The Johnson Family
Anne Catherine Johnson
12 December 1851, in Wexford, county
Wexford, Ireland
Samuel Johnson
Marianne
(Richards) Johnson
14 December 1930
1911:
Middletown, Ardamine, county Wexford
Bernard Richard Johnson
9 December 1895, in Dublin, Dublin
North district, county Dublin, Ireland
Philip Bernard Johnson
Elizabeth Charlotte Annie (Pope)
Johnson
1911:
Bollarney South, Wicklow, county Wicklow
Colin Ward Johnson
27 August 1904, in Ireton, Sioux
county, Iowa, United States
Donald
Goddard Johnson
Annie Margaret (Agnes) Johnson
Dorothy Ann Ogden on 26 December
1930, in Anderson, Madison county, Indiana. Dorothy was born on 8 November
1906, in Wisconsin, and died on 3 April 1987, in Richmond, Henrico county,
Virginia.
21 August 1971, in Boulder, Boulder
county, Colorado, United States
1920:
Sioux
county, Iowa
Donald Goddard Johnson
22 December 1860, in county Wexford,
Ireland
Samuel Johnson
Marianne
(Richards)
Johnson
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Gravestone of Annie Margaret (Agnes)
Johnson in Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton, Iowa
|
Annie Margaret Agnes on 6 April
1889, in Akron, Plymouth county, Iowa, United States. Annie was born on 17
January 1867, in Milwaukee, Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, the daughter of
Michael Agnes and Christina Aleft. She died on 29 July 1943, in Milwaukee,
from myocarditis, and is buried in Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton, Sioux
county, Iowa. The grave is located south of the E-W entrance roads, row 27
west of Cty Road K30.
1870:
Sioux
City, Woodbury county, Iowa
1880:
Preston,
Plymouth couty, Iowa
Farmer
Donald emigrated to the United States
in 1881, and was a naturalized citizen by the 1900 census.
6 June 1935, in Spirit Lake,
Dickinson County, Iowa, United States
Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton,
Sioux county, Iowa, United States. The grave is located south of the E-W
entrance roads, row 27 west of Cty Road K30.
1900:
Eagle
township, Sioux county, Iowa
1920:
Sioux
county, Iowa
Donald Kenneth Johnson
30 June 1897, in Ireton, Sioux
county, Iowa, United States
Donald Goddard
Johnson
Annie Margaret (Agnes) Johnson
Evelyn Miller. Evelyn was born on
28 March 1897, and died on 11 February 1989, in Charlotte, Mecklenburg
county, North Carolina.
Food Inspector
19 December 1971, at Valley Baptist
Hospital, Harlingen, Cameron county, Texas, United States, aged 74, of acute
myocardial infection, a complication of diabetes.
Valhalla cemetery, Milwaukee,
Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, United States.
1900:
Eagle
township, Sioux county, Iowa
1920:
Sioux
county, Iowa
1945: E. Hartford Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin (The Milwaukee Journal 10 June 1945)
1971: 2604 E. Hartford Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin (death
certificate)
Dorothy Anne Johnson
17 January 1906, in Iowa, United
States
Donald Goddard Johnson
Annie Margaret (Agnes) Johnson
Chemist, United States Army
24 February 1990, in Estes Park,
Larimer county, Colorado, United States
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Gravestone of Frances Johnson in
Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton, Iowa
|
The photo opposite shows that
Dorothy was intended to be buried alongside her sister Frances in Pleasant
Hill cemetery, Ireton, Iowa, but the lack of a death date on the headstone
leads me to believe that she was not actually buried there.
1920:
Sioux
county, Iowa
Edward Wynne Alston Johnson
4 July 1908, in Dublin, Dublin South
district, county Dublin, Ireland
Philip Bernard Johnson
Elizabeth Charlotte Annie (Pope)
Johnson
Eleanor Kirkpatrick in 1936, in
Dublin South district, county Dublin, Ireland
1951
1911:
Bollarney South, Wicklow, county Wicklow
Emily Sophia (Johnson) Watson
28 May 1868, in county Wexford,
Ireland
Samuel
Johnson
Marianne
(Richards) Johnson
Arthur B. Watson. Arthur was born
in 1864, and was a solicitor in Dublin.
1911: 14
Belgrave Road, Monkstown, county Dublin
Emily (Johnson) Dames
9 April 1894, in Dublin South
district, county Dublin, Ireland
Philip Bernard
Johnson
Elizabeth Charlotte Annie (Pope)
Johnson
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Kenneth L. Dames
|
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Kenneth L. Dames c1952
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Kenneth L. Dames in 1924, in
Rathdrum district, county Wicklow, Ireland. Kenneth was educated at Oxford
University where he obtained a M.A., and was headmaster at Harlow
College in Harlow, Essex, England from 1936 until 1962.
