, Utah, where he worked as an electrician during the construction of the Ironton Steel Plant. After the construction was finished he worked at the Columbia plant on production.

The first home I know of in Springville was on 264 West, 1st North. This house was built by dad with a loan from the bank. When the depression came the bank foreclosed on the mortgage when payments couldn't be made. The family moved out on the Springville road on the east side about 100 yards north of Spring Creek. A drive-in theater screen now sits approximately where the house was. All during this time, as far as I know, dad worked at Columbia Steel plant at Ironton.

One night as dad was riding a bicycle from work he was hit by a car. He apparently wasn't seriously injured. As a matter of fact, until his late life health problems, I don't remember him being sick except for asthma which gave him problems when he was older.

The home on the North Springville Highway had about 15 acres of farm land and orchard. Some crops were raised but I don't recall any profits coming in from the crops; however, the family ate well during this period. There was always the milk cow, some chickens, pigs, and vegetables.

After this home, dad bought an older house in Provo, Utah, on 56 South, 6th East, and moved his family in and started remodeling. While digging under this house to create a basement one summer morning, a corner of the brick house gave way and fell into the basement. This must have been a shock to the ones sleeping in the corner bedroom but luckily no one was injured. In about 1939 the Government was building the steel mill which is now owned by U.S. Steel and dad went to work there.

When the house in Provo was completely remodeled it was sold and the family moved to the Provo River bottoms along the old D & R G right of way. This was on a small farm of about ten acres. This was in about 1942. In 1945 the family moved to the old Charlie Keeler house which dad bought. The Keeler home was just off the hill and south of 4th South Street, east, in Orem. Dad immediately started remodeling and making a modern house with inside plumbing. About the time he got his house large enough for a big family, marriages cut the size of the family and he was left with a big house and few children.

In 1955, along with a son Dee, he organized an electrical contracting business which, over the years, provided employment for three sons, one son-in-law and several nephews, grandchildren, and other members of the family. Dad had always worked part time as an electrical contractor and each one of his boys had their turn at helping dad with his wiring. He had an uncanny ability to underprice himself broke. Dad never was comfortable about taking the full price for the work, and if I hadn't been involved with him in the work he wouldn't have taken it. After dad retired from the business it was some time before dad's old customers could get used to the idea that they were going to be charged a rate commensurate with sound business practices.

At some time in his youth he worked as an apprentice for his grandfather Brown who was an accomplished carpenter. He had an understanding of the total building which few people had, and his mechanical instinct, including automotive, was considerable. I recall an occasion when we were wiring a chapel in Provo and the architect and electrical engineer were trying to resolve a problem. They reluctantly consulted with dad on the problem and after he had talked with them awhile, I noticed an attitude change of loath to consult, to marked interest, to astonishment at this old man in overalls who seemed to have a feel for the whole building as it progressed.

Oliver Johnson was an exceptional human being. He was compassionate to the point of grieving for those he barely knew and was always ready to do good unto others. His one fault, other than possibly doing for others until his family suffered, was a temper which when in full bloom brought a flushed face, the tongue barely out and wiggling and a warmed seat of the pants for one or more of his considerable offspring. The temper in later life was in full control.

Dad came close to death in 1957. He developed a tumor inside the spinal column at the base of the brain. He had consulted with local doctors and would get no help. Those of us who were closest to him, and he himself, had given up and were waiting for the end.

He was helping me build my house at that time and he was in such misery that he would sometimes lean on a ladder and grit his teeth against the pain. Johnny came down from Salt Lake City, Utah, and told him, "I'm taking you to a specialist in Salt Lake," a Dr. Powell I believe. Johnny took dad to Doctor Powell who diagnosed and successfully operated on dad for the tumor. I'll always be grateful to my brother, Johnny, for the additional ten years he gave to dad. After the surgery the doctors didn't know how successful it would be because to have removed the entire growth would have destroyed so much brain tissue that he would not have been functional. But with an aggressive son, a skilled physician, and faith in the Almighty, he lived to work again, serve a mission for the Church in Carthage, Illinois, and to witness his great admirer and companion laid to rest while still on his mission.

After the funeral dad completed his two year mission and then returned home to bless the family with his presence.

