Deborah May Johnson (1936) was born in the naval hospital in Bremerton WA and lived in Seattle WA, Long Island NY, Traceyton WA, Silverdale WA, Seattle WA (college), Goldendale WA, Tulsa OK, Frankfort KY, Lexington KY, Olympia WA, unincorporated Thurston County WA, and Lacey WA. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes by Bryan Henderson (1963), from a conversation with Deborah Johnson (1936) on 2019.04.30. Deborah's grandfather George Frederick Johnson (1883) was commonly known as Fritz (or Fritsch?). He divorced Deborah's grandmother May Ehle when his son Kenneth was 12 years old and married Catherine and lived on Mercer Island with her, leaving his two sons (Kenneth and Glen) to be raised by May. Kenneth held this against him for a long time and they consequently had little contact. Deborah met him for the first time when she was 14. Her parents took her to George's typewriter shop in Seattle to buy a typewriter. May later married a man Deborah knew as Pop. Records show May Ehle's name as Mae (and even Mary) in addition to May, but as Deborah's middle name is unambiguously May, I assume that was May's name. May's brother was Bert Ehle. George Frederick Johnson (1883) was one of 7 siblings. George was the oldest; Don was the youngest. Others included Maud, Ruth, Meador, and Miner. Deborah had frequent contact with them. The Johnson family moved to Port Orchard after the Civil War. On a trip to Massachusetts as a child, Deborah visited some of the distant Smith relatives. Fenton Smith (1866-1943) died in his home in South Bend, sitting down after lunch and never getting up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bryan met Peggy, who taught him to make pull tab chains and introduced him to Mr Popper's Penguins, at the wedding of her second son Steve. Peggy was the wife of Fenton Smith Jr (son of Fenton Smith (1866-1943)). Fenton's and Peggy's daughter Mary stayed with Bryan's family in Olympia (Shorewood Lane) Olympia when she was a teenager and working as a page in the legislature. She watched the kids, Robin, Bryan, and Laura, at times, and one day she made a scratch cake for them, astounding them that one could make a cake without a mix, being equally astounded that the kids didn't know that was possible. Bryan met Peggy at a family reunion lunch in Marysville in 2000 and she recounted that story. In 2000, Bryan was living in Deborah's house on Shorewood Court and received a phone call for Deborah from relatives who were planning a family reunion in Marysville and wanted Deborah to drive her mother, Byrnina Smith (1911-2009) there. As Deborah and her husband Jim were on a vacation car trip around the United States at the time, Bryan volunteered to drive Byrnina there. Bryan met several nieces and nephews of Byrnina, but did not later remember who they were, except Peggy as described above. They told Bryan that they had always interacted with her like a cousin rather than an aunt because she was close to their age. It was likely Fenton's and Peggy's house. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jana Johnson (no relation) was living in the house that Fenton Smith (1866-1943) built in South Bend, where his daughter Byrnina Elizabeth Smith, Bryan's grandmother, was born and grew up. She got connected with Bryan in about 2019 through FamilyTree DNA and asked if Bryan had any old pictures of the house. Jana actually contacted Denise Brennan, Bryan's 3rd cousin (not descended from Fenton) - through Ancestry.com in October 2018 and when Bryan later did a DNA test through Family Tree DNA in April 2019, it matched with Denise and Denise remembered Jana looking for information on Fenton's house. Here is an email from Denise to Bryan: From detailsnorthwest@gmail.com Wed Apr 17 03:38:23 2019 Received: from mail-io1-f49.google.com ([209.85.166.49]) by rhino.giraffe-data.com with esmtp (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1hGbOx-0008Ki-8O for bryanh@giraffe-data.com; Wed, 17 Apr 2019 03:38:23 +0000 Received: by mail-io1-f49.google.com with SMTP id d201so19448712iof.7 for ; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 20:38:23 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=WXHty5tZsy9rbjhvQARgJRWPTCjLXO62I/Fgf3xuqAg=; b=nHgkb1mAvEOYAp8Pt6NtOkXFcClRUIEP28G8HkHhJK4nK97IY6MSNhoB7GchYW7Pr/ lIlDzKoEN2zn+hvoqoNRb4Z+ydNGb58SAKlIXoWQXWlffwH+LxTX80j+I/1eV2e62htP QywYPYQfnrBoOGX35g2GblwIqWP16ZxQX7Z/lc+ZqlgRd/rp95XjbGXO34LGDfxoo9KY dW73Ax6KAe9APtWuKsVa+qftlXap3UzLfeb6r/bnhLwEqxLFN6KZoVJI/wfYO5ZiY1bu 8o/Iwp3Jv2Mb7lwGCq3OL6UPwIF94BhOfH77lPbVyzq0zgqiQWvLn7KX/d0nIzKPVfuW ypbw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=WXHty5tZsy9rbjhvQARgJRWPTCjLXO62I/Fgf3xuqAg=; b=RjZ6c4n8xSPQV10jHXrMhGpqKCEnBxFrjg6lpP4RS+5yg2PJQUkrxDhvGwtwZEiPht M6Iqzprcd8lVCEBabsriQiVPAlrCeto1tPT2eihmOoEZgg99KVaKMV20RZOorEEcBGZ4 9PCsQLDo8oHtwui4LLh6+oEMniStF9G20G/tgjZZFvBm+2N3+lqRIx2Vfm1VVcjKCRuW 9rua+Hh+rHF5CVCl/5zJ3aDm8jwxBkDR3h0zy8RpjoK5kQLSqlccLA+1ZJaKdd1kS5jZ e5IYI4pdtLQMdq2OByvNtE3B9GTu3OkQV0dice9QYmmNvQUcUGiSZiApYbIMoRYrom8c dyAw== X-Gm-Message-State: APjAAAXtvnhJHlqGa+Sr3SRpBAk3mXlPRZM4sh26EWWXM9xcA9mHEQup D9ua24TQwiUnkvtBfXH5YTKuPmd0+5ut3DSSvPtWOdtr X-Google-Smtp-Source: APXvYqzcGRDrqbKJD34nB4TbcpOf1lPPgbyBRwdGJVHNyX2lf7t+M08l+RYhIYk7kOz6RK5tkBqIALJw/Nms6rqKEOc= X-Received: by 2002:a6b:db19:: with SMTP id t25mr42405044ioc.140.1555472297831; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 20:38:17 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 From: Denise Brennan Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2019 20:38:04 -0700 Message-ID: Subject: Fenton Smith house To: Bryan Henderson Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="000000000000c533540586b19dda" X-RMAIL-ATTRIBUTES: -------- --000000000000c533540586b19dda Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Bryan - Jana Johnson (user name in Ancestry is alix2050) the woman who bought the Fenton and Byrnina Smith house wrote this to me last October: "Thank you for searching! I appreciate it... and if I find anything out, I will let you know. I can tell you that he was very respected in town, and very successful. His wife was very involved in local affairs and all the kids went to university, including their daughter. The house is located on top of a hill, overlooking the Willapa River. Behind it is the former home of a Simpson Lumber company owner. In a historical society magazine, his daughter wrote that Fenton came to South Bend after he saved the life of "Old Mr. Williams" during a mugging in Chicago. He came out to South Bend in the Spring of 1890 and immediately went to work as a clerk at the Simpson Lumber Company store. He was promoted to manager by 1900. (He was probably offered the job by the Willilams family who are fairly prominent in the area still). His wife was a local." I love genealogy so much - and it's remarkable how people who don't know each other connect and pay forward all the help given them during their searches. If you want to connect with her, and have an Ancestry account she'd probably love to connect to pass on info directly to you. Denise ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- smitthouse_1905.jpg was sent by Jana Johnson to Bryan on May 12, 2020. smithhouse.email is that email.