Kenneth and Emily were both keen
archers. This photo
of
Emily plucking her arrows from the target during practice on 16 July
1948 is titled "Archery Champion" and notes that Mrs K. L. Dames is a
possible candidate for the British team at the annual World Archery
Championships in Dulwich.
1911: 14
Belgrave Road, Monkstown, county Dublin
Frances Johnson
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Frances Johnson
from a group shot of China Missionaries taken in 1890
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15 July 1853
Samuel Johnson
Marianne
(Richards)
Johnson
A trained nurse, who served as a
missionary in China.
Frances sailed
for
China on the Glenfruen on 20
October 1888, as part of the Fuh-kein Mission (p566)
of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (C.E.Z.M.S.). The
instructions to the group (India's Women vol 8 p292, 1888), at a
leave-taking before departure included:
You, Miss
Johnson, go to strengthen our Fuhkien Mission. To this work six
ladies are now designated, and you will be the fifth actually in the
field. We thank God that we have been able to comply thus promptly with
the request of the Fuhkien Missionary Conference, and extend our work
beyond Foochow to the important outstations, Kucheng and Fooningfoo.
A detailed accout of this journey of the Glenfruen
appears in the Church Missionary Gleaner, in
three parts Jan
1889, Feb
1889 and Mar
1889. The last installment mentions that, on arrival in Hong Kong "some went to start the Misses Newcombe and Miss
Johnson, C.E.Z.S. on board the Namoa,
for Fuh-Chow."
In 1890, Frances and Miss Inie Newcombe arrived in Ciong-Bau to open work
among the women in the area. (Cameos of a Chinese City by Mary E. Darley p106)
In October 1890, Frances was the first missionary to spend a night in the
city of Kien-Ning, a walled city sometimes referred to as the "Jericho" of
the province.
The history of the Church Missionary Society: its
environment, its men and its work pp568 by Eugene Stock
(1899)
The first missionaries to spend one night within
that great city were two C.E.Z.M.S. ladies, Miss Newcornbe and Miss F.
Johnson, invited by the father of their language-teacher. They could
scarcely believe that they were really there for a night, but they found
the secret in Daily Light for
the day, October 31st, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,
saith the Lord."
The incident is also referred to in Cameos of a Chinese City by Mary E. Darley
pp154-155
Miss Inie Newcombe and Miss Johnson went quietly in from Ciong Bau, at the
urgent request of their language teacher, then himself an inquirer, who
wished that his women-folk should hear the Truth for themselves. They
stayed two days in his home, and were treated as honoured guests.
The missionaries work was not always welcomed. In 1892, The Review of the churches: a constructive quarterly,
vol 2 p276 reports that:
The house occupied by the Misses Johnson and
Newcombe, of the C.E.Z.M.S., was attacked by a mob on April 27th, and the
ladies were exposed to insults for three hours until rescued by a Mandarin
...
We are thankful to learn, says the Church
Missionary Gleaner, that a private letter from Miss Johnson has
been received, written since the outburst of April 27th, and reporting
that the people had quieted down again.
but later that same year, at Kien-yang, a little further inland, a
similar incident occurred.
The history of the Church Missionary Society: its
environment, its men and its work pp568
On October 8th [1892], Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were
rescued by the chief mandarin from a murderous attack at Kien-yang while
their house was being covered with similar filth inside and out. Miss
Newcombe and Miss Johnson also were treated with violence. But the riots
were only temporary, and after a time all the work was courageously
carried on as before;
Frances established a small women's hospital at a mission centre in Nang-wa,
about twelve miles from Kienningfu. She was visited there by Robert Stewart
who wrote in a letter to the CEZMS on 20 November 1894 (Robert and Louisa Stewart: in life and in death
pp103-4 by Mary E. Watson, Eugene Stock, 1895):
"There only remains to speak of the far
North-West, where Nang-ua is the Mission centre for your ladies. It is
four days' journey over high mountains from Ku-cheng. I visited them at
the beginning of the year. and found there Miss Johnson, Miss B. Newcombe,
Miss Rodd, Miss Bryer, Miss Fleming; they have also among them a Miss
Sinclair, who has come from England independently, and is making herself
useful in various ways. These devoted ladies are living as nearly like the
native women as possible; no knives or forks are seen in the house. I am
told there is one knife kept for any unhappy guest who cannot manage with
chop sticks, and though the locality is far from a healthy one, and our
C.M.S. missionaries have one after another felt the effects of the
malaria, your ladies have wonderfully maintained their strength. You know
the kind of life they lead, visiting from village to village, sometimes at
long distances from home, putting up, not at chapels or Christians'
houses, for alas! there are none, but in the native inn, or the house of
some hospitable heathen woman; and God is using them. It is truly
invigorating to the soul to sit down and listen to these devoted ladies
telling of the spiritual work they have themselves witnessed.
"Oh for more of these 'women that publish the tidings.' They have,
too, a little hospital here in Miss Johnson's charge, and they have also
been able to start a small 'Station Class,' though in doing so they had to
face difficulties which were not met with in the older districts.
