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My maternal grandfather, George Penn Johnson, was born in 1854 in Placerville,
California. He grew up there on his father's cattle ranch with his parents,
John Calhoun Johnson and Emily (Hagerdon) Johnson, his brothers--John,
Nathan, and William, and a sister, May E. He attended the local grammar
school and joined the Placerville City Guard at the age of 16. Guard records
show that he did well in target practice.
When his father failed to file papers to keep his homestead in the Placerville
area, George traveled with him and two other men to Arizona to establish
another ranching enterprise in 1876. While George and a companion left
their campsite to go into Tucson on the evening of September 13, Aparche
Indians attacked. The young men returned from town to find both their
fathers had been killed.
The family moved to San Jose, California, where George got a job taking
care of horses in the stable of the Agnew family. A wealthy family, the
Agnews kept a carriage pulled by two matched pairs of horses. George had
to have the horses ready to be hitched to the carriage whenever Mrs. Agnew
wanted to go calling or to town on errands.
Also working for the Agnews was a young woman from Sweden, Fredericka
Caroline Persson. George and Fredericka became sweethearts and married
in 1883. They moved to Auburn and George began working in a gold mine
there. He became a specialist in the use of dynamite to open up tunnels
to expore for gold.
George and Fredericka had seven children: William Henry, John Calhoun,
Emily, Christine, Annie Laurie, Myrtle, and Robert. George and Fredericka
did always get along well, and eventually were divorced. Even before that,
however, George had filed a claim on a gold mine and worked it and lived
most of the time by himself in a cabin at the mine. He made his own shower
there by running a spring into a barrel and filling it. Then when he wanted
to clean up, he just pulled a rope to open a trap door and the water poured
over him. When he would go out to the mine, he left a note for his family
that if they needed him, they should signal by tapping on the ore cart
track three times. We still have his ore cart--it has a plate showing
a patent date of 1893.
He tunneled his mine under a hill in Auburn for a distance of many yards,
and in several directions, and took the gold ore out in a mining cart
running on tracks. Then he was able to wash the gold out in a sluice box.
Although he never was known to have made a big strike, he managed to support
himself, and contribute a small amount to hisfamily's upkeep. He always
carried around a small bottle with gold dust to show that he was getting
gold.
Back there in the hills, George made a still to make home-brewed whiskey.
This was during the depression and also Prhibition, so many of the local
politicians came to his place to get their supply of whiskey. George also
enjoyed drinking his product and kept a bottle buried under a tree so
he wouldn't run out. According to an old story told by my mother, one
night when George had too much to drink, he went into Auburn with his
gun and was cutting up and playing poker. That's when he shot a hole in
the ceiling of the firehouse!
Grandpa planted pole beans that went up into the trees like in the story
of Jack and the Bean Stalk. He also planted gourds and then dried them
and cut them for cuts to use for drinking his liquor.
When I was a small girl and used to go to Auburn with my mother to visit
my Grandmother, Grandpa George was not living at the house, but he would
sometimes come by and would always have a candy to give to his grandchildren.
I remember him as having a mustache and brown hair. He was always dressed
in his work clothes with a denim-type shirt. One Thanksgiving, my mother
and I and my brothers and sister all had dinner at Grandpa's cabin. I
picked a bouquet of toyon berries and them in a clear, pressed-glass vase
for the centerpiece on the table. When we visited again a year later,
the vase and the berries, now very dried up, were still on the table.
Grandpa said that he enjoyed looking at something that reminded him of
me. I now have that vase in my home.
Sometimes George would visit his brothers and sisters who lived in San
Jose. They would then drive up together to see us at our home in Oakland.
They would be dressed in their Sunday best with dark suits and hats. When
they left, Grandpa George would give my mother a five-dollar gold piece,
and fifty cents to each child.
One Christmas Grandpa sent us a package for our Christmas plum "duff".
It conained toyon berries and plums all arranged in a circle, but it wasn't
wrapped very well and fell apart at the post office before it could be
delivered. My mother was notified and she sent me to the post office to
pick it up, so we got the thoughtful gift anyway. I always remember this
as indicating that he was a sensitive and caring man even though he loved
his rough bachelor life.
George Penn Johnson was a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West.
He died from an injury received in an automobile accident in 1932. He
is buried in the Oddfellows Cemetery in Auburn.
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