The Cape weekly tribune. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1914, 1914-05-29
Mrs. ManOra Johnson Adopt
ed Two MOtherless Child
rem Four Years Ago
WEIGHS 3O7;; ENJOYS LIFE
Nurse in Cholera Epidemic and
Civil War and Reared Family
by Her Own Work

Carthage, Mo, May 23.-Mrs.
Marona Johnson, weight 307, height
6 feet 2 inches, age 100 years, washes
once each week, bakes twice a week,
cares for seven-room house, sews for
two little girls she took in" four
years ago because she was lonesome,
cooks for their father who boards
with her and walks each Saturday to
the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
That sounds like a pretty busy
program for the average woman Of
many less years, but Mrs. johnson
saws it is nothing and to prove it
shows her garden and chickens, which
she cares for herself Her hair is
thick and white, her flesh firm,
she has Is perfectly sound teeth,
she has never been in dentist 5
chair and she can read large type
and her own writing without glasses.
Her present busy days follow a
life that has had as much more OF
excitement than that of the average
woman as her years are greater. She
was born in Scotland, May ,, 1914,
the daughter of a sea captain. She
Travelled with her father during her
girlhood and was preparing to learn
the tailor trade in Aberdeen when
she became i'll Of smallpox In those
days persons who recovered from
smallpox and were known to be i'm
munc were drafted for nurses and
she spent six years at an intlrmary
completing her training for caring fol
the sick. She was allowed one yCal
because of her services during the
smallpox epidemic, following her re-
covcry.
Volunteer Cholera Nurse.
In 1886 she was married to ;
young civil engineer and devoted hcl
life to her home and the sick unit
1855 when she volunteered TO come
to America for service in the Cholcr;
epidemic. She was one OF party o
40 nurses sent from Scotland and sh'
went to Cincinnati, where she scrvcc
nine months. On her return tc
Scotland she persuaded her HUSBAND
to come to this country and the!
lived at Marietta, o., whence sh
volunteered as a Union nurse whel
the Civil War began and was as
signed to Sicgel's division.
When she was discharged from tn
Army, she was assigned to accompan.
II Southeast Missouri Soldiers t.
their homes and the families of tn
men made her so welcome that sh
sent for her husband to join heI
johnson then was sent to lndia
Territory on United States work
and in 1869 was killed by frontie
robbers, as he was returning to hi
home with pay for long service.
band of cattlmcn driving steers t
market found his body, buried
and sent word to Mrs. Johnson
She was left practically pennies
with a large family of children, an
she says that in the next few year
she worked with head and han
combined to support and educat
her children. She nursed, farmcc
worked by the day, scwcd and di
everything that promised an homes
penny. Since her children left homC
she has travelled a bit and in lS7
she went to Scotland and she hope
TO 90 again. In 1904 she chapcrone
n party of 10 Joplin girls to tn
St. Louis Worlds Fair, She was
St. Louis three weeks, and she say
of her trip "a better time | nevo
had
Lonely With IS Grandchildren.
Mrs. johnson has IS grandchildre
but none lives near her, and she b,
came lonely. So in 1910 she bccam
foster mother ior two mothcrle
girls and she cares for them an
makes all of their clothes. They "a
as loyal 10 her a. if she was the
real mother They say she emo,
doing for them and that It i, !
trouble to care for two grlS for
woman who can have her "wo-mr