The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1949-09-08

the nlgn NIL ABOVE the Caldwell |
waterworks. His father was fat
tening three turkeys for holiday |
dinners, They flew down into the
valley. The JohnsonS could not !
recapture them. SO DR.. Johnson's |
father went to Hills produce |
yard and bought three turkeys. |
They were the same identical |
turkeys.
DR.. Johnson recalls the night |
the court house cannon was fir |
ed, the repercussion breaking
every window around the
square. He says Henry Friedman
could tour the hitching racks, |
checking horses and rigs, and
name everyone who was in Cald-
well that day. Joe Ryan, work
ing at Friedman's, dressed like a
fashion plate, and as a main cog
in the fire department, went to
fires that way. Joe ruined his
clothes every time. He recalls
the immortal J. N. Free staying
at John Robinson's Exchange
hotel without cost. He also men
toned a citizen of Caldwell who
was religious to the nth degree.
One Sunday he forgot the day
and worked. To atone for his
mistake, he prayed all day Mon
day.
DR.. Johnson was among the
bumper crop of babies born in
Noble county in the year 1878.
He was born in a holler near
Hiramsburg. Both his mother
and father taught school. His
father was w. J. Johnson, and
his mothers maiden name was
Amanda Burcher. w. Us teach
ing took the family to Mt. Eph-
RAIN, then Sarahsville. Then he
was elected Noble county aud
itor and the family moved to
Caldwell.
Young Ed, before becoming a
dentist, learned blacksmithing in
Sarahsville. He was electrician
in the Caldwell opera house. He
dug up old cobblestone streets to
lay the first water lines in Cald-
well. He pitched for the baseball
teams, and also graduated from
high school.
He studied dentistry three
years with DR.. Hume before COM
ing to Columbus to attend Ohio
State University. He was gradu-
ated as a dentist in 1901 and
went home to Caldwell. He had
As cents when he reached Zanes-
fville. He found a hotel man who
knew his father. He ate free in
GAINESVILLE restaurants by mere
ly saying: I'm from Noble coun-
/ ty".
DR.. johnson told me at lunch
this week: Good people come
from Noble county. We had a
reputation and still it is So"
DR.. Johnson went home to
Caldwell on the B. z. & C.-also
free All he had to do was tell
Conductor Pollard who he was.
DR.. Johnson first practiced in
Caldwell-then he shifted to
East Liverpool, Marion and New
ark. He came to Columbus in
1913 and has continued here.
For many years, the Johnson
home was on North street, the
first house to the west of Raj
ston's drug store. Right behind
the Roxy theatre is the house the
Cooper family occupied. DR..
Johnson married one of the
Cooper girls, so his brother-in-
law is c. P. Cooper, the big man
of American Telephone and Tel
egraph.
The Johnsons kept cows on a
farm on Dog Run and churning
was a task.
my brother would churn 1000
strokes, DR.. Johnson recalled.
Really, only 500-for he count
ed both up and down strokes.
Then l took over. / churned and
churned, and when Mother was
MT looking l grabbed the tea
kettle off the stove and splashed
in some hot water. 1t made the
butter white, but it came quick
err"
DR.. Johnson recalls the two
big downtown fires, and how he
and other volunteers carried the
organ from the opera house. A
fire-fighting pump was invented
by Caldwell man, he says.
Some names escape him. He re-
tanned the name of the man who
sold his fathers turkeys-but
observed it was a little late to be
making it public.
Mrs. Richard Baker Virginia
Johnson) of Caldwell is his
daughter. Two of his brothers
still living are c. B. johnson, of
Clarksburg, w. Va, and J. r.
Johnson, of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Dr.. Johnson expects to live a
long time. His father, who was
Noble county checkers champ
ion, lived to be "a. This was not
unusual. One member of the
family lived to be l01.