It was not just chopsticks - Frances also adopted native dress as we read in
The sister martyrs of Ku Cheng (D.M.
Berry), of a time when Frances was in Foochow nursing Mrs. Rigg in December
1893.
I think the natives must be rather amused at the
variety of our costumes Mr. Stewart in his clergyman's clothes; Mrs.
Stewart, Topsy, and I in our ordinary things ; Frances Johnson in native
dress ; and Mr. Starr in a tourist's costume, with a Norfolk jacket,
knickerbockers, and magnificent plaid stockings.
She also had a humourous outlook on the Chinese response to
Westerner's speaking poor Chinese (ibid)
Frances Johnson says that when anybody who is beginning says anything, but
in somewhat indifferent Chinese, they will say 'How well she speaks
Chinese! What is she saying?' all in one breath.
It was the practice of the CEZMS missionaries to take a Chinese surname
which would be easier for locals to pronounce, and Frances was knows as
Song. (Cameos of a Chinese City by Mary E. Darley p123)
In 1893, Frances wrote this report on the mission hospital in Nang-Wa, for India's Women vol 13 pp552-555, a
publication of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society:
NANG-WA KIONG
NING PREFECTURE.
Our Hospital.
BY MISS FRANCES
JOHNSON.
"God be merciful unto us and bless
us, and cause the light of His countenance to shine upon us ; that Thy way
may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations."
Last year I was only able to tell you of one patient having been in
our hospital; even now, though it has been opened more than a year, we
feel it is only beginning to
inspire confidence. Only seventeen have ventured in, but we have visited a
good many sick in their homes. Most of the in patients have come from a
distance, some have had two days' journey. A good many had heard of the
hospital, and gained courage to come through the visits of some of our
number who have been itinerating.
Our breath was almost taken away one day by the arrival of a party
from a Yamun some three days'
journey off. It was No. 2 wife of a mandarin, escorted by her husband's
nephew and two attendants. Her visit was short, and we were not very sorry
when they decided to return home. They had consulted every Native doctor
first, and as a last hope, thought the foreigner might work some
miraculous cure. But when they found that the opium-pipe could not be
allowed, and that patience would be needed, they did not care to stay. The
patient was such a pretty, gentle-looking girl, and very frail; but she
had an unpleasant way of going into hysterics, to frighten her attendants
into giving her opium. One wonders why they were sent! I believe every
patient represents some purpose of the Master - mostly thirsting souls,
whom He brings within reach of the Water of Life. But these were
Mandarin-speakers; they did not understand us, nor we them; we had to
carry on all our communications through an interpreter, our teachers, or
by signs and gesticulations, so we could not tell them the
message. No doubt the purpose will hereafter be revealed. They seemed
pleased at their reception, and presented $2 to the hospital.
One poor old woman has left the shelter of the hospital, we believe,
for the Home above. She lived in the place as caretaker before we took it,
and having few friends and no relations willing to receive her, was rather
cast on our charity. She listened with interest from the first. I confess
I was slow to accept her attention as genuine, it was so manifestly an
idea that to "eat the doctrine" would be profitable; but after a while we
felt sure that, whatever her original motive may have been, she really had
been drawn by the love of Christ to desire Him for herself, and was
trusting in Him for forgiveness and salvation.
We feared her death in the hospital might frighten people away, but
God has overruled it otherwise; He inclined the heart of her daughter to
come with her husband from a distance to bury her, and so guarded us
against the accusation of our taking out her eyes, &c, to make into
medicine - a very common supposition all round. They are truly an
unreasoning people! One would think, if they could suppose us capable of
such acts, they would not give much credit to our word to the contrary;
and yet they seem quite satisfied that we are speaking truth when we deny
it. One thing often strikes me: they believe implicitly in our
word, whilst they themselves look upon lying and deceit so lightly, and
are so suspicious one of another, except in the matter of lying stories of
the foreigners, which they are prepared to swallow wholesale, no matter
how absurd. The visit of Miss Rodd and Miss Bryer to Nang-Chong in June
brought in no less than eight patients, a party of six from one village!
One young woman, in rapid consumption, has just returned to her village to
die - the sting of death gone - so happy and bright, rejoicing in the
Saviour, and looking forward to going Home to Him. Her husband came to
fetch her home rather suddenly, which prevented her being baptized before
she left. An elderly woman, too, who came with a wee daughter-in-law, in
hopes of the poor child's sight being restored - alas! a vain hope - has,
we believe, accepted the Gospel.
