I've now completed my 74th year and each one has been full of surprises
(both to me and my friends and family) which have created some "velly intellesting" learning experiences.
I used to be
5'6" but have shrunk to 5'4" (egads!) and still carrying waaaaay too many pounds, tipping the scale at 180! <sigh> A
constant battle that I'm losing with less grace every year. (Need to lose pounds not grace.)
One of my most recent work
lives was spent in Real Estate which was about the fifth career for me. I was into building web pages and teaching
other old fogies how to turn on their own computers. I'm not unstable...just always eager to try new things. Now I think
I'm finally retired altho I do still engage in some computer consulting.
I was born a Jorgensen in Audubon, Iowa sired by Vernon Neilsen Jorgensen
out of Phyllis Eileen Grobe Jorgensen. You see where my name originated...right? The oldest of four from that union and a
half sibling by way of my father and his second wife when I was 35! Uh-huh...and my step mother was only 30!! Daddy always
loved pretty ladies!
Only lived in Iowa until I was two years old when we moved to Michigan and settled in with other
members of the Jorgensen family in Benton Harbor. I was born in 1935, this move occurred in 1937 and the USA was still in
the grip of a huge economic depression.
 The Grobe side of my family has a mystery woman. I remember her as my "Little Gramma" because although I
was tall for a 4 year old (when I last saw her) she was only half a head taller than I. Her name was Louisa Johnson before
she married my great-grandfather and became Mrs. William W. Smith about 1887. She was born November 27, 1862 in Lebanon, St
Clair County, Illinois and her father's name was Michael Johnson. We have found no record of her mother's name, how she ended
up in Blackhawk County Iowa, or her marriage to William.
Louisa's name was not pronounced Lou-ee-za. According to her
granddaughter Phyllis, it was pronounced Lou-eye-za. Her middle name may have been Jane, she used "J" as a middle initial
but it could just as well have been for her maiden name Johnson. Since no one has any idea what her mother's name was, speculation
has been rampant that she may have been part Native American since her family background appears to be such a secret. The
other clue we had was she named her only daughter Leota which was once a very common Native American name. Gramma Leota denied
knowing anything about her mother's heritage so we've all been left to fantasize endlessly. Anyone who might see this and
could point us to the solution of this mystery please contact me!
Well... the mystery has been solved, sorta. I recently
came across Michael Johnson in the 1880 U.S. Census records. Not positive this is the correct family but many details fit.
Louisa is 18 at the time which would match but, her birthplace is listed as Ohio not Illinois. Her 14 y.o. sister Sarah IS
reported as born in Illinois.
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1880 US Census,
District 174, Noble, Richland Co., Illinois
FHL Film 1254245..National Archives Film T9-0245...Page 102B
JOHNSON, Michael...Hotel Keeper...Self...White...Age 59...OH..OH..OH
Mary...........Land Lady.....Wife....White....Age
58...NJ..NJ..NJ
George W. ...Telegraph Operator...Son...Single...White...Age 21...OH..OH..NJ
Louisa............At Home....Single...White...Age
18...OH..OH..NJ
Sarah J. .......At Home....Dau...Single...White...Age 14...IL..OH..NJ
Living with them is:
JOHNSON, James.......GSon.....Single...White...Age 9...IL..IN..OH
RAWLAND, Franklin....GSon.....White....Age 2M...IL..PA..OH
NORRIS, Ellen...Servant....Other....Widow....White...Age 37...PA..GER..PA
------------------------------------------------------------
Leota
Grobe may have made a mistake saying Louisa's birthplace was Lebanon, St. Clair County, Illinois. She did after all
enter Mooreville, Iowa as her own birthplace altho Louisa's signed affadavit on 1/19/1942 says Leota was born in Benton County.
But Louisa was 80 years old then and her own memory may not have been so good or, Mooreville may have been IN Benton County.
In the 1900 U.S. Census William W. Smith's wife was entered as Lyda, not Louisa. Leota and Lloyd
are the appropriate ages in that census record. Remember... the information on the census pages was hand written and subject
to the literacy of the census taker.
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