Johnson Memories by Anna Johnson Groenendyk

GROENENDYK, SCOTT, WALES, VANBENTHUYSEN, ELLIS, JOHNSON

Posted By: Sheri Hubbell (email)
Date: 1/29/2003 at 21:57:56

By Anna Groenendyk, Born January 15, 1896
I still think of the days when we used to put on old clothes and go swimming in Cedar Creek in the shallow water. I recall the little minnows would nibble on our toes and tickle. Those, to me were the good old days: Later on, El got a new buggy and he and Roy Scott had a horse race and Roy upset the buggy and broke something in the side of it. That was bad, but then Dad Groenendyk found out about it, that was worse! He and Roy are both gone now, and lay only a few yards away in the cemetery at Sandridge. I also remember when us kids and the Wales boys would pick wild strawberries along the railroad in our straw hats and eat them in the shade. When a train came along we would get off and plug our ears as it raced by.
I also remember the old billy goat dad had, and remember, also that we were careful to stay in the fodder wagon when we scattered the corn.
The Wales kids are all gone now, but Pearl, who lives in Tracy. He doesn't get around much any more, as I don't, but he is the last survivor. We also went as a group to Liberty Church for Revival Meetings in bobsleds, this included the Van Benthuysen kids, and quite often the Ellis boys. I sure hope this first-hand history of the Johnson family gets put together, just for the benefit of the younger ones growing up. They may enjoy hearing "from the horses' mouth" just how it was!!! At his writing, I am 84 years old, am living at the Griffin Nursing Home in Knoxville.

By Anna
Written May, 1980