After returning from his mission and still renovating his house he let a drop cord with a light bulb get against some dry wood under the house which he was sharing with Paul and Shirley, resulting in a fire that almost gutted the house.

Because of his age he couldn't get a loan to rebuild and Paul borrowed the money so the house could be rebuilt.

Ten years after his tumor operation the tumor returned. We tried to get him to obtain medical attention but he really wasn't anxious to go on living without his sweetheart and companion. When the pain became so severe he finally agreed to another operation which (according to the report) he failed to survive. He survived the operation; when we stood at his bedside he recognized us. I took his hand and he squeezed my hand in acknowledgment. He had lived a good life. He had fulfilled what he needed to do, and he was unafraid as he went to meet his Maker.

Dad died January 4, 1968, at Salt Lake City, Utah. He was buried January 8, 1968, in the East Lawn Memorial Hills Cemetery, Provo, Utah.

Lydia Almira Taylor was born February 6, 1899, in Jensen, Uintah County, Utah to Jabez W. Taylor and Pearletta Jane Mecham Taylor.

Carrie remembers her mother telling her about the time when she was little and most of the family was down with measles, she went out and ice skated until the measles broke out on her. Dee said that she often talked of her growing up years as being her fatherΓÇÖs helper on the farm.

When Almira was sixteen years old she married Oliver David Johnson on the 6the of October, 1915. The marriage was later solemnized in the Manti LDS Temple, on December 23, 1915.

Dee relates that the love she had for her husband, Oliver, was as deep and tender as any of which he had ever been aware. Oliver, in her eyes, was the perfect man who could do anything and could do no wrong. She never expressed anything negative about her husband or anyone, except perhaps some frustration about a child who did not adhere to the strict spiritual code she set for herself and for her family.

MelbaΓÇÖs early recollections include when they were living at a sawmill in the Uintah Mountains. While Oliver cut trees, Almira and the other menΓÇÖs wives cooked the meals for all the men. Almira got sick while at the sawmill so they brought Garn and Melba down from the mountains, by wagon, and left then in Neola to stay with an aunt and uncle while they went on to their farm in Cedarview. They were living in Cedarview, in a little log house at the time that Vivian was born; the two older children were also born in this small community.

It was about this time that Uncle Verl, Aunt Eva, Oliver and Almira along with baby Vivian, went up the canyon on a fishing trip. They were driving in a heavy rain storm when the car slid and turned upside down. The back of the front seat was across AlmiraΓÇÖs body, someway she lifted the car up enough to get the baby out from under the car. This was the cause of the back trouble she had the rest of her life. And why she went to have her back adjusted.

The family then moved to Carbon County where Oliver worked in the coal mines. Home in the small town of Rains was a tent with a wood floor and wood sides about two feet high. It was here that Almira became very ill with Quincey. She was expecting a baby at this time so grandmother Johnson came to help out; the baby daughter was stillborn.

Norma relates Grandma telling her how much she blamed the doctor for the death of the baby, but Grandma was hemmoraging and the doctor pushed the baby back in to stop the bleeding. This probably saved GrandmaΓÇÖs life. After that she didnΓÇÖt trust doctors. She was also told that she needed an operation for kidney stones and she would be dead in six months without the operation. She went on a grape diet and was cured.

The family lived in Delta for a short time before moving to Springville, in Utah County. Here they lived in a small house in the north part of town and this is where Ila was born.

Melba recalls that she and her mother had their tonsils out on the same day; they put Melba to sleep but just froze her motherΓÇÖs to take them out.

After living in several other homes Oliver bought a lot and built their first house. He did everything except pour the cement in the forms, the family and Almira did all they could to help in the building.

Verl was born while they were still working on this house. Dee was the first one born in their new home. When this baby arrived Almira wanted to name him ΓÇ£DeonΓÇ¥ but Garn protested, saying ΓÇ£that will be all right if you will just leave the ΓÇ£onΓÇ¥ ΓÇ£off,ΓÇ¥ which they did, naming him ΓÇ£Dee.ΓÇ¥ When the depression came they lost their new home and moved out on north Main Street along the Springville, Provo Highway to the Roylance farm. The family was still living here when Melba was married and her first son, David, was born in this home.

