Amanda (Nichols) JOHNSON

NICHOLS, JOHNSON, KNEEDY, BENNETTO

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/14/2010 at 12:39:11

27 February 1849 - 1 April 1932

Webster City, Iowa, source unknown
ca. April 1932

Mrs. Amanda Nichols Johnson was born at Georgetown Grant County, Wisconsin Feb 27, 1849. She was daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. T. Nichols. She grew to womanhood in the community of her birth and received her education in the schools of Georgetown and then attended the normal school at Platteville, Wisconsin. After finishing her work in training she became one of the teachers of Wisconsin and taught in the public schools for several years. She came to Williams, Iowa in 1877 and began teaching at that place and in the fall of that same year was married to H. H. Johnson who was then the editor of the Williams Standard.

Mrs. Johnson was a great reader. She delighted in thinking with the thinkers and to read such literature as to provoke thought. Light fiction was distasteful to her and had no place among her books or periodicals. She possessed and retained in her advanced years a remarkable memory. Her reading was not wasted. She employed the facts gathered in her conversations and in ordering her course in life's trend. She read worthwhile poetry and frequently presented her thoughts in the language of poets. Favorites were often quoted in the closing period of her earthly residence. The one by Isaac Watts was a favorite. Mrs. Johnson was a member of the relief corps and found a pleasure in working for the good of the organization. She was also a member of the Easten Star of Sharon Chapter of our city. She was a lover of the beautiful in nature as well as in life. She was a believer in Christ and confessed her faith in him when a young girl and after coming to Webster City. She was one of the chapter members of the Church of Christ in this city. She was active in the circles of the ladies organization until failing health deprived her of these privileges.

She died at the long established home at 617 Merritt Street in Webster City after a long period of failing health. Her husband preceded her in death having died in 1887. One daughter also preceded her in death Blanche having died in 1902 at the age of 20 years. There remained to mourn her departure one daughter Mrs. E. E. Kneedy, two grandsons Herbert William Kneedy and Robert Hughes Kneedy. There are also two sisters Miss Emma Nichols and Mrs. Sarah Bennetto both of Webster City and one brother James Nichols of Wisconsin.

May the Lord be gracious to these who remain and grant his consoling mercy to abide with them. Funeral services were conducted Sunday afternoon April 3rd by the pastor Manson E. Miller at the Foster Funeral Home in Webster City, and the body laid to rest in the Graceland Cemetery.