ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202
COLLECTION: OGL#1270
DATES: 1896-1993 [Bulk Dates, 1911-1961]
SIZE: One folder and 1 photograph
ACQUISITION: The Pearl B. Johnson Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Johnson's daughter, Clara (Mrs. Norman) Forde, May 20, 1993 (Acc.#93-1875).
ACCESS: Available for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.
Pearl B. (Tharaldson) Johnson was born August 29, 1896 on a farm near Pekin, ND in Nelson County. She lived there until 1907, when she was sent to live with an aunt in Grand Forks, ND. While there she met and married Louis Johnson, a farmer born in Telemarken, Norway. Pearl was fourteen at the time of their marriage. Louis and Pearl began their married life two miles north of Pearl's parents at the Oscar Smith's farm in Nelson County. After Pearl's father died, they rented her mother's farm for a few years. In about 1916, Pearl and Louis lived on a homestead in McKenzie County. Five years later, when iron polluted their farm's water supply, they returned to the Pekin farm. In 1947, Louise and Pearl moved to Minneapolis and from 1948 to 1958 Louis managed the Gronna Memorial Home. Pearl was the home's matron.
Louis and Pearl had ten children, four boys and six girls. Louis died on January 14, 1963. Pearl died at age 83, on September 20, 1979 at the Community Hospital in McVille, ND.
The Pearl B. (Tharaldson) Johnson Papers consist of one folder. Material includes a sixteen page autobiographical sketch written by Pearl Johnson for her children. In it, Pearl relates stories of her father's Norwegian ancestry, Pearl's youth, farm life, and growing up in North Dakota. In addition, the collection contains an obituary for Pearl Johnson, a poem that Clara Forde wrote linking her memories with her mother's, a memorial card from Pearl's funeral, and a list of Pearl's children.
One color photograph of Pearl B. Johnson was separated and placed in the Orin G. Libby Photograph Collection.
| OGL#1270-1 | Pearl B. Johnson portrait, 1972. |
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