Almira exhibited kindness to all with whom she came in contact. There was always a full house at their home. The doors were always open to anyone who needed a shelter or a meal or a friend. Niece, Lena Bartholomew, relates that in the summer of 1932 many of the young people in the Neola Utah Ward went on a bus to the Manti Temple to do baptisms for the dead. On their way home the bus broke down in Springville; this seemed like a catastrophe but since LenaΓÇÖs mother was one of the chaperones she just Said: ΓÇ£My sister lives here and she will help us.ΓÇ¥ Aunt Almira and Uncle Oliver took right over, with a place to camp overnight, and they saw to it that the bus was repaired. When it was time to board the bus home Aunt Almira convinced LenaΓÇÖs mother that it would be good for Lena to stay a few weeks and go to Orem where she could earn money picking strawberries along with some of her own children. Almira saw to it that Lena eperienced lots of fun things as well as the berry picking and Lena feels like it was this experience which helped her family in the their decision to move to Springville in 1934.

The family next moved to an older house in Provo, Utah, on 56 South 6th East; this home didnΓÇÖt have any modern plumbing or central heating. Almira had the hardship of maintaining and raising a large family while this house was being remodeled.

While living in this house, World War II broke out. Her second oldest son, Vivian, was in the Air Force and was stationed in the Philippine Islands which was captured by the Japanese invaders. The United States Government gave honor to Almira for having four of her sons serving at the same time in the military and she was proud of being a ΓÇ£Four Star Mother.ΓÇ¥

When the house in Provo was remodeled, in about 1942, it was sold and the family moved to the Provo river ΓÇ£bottoms,ΓÇ¥ along the old D & R GW right of way. This was on a small farm of about ten acres. In 1945 the family moved to the old ΓÇ£Charlie KeelerΓÇ¥ home which Oliver bought.

MelbaΓÇÖs son David came to live with them and went to BYU and then they sent him on a mission to Uruguay.

In 1953 Dee and Annabelle and baby daughter Karen brought Clara who had been working at Melba and HerbΓÇÖs business called Travel Center in Goddard, Kansas and Norma , back from Kansas with them and Norma lived with them for about two years. Norma finished high school while living with them. At this same time they also had an Indian girl named Irene living with them.

Almira never lost her aggressive nature which she gained while working on the farm with her father. In about 1941 or 1942 she sold ΓÇ£Will Knit HosieryΓÇ¥ around the state and earned enough money to buy a 1939 Ford V-8, probably the newest car ever owned by the family. She also worked for a Dr. Mansfield (Naturopath) and also at the Cottage Health Food Store in Provo for Emma Chittock. She also sold McNess products at one time. She gave some of these products to Dee and Annabelle when they were married and they are still good usable extract and spices.

Almira was always on the go, either in church service or service to her family. She
seemed to love to run errand for her husband who always had household or auto chores going. About 1945 she put in hundreds of hours helping a sister Cluff who had cancer. It is doubtful that she received or even wanted pay for that service.

She had a special kind of ΓÇ£Faith.ΓÇ¥ After the Pearl Harbor invasion and the fall of the Philippine Islands there was a period of about two years when there was no word from Vivian Oliver (Johnny) who was taken as a prisoner of war. The newspapers even reported him as being killed in action but his mother had complete faith that he was still alive.

Dee remembers Garn telling her she should face reality and realize that Vivian was dead. The faith she had helped the whole family through that difficult time and even to this day Vivian (Johnny can attest to the error of the newspaper).

Almira was a deeply religious woman, having held positions in the Relief Society, Primary and Sunday School; she had also been on the genealogy committee in the Orem 23rd Ward. The Relief Society was her first love in the church and she served as president of the Edgemont Ward Relief Society for several years. She was also interested in gathering family histories and helping the rest of the family with their genealogy.

Almira was pleased when she and Oliver received their mission call.
They were serving with the Bureau of Information at the Carthage Jail.
They had just been assigned to the John Taylor home in Nauvoo, Illinois, when she became ill and was hospitalized.

Almira died of a heart attack December 10, 1962, in Fort Madison, Lee County, Iowa. She was buried December 15, 1962 in the East Lawn Memorial Cemetery, Provo, Utah.