Another old woman about whom we are very hopeful, came shortly after
from a neighbouring village. Her son came one day to ask if anything could
be done for her eyes. I told him I feared from his description that it was
too late, but that we should be very glad to receive her, if she liked to
come on the chance. I did not encourage him, seeing they were poor, and
the journey very expensive for them. She came. She had just heard that
there was a God Who could save her, and that she need only think
of Him, and was longing for more light; she thought there was a hope for
her in her blindness, even if her sight could not be restored. She had
been a frequenter of the temple to "naing
geng," i.e. "recite prayers," but when she lost her sight she
could go no more - and that hope
of attaining merit was gone. One day some of her temple friends came to
tell her that two foreign sisters had been to the village, and had told
them that their worship was useless and could not save them, but that
there was a God Who could save
them, and that they needed only to "think" of Him, so that would suit her!
They had not taken in much of the Truth, and I do not know whether
they were willing to receive the message for themselves; but it "set her longing," and God gave her the
opportunity. Very eager she was to learn to worship; she received teaching
as a little child, and continually said, "I did not know before, but now
you teach me I will worship God with a true heart and with all my mind."
Of her own accord she declared that when she went home, she would throw
away all her apparatus for the worship of "Ho" (Buddha), "For you know,"
she said, "one person can only
think of one thing! and if I
think of God, I can't think of 'Ho.'"
It is curious to notice how their previous ideas of worship colour
their changed faith. She was very anxious that I should write her name on
a piece of paper and burn it, that it might go to God, and so let Him know
she was a worshipper and His disciple, and was very pleased when she
learned that He already knew and received her, and that she should have
His Name signed upon her, and be received into His Church on earth. We
hope that some of us may be able, in a short time, to visit the villages
where these people live, and if those who, we hope, have trusted in Jesus
have continued steadfast, and stood the test of confessing Christ in their
homes, that they may be prepared for baptism.
Our original first patient came in again this year, and I believe
God made this visit the means of deepening His work in her soul. She is a
very lively little person, a great talker, and goes by the name of the
"Cricket." We hope she may one day exchange this for a "Christian name,"
but, so far, she has not made up her mind to leave go of that to which
from custom she is in bondage, though indeed she was never much of a
devotee. I think she has no longer any belief in "Ho," but she believes in
the truth of Jesus Christ and
His salvation.
We have great cause to be thankful to our God for the treasure He
has given us in our Bible-woman; she is earnest and devoted, and throws
herself heart and soul into winning souls for the Master. She loves the
patients, and does things for them that are not really her work, and that
no outsider would do for any money, and she puts up patiently with all the
trouble they frequently give her. She is taking charge of the hospital
while I am away in the hills for a while. There is at present only one
patient, who does not require much nursing, skill, or attention; of course
she will send for us if anything serious comes. This place - A-Cua - is
within four hours of Nang-Wa, so I can visit the hospital now and then.
Our hospital is not by any means built on the newest approved style;
it was just a large empty shed belonging to our house, and forming the
opposite side of the court. We had to floor it and put up a few
partitions. Our women's sitting room is by the gate opening into the
court, so that a good many women turn in as they pass along the road to or
from the town, at the end of which we are situated. The walls of the
sitting-room are made bright with scrolls, on which, in Chinese character,
are the Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer, Creed, &c, and between them
red and green narrow scrolls with gold-paper characters. These were
presented to the women's hospital by the Rev. H.S. Phillips; he had some
money to use for something in memory of his mother, sent by a Sunday-class
of girls in England whom she had taught and interested in missionary work,
so he thought a woman's hospital would be the most suitable place to
receive the honour. We hope these scrolls may speak to the women of the
love of God, the One Father of all, Who can put His Spirit of love and
compassion into the hearts of His children in England towards their poor
sisters in heathen darkness, and unite them all in one family.
Will all who read this pray very earnestly that this hospital may be
made a great blessing in this district, and that our God may bring in a
great many souls to know His saving health? I think it is very encouraging
work. Those who come in have a quiet time, away from household cares and
disturbances, to think over what they hear, and to get a good grasp of the
Truth. Often, too, their minds are prepared and softened by their illness,
and brought to think of a hereafter.
About the town of Nang-Wa itself we feel very sad; it is indeed a
thoroughly corrupt place. The women are very friendly, and have been very
willing to listen, and many seemed interested; but now we have got a
little below the surface, and pointed out to them the
sin which must be given up if they are to hope for salvation, they draw
back. There is great need for rescue work in Nang-Wa, and the large towns
and cities more particularly, and, so far, we do not see our way to doing
anything in that line.
Just now the prospect of extension is not promising; we womenfolk
are forbidden by the Consul and Archdeacon to go to distant places till
some menkind have gone first to open the way. The C.M.S. are trying to do
this at Kien-ning and Kien-yang, but it is a hard and slow work. Just when
they think things are getting peaceful and settled, a shock of earthquake
- to speak figuratively - occurs. But though the great need of the
district at present is men to go forward and open up the ground, yet there
is plenty of work for any number of ladies too. Large and small villages,
scattered thickly all round Nang Wa, are quite ready to receive God's
messengers. Those who have heard are few in comparison with those as yet
unreached. The time is short, "the Lord is at hand."
Pray for us the prayer of 2 Thess. i. II,
12.
August 5th, 1893.
and this follow-up report was published the following year (India's Women vol 14 pp554-557):
NANGWA.
The Women's
Hospital, Nangwa-Ke.
Kien-Ning
Prefecture of Fu-Kien Province.
BY MISS JOHNSON.
ALTHOUGH the second year of our work
in the women's hospital at Nangwa-Ke has perhaps not been quite so
prosperous as last year, yet we would ask you to join us in giving thanks
to God for much blessing which has rested on it. This year the number of
in-patients has only been seventeen: the falling-off is not surprising,
since there has been no English doctor during the greater part of it.
Owing to serious illness, Dr. Rigg was obliged to leave for Foo-chow, and
afterwards was invalided home. He left the hospital in charge of students,
who also attend the women's hospital, but the Natives do not think nearly
so much of them as of a "foreigner." I have not got the number of
out-patients at hand, but one hundred would be under rather than over the
mark. These are not all at Nangwa; those of us who go to stay in the
villages, generally take medicines for such simple cases as we understand
ourselves. We are, of course, expected - in virtue of being foreigners -
to understand the healing art! and we see so many cases where a very
simple remedy would give relief and avert serious consequences, that
common humanity compels to do something. Help in sickness sometimes makes
the people more friendly, and shows them that we care for and sympathise
with them.
Opium
smokers.
This year two of our patients were opium
cases. Among the women in this
part we do not meet with many who are victims of this vice. I am told that
among the rich it is not uncommon; where the men of the family take it, it
frequently spreads to their women-kind. Among women of immoral character
it is also common.
Our first opium patient, however, belonged to neither of these
classes. Her husband is a tailor, and had smoked opium many years, so she,
too, had fallen into the habit. She was a fortnight in hospital. At first
it was evident she was determined not to believe anything of the doctrine
which she knew we taught. She simply wished to make use of our hospital to
be cured of the effects of opium. She listened stolidly with a look that
plainly said, "You can talk away. I'm
too sharp to be taken in by you. I'm
not going to be influenced by anything you may say," but He Who, when
"lifted up, will draw all men," awakened in her heart a longing against
which she could not hold out. She confessed before long that she believed
what we told her was the truth and very much to be desired; she went so
far as to kneel in prayer with us every day, she even herself prayed,
confessing her sins and asked for pardon.
But there was a stumbling-block to becoming a Christian which she
herself soon perceived: she and her husband were "eating the idol's rice"
- they were caretakers of a club and temple combined - and they were
required to burn incense daily to the idols. The husband having sent his
wife to be cured of opium - as an experiment - followed her example, and
he too, while in hospital, became interested and convinced of the Truth;
but, alas! there they have stopped. So far they have not come to a
decision to let go almost their only means of support and to trust God to
take care of them. Both are old, and they have no children; the man's eyes
are getting too dim to do much. One can see his wife is just longing to
possess Jesus Christ and to have His pardon and peace. It is a very sad
case. In China it needs to be desperately in earnest to obtain the pearl
of great price. Many in our own land, who have known and proved God true
for years, would hesitate to trust thus wholly; and they, poor people,
know so little about God. Yet others have tried and proved His
faithfulness. We must pray on and believe and expect for them that His
grace will conquer. No other means of livelihood, so far, seem to offer,
and we dare not lead them to trust in the foreigner
for support.
"Health
and Cure."
Another patient was a poor little woman who
lived in a house full of men - father-in-law, husband, brother-in-law, and
uncle - all sunk in the vice of opium-smoking. What wonder that she, too,
fell a victim? She had had several children, who all died in infancy: the
last - a boy of a few years old - had been sold for an opium debt! She
heard of Him Who had come to set the captives free, and she longed to be
delivered. Miss Rodd and Miss Bryer - visiting her village for the first
time with the Gospel - pitied her and offered to take her back with them
to Nangwa to be cured. She got through the cure marvellously easily,
looking so cheerful all the time, a great contrast to most people under
such circumstances. It was God Who helped her, she said. She heard eagerly
the story of the Saviour's love, and went home determined by His grace to
serve and confess Him. We have heard good accounts of her. Her
brother-in-law has since been cured, and I hear her husband has also
lately given up opium-smoking. Will you join us in praying that they may
be kept, by the power of God, unto salvation?
Another patient, daughter-in-law to the first, was converted during
her stay in the hospital. The whole family have since become Christians,
but this young woman is the brightest. She came to us when Miss Bryer was
holding her station class in an empty room of the hospital, and thus met
several other women who were either already Christians or interested. As
she expressed it, it gave the lessons so much more taste
when there were several learning together.
We feel that God's blessing has been resting on the hospital, and
praise Him for it, hoping that next year the numbers will increase. We do
not know if we shall have an English doctor before Dr. Rigg's return in
about another year. We are praying that he may be sent back to us in the
Kien-Ning District. His devotion to his work, and kindly, sympathetic
manner with the patients, make him a great favourite.
The
new C.M.S.
Hospital.
You will perhaps have heard that a new
C.M.S. hospital has been built just outside Kiong-Ning City. The old one
at Nangwa will only now be kept open as a dispensary and opium-refuge. The
C.M.S. grant was not sufficient to include a women's part, but funds for
this have come in specially, so we hope soon to begin to build and remove
up there and close our temporary hospital quarters at Nangwa. The
mandarins have requested that there be no more building started till what
has been already opened is more established, and public feeling more
quiet. The delay is not very important, as there is a Native doctor at
Nangwa, as well as at the new hospital - one of the men trained by Dr.
Rigg.
Owing to the kind help of Miss Sinclair in the hospital, I have been
able to leave it occasionally for visiting in distant villages this year,
and so have been able to follow up some of our former patients, finding
some of them very satisfactory. One dear old blind woman is trusting in
Jesus, and has been telling others of His love. Her grand-niece said, "I,
too, worship Jesus; my aunt taught me to pray to Him."
Sept. 13th, 1894.
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The Women's Hospital in Kien-ning
|
In 1894, the womens' hospital at Nang-wa was moved to Seven Stars bridge, a
mile from Kien-Ning at the site of the new C.M.S. hospital, and, as
described below, the hospital was planned to move into Kien-Ning city in
1902, into a C.E.Z. building bought with money given in memory of Frances's
brother-in-law, James Stratford Collins, who had died in 1897 also working
as a missionary in Fuh-kien province.
The light of the morning : the story of C.E.Z.M.S.
work in the Kien-ning Prefecture of the Fuh-kien Province, China
by Mary E. Darley (1903) p19
The beginning of C.E.Z. medical work among women
in Kien-Ning Prefecture was made by
Miss F. Johnson, a qualified nurse, at
Nang-Wa, while, as Dr. Rigg describes in the foregoing pages,
the C.M.S. was also carrying on its medical work from that
centre. But when, in 1894, the C.M..S. Hospital was moved
to Five Li Rest House, or Seven Stars Bridge (though there
is no bridge !), a mile outside Kien-Ning City, it was not convenient
to have the women patients at Nang-Wa. Miss Johnson,
therefore, transferred her work to temporary rooms in the
C.M.S. Hospital compound, and shortly afterwards the present
Seven Stars Bridge C.E.Z. Hospital was built on the highest
part of the compound, where it remained undamaged by the
flood of 1900.
Miss Johnson hopes to transfer the Women's Hospital this coming November (1902) from Seven Stars Bridge to the
house in Kien-Ning City, bought for
C.E.Z. work in 1899, with money given
in memory of the Rev. J. Stratford Collins. To this house
a second storey has been added, making it suitable for a hospital.
The cost of the adaptation has been defrayed by the Dublin
University Fuh-Kien Mission. The present Women's Hospital
at Seven Stars Bridge will be used for school or station class
purposes.
In 1899, during the Chinese New Year celebrations when missionary work could
not be actively carried out, Frances and Mary Darley spent six weeks
visiting the various mission stations in Fukien province. The journey is
described in Mary's book The light of the morning : the story of C.E.Z.M.S.
work in the Kien-ning Prefecture of the Fuh-kien Province, China
by Mary E. Darley (1903) pp126-135:
This year Miss Johnson and I decided to spend some weeks in visiting the various mission stations throughout the Province. So one morning we started from Kien-Ning in a small native ratboat, which brought us to Foo-Chow in three days, where we received from Miss Stevens her never-failing welcome to "The Olives." Having been up-country for over a year, we thoroughly appreciated the joy of meeting our friends again, and the accounts they gave of work in the city, schools, hospital and surrounding villages, were most encouraging.
A short visit to Foo-Chow is decidedly
overwhelming. Interviews with the
tailor, curio vendor, dentist and,
probably, the photographer, are arranged without delay; while the
intervals are filled in with shopping and sending parcels home. It means
quite a little whirl of excitement, which, for us, only subsided when we
found ourselves in a house-boat on the way southwards to the Hing-Hwa
Prefecture. A night spent on board, followed by a chair journey of a day
and a half, principally through the district of Hok-Chiang, brought us to
Dang-Seng, where Miss Tabberer, Miss Reid, and Miss Dopping Hepenstal were
working and rejoicing in the blessing given in a girls' school only lately
opened, and in the numbers of patients daily coming to the dispensary for
treatment. From Dang-Seng, we went to Hing-Hwa city, travelling for some
hours along stone-paved pathways, winding through flat, cultivated,
wind-swept plains, here and there intersected by canals, the sea
glimmering on the horizon, and bare rugged hills rising sharply from the
level stretches.
Hing-Hwa city, in which we spent a few very pleasant
days,
through Dr. and Mrs. van Someren
Taylor's hospitality, is very beautiful. Viewed
from its wall, which is in splendid condition
and makes a delightful walk, it resembles a
vast undulating orchard, with the peaked red roofs
of houses appearing through the trees.
There was much of interest in connection
with the work, especially the medical
branch, to which the wide-spread
knowledge of Christianity in Hing-Hwa
is mainly due. The well- worked hospitals
are large, and are greatly appreciated by
the natives, who are not so superstitious and prejudiced
as in other parts of the Fuh-Kien Province.
Then we visited Miss Witherby, Miss
Vulliamy, and Miss Montfort at
Sieng-Iu, the third station in
Hing-Hwa, only one day's journey from the city,
but lying in far prettier and more mountainous
scenery. There we saw the school for Christian
women, in which they were not only learning
to know their Saviour, but also to read His
Word. We saw something of the work of the native
pastor too ? a holy man of God named Deng, whose
life is entirely spent in seeking to win souls for
the Master he so faithfully serves.
And so our happy three-fold visit to
Hing-Hwa passed, and we travelled back
to Foo-Chow, where we rested a day or
two, and then started north-wards,
spending the first night at Deng-doi, a
C.M.S. station worked by four ladies from Australia.
We were particularly interested in a
little school for blind boys, lately
opened by Miss Oxley, who, by means of
the Braille system, is most
successfully teaching them to read and write
.
Then, continuing our journey for two days,
we arrived at Lo-Nguong City, where we
were not only welcomed by Miss
Wedderspoon and Miss Clayton, but also
by Miss Jackson, Dr. Florence Cooper,
and Miss Blanche Cooper, who had come
in from Uong-Buang, in order to attend a
conference of native workers. We should like to
have seen the leper settlement, Church, and home
for untainted children, but, having arranged only
to spend one night at Lo-Nguong, we just visited
the girls' school, and the site for a hospital for
women about to be built.
A walk of ten miles, memorable because it
included the climbing of a mountain under
a blazing sun, straight up hot stone
steps for nearly three hours, brought
us to the bay which must be crossed in
order to reach Fuh-Ning - the Prefecture
allocated to the Dublin University Fuh-Kien
Mission.
But the sea had no terrors for us that
night as, comfortably sleeping our
tiredness away, we lay, rolled up in
rugs, on the floor of a fiat-bottomed boat.
We
awakened next morning within sight of
the shore, ready for the chair-ride which brought us
to Fuh-Ning city towards evening. We greatly
appreciated the delightful welcome to the
ladies' house given us by Miss Clarke, Miss Thomas,
Miss Clemson, and Miss Greer.
Here a Sunday intervened, which not only gave us time to see over the large school for girls,
the women's school, superintended by Miss
Harmar, and Dr. and Mrs. Synge's
hospitals, but also to see the Church,
in which morning service was held,
filled to over-flowing with Chinese,
who listened attentively while the Rev. L.
H. Star preached in their own tongue of the mighty
works of God.
Then, crossing the bay in another
direction, we came to Ning-Taik City,
where there is a C.M.S. station, in
which we spent a night and part of a
day with Miss Boileau, Miss J. Clarke, Miss
Bibb, and Miss Nicholson.
Not far from their house and girls' school
stands the beautiful little Church, known
as the Ning-Taik Cathedral; a native
clergyman having expended upon it his
thought and ingenuity for a period of
twenty-five years; carving carefully selected
texts on the woodwork of the chancel-rails,
pulpit, reading-desk, font and pillars, in the Chinese
character which so lends itself to decorative
purposes.
Resuming our journey, nothing could exceed
the magnificence of the scenery, through
which the road to Sang-Iong, in the
Ku-Cheng district, led us for two days,
our senses literally feasting upon the
wonderful beauty of the luxuriantly wooded
mountains and valleys.
It was indeed a privilege to visit Miss
Burroughs and Miss M. Newcombe in their
native house at Sang-Iong, where they
are carrying on a work which has been
very richly blessed by our prayer-answering
God.
Sa-Iong, the station at which we next
arrived and where we spent one night
was vacant, Miss Codrington and Miss
Locke-King not having returned from a
journey to Shang-Hai. And then, one whole day's
travelling brought us to the Ku-Cheng "Olives,"
where we joined a delightfully large party;
Miss Nisbet and her happy little "Birds' Nest"
foundlings, Miss Wathen and Miss Leybourn,
managing the girls' school with its
sixty-six pupils. Miss Baker and Miss Ouida
Jones studying the language, and Miss B.
Newcombe preparing to itinerate in an outlying
district.
Three days later, we were once more among our Ciong-Bau
friends, and rejoicing together over the
school so long desired and prayed for, now in
full working order. Miss Bryer had opened it the
week before, with twenty-eight girls, and it was
good to see them under her care, not only learning
to read the Bible, but also having many of
the lessons contained therein, imprinted on their
hearts.
Our exceedingly pleasant holiday being
over, we settled down in the Kien-Ning
hospital, very thankful to have had an
opportunity of visiting the various
mission stations in the Fuh-Kien Province
and of seeing something of what God was
doing through and for His servants.
But during the six weeks we had spent in going from one spot of light to another, travelling between each through villages utterly unreached, cities hardly occupied, large districts still lying in darkness, the great, great need for more workers had been borne in heavily upon our hearts.
In the summer of 1899, a riot in Kien-Ning forced the temporary flight of
Frances and the other missionaries to Foo-Chow. The flight is recounted by
Mary Darley in The light of the morning : the story of C.E.Z.M.S.
work in the Kien-ning Prefecture of the Fuh-kien Province, China
by Mary E. Darley (1903) pp158-163:
The next afternoon, just as we had met together for a prayer-meeting, word came that a riot could no longer be restrained as the whole city had risen, shops were shut, and mandarins were powerless to arrest the torrents of vengeance about to fall upon the foreigners, the Ku-Cheng workers, and the native Christians.
There was no time to be lost. Our servants
at the risk of their lives made three
attempts to procure boats for the
necessary flight, the last only being
successful.
In the meantime messages were despatched both to Mr. Phillips in Kien-Yang, and to Miss Rodd and Miss Bryer in Ciong-Bau.
Shortly after day-light, we three ladies
and several native women started down
the river in four boats, and that
evening arrived safely in Yen-Ping
city, where there is a hospital superintended
by a former student of Dr. Rigg's.
The Kien-Ning boats would go no further,
so here we spent the night and part of
the following day, while waiting to
continue our journey in a great
tea-barge leaving about mid-day, whose owner
was willing, for a considerable sum of money.
to accommodate any number of passengers.
All through that morning we stood
welcoming the fugitive Christians who
arrived at intervals. Oh the accounts
they brought! The reported murder of
Mr. and Mrs. Phillips and Miss Sears, while
escaping from Kien-Yang. The cruel attack
made upon the Christians in the leper settlement.
The flames they had seen "reaching to
the sky " of the new city Church now burnt to
the ground, and many other stories, some true, some
entirely false, others exaggerated, but then we
believed them all, and it seemed as if Satan had
gained a complete victory, and our hearts ached
sorely for the Christians in Ciong-Bau and the
other outlying villages.
Many of the escapes were very wonderful. "God brought us here, we hardly know how," some said as they spoke of being unconscious of fear, " with hearts all peace."
Then we heard that Dr. Rigg, Dr. Pakenham,
and the native doctors and students, had
been forced to leave shortly after our
departure, and had already reached
Nang-Wa.
...
Before we left Yen-Ping, Miss Rodd
and Miss Bryer joined us. Within a few
hours they had dismissed the girls'
school, arranged as far as possible for
the natives, and, starting from Ciong-Bau
at evening time, had arrived after midnight at
Nang-Wa, having accomplished a difficult walk
of twelve miles on narrow pathways, in darkness
and torrents of rain.
The remainder of the journey to Foo-Chow was comparatively easy. As we went quickly down the river, leaving so many of our native Christians, humanly speaking alone, to face persecution and danger, Miss Johnson gave us
a verse which greatly helped us to leave them restfully in our Father's care "For thus saith the Lord of Hosts; he that toucheth you
toucheth the apple of His eye."
"Peace,
perfect peace ! with loved ones far away!
In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and
they."
Oh! So safe when overshadowed by a love greater than the greatest any human being can lavish upon another, for the lesser love would shield its object from pain, while the greater can allow it to suffer.
There was thanksgiving in Foo-Chow when we
had all safely arrived from the various
up-country stations, and the truest joy
when word came from Kien-Ning
contradicting the reported murder of
Mr. and Mrs. Phillips and Miss Sears and
recounting how well the Mandarin had protected
them in the Kien-Yang Yamen.
And, when a few days later, they
reached Foo-Chow they brought with them
a correct account of all that had taken
place during the riot:-the burning to
the ground of the lately opened Church in Kien-Ning
city, with the murder of an old Christian
man found kneeling inside it; the attack made
upon the leper settlement ; the ill-treating of
the leper Catechist and the destruction of the lepers'
little Church. These, with other acts of violence,
threatenings
and slaughter breathed out by an
excited angry mob against all "worshipping-God
people," made us realize most clearly that all our
lives had been spared only because of the strong
hand of our God stretched out to save us.
It was not long, however, before negotiations with the literati
of Kien-Ning led to the return of the missionaries. The men retuened first,
while three of the women missionaries, Frances Johnson, Mary Darley and Miss
Codrington went up-country, first to Ku-Cheng and then to the Women's School
in Sa-Iong. On 25 October 1899, an agreement was signed compensating the
Church for losses in the riots and allowing the missionaries to return.
Although only three weeks remained before all the missionaries would return
to Foo-Chow for the annual conference, Frances and Mary decided to return to
Kien-Ning.
The light of the morning : the story of C.E.Z.M.S.
work in the Kien-ning Prefecture