My Family Tree - Gregerson, Johnson, Thompson

Herbert Johnson and Grace Larson were married in the home of Grace's parents on September 30, 1908. Herbert was born and had grown up on the family farm in Hartland Township. After marrying Grace, he took over farming operations from his father and he and Grace raised their five children on the farm. The children were named Adelline, Marvin, Virginia, Harry, and Robert.

After Andrew died Herbert bought out the shares his sisters had to the estate. On February 8, 1922, Herbert paid $1 to his sister Jennie Johnson for a quick claim to any rights that she had to the property. On September 3, 1924, he paid $1,000 to his sister Ada (Addie) Johnson for a quick claim to any rights that she had to the property. Finally on December 9, 1925, he paid $3,900 to the remaining sisters. Now he owned clear title to the farm. There was always work for the kids to do on a farm, but plenty of fun things to do also, there were hills to ski down and lakes to fish in.

For many years Herbert ran a sawmill on the farm. People would bring their tree trunks to his farm and he would rough cut lumber to their requirements. The saw was powered by belt drive off the flywheel of a tractor and it was a noisy operation. It was probably due to operating the sawmill that he was hard of hearing.

On May 28, 1959, Herbert and Grace retired and sold their 160 acre farm to Laurence and Theresa Gerdes for $7,000 or 43.75 per acre. They moved into East Ellsworth and lived in a small one bedroom house on the hill next to Marvins' house. Eventually they both had to enter a nursing home and lived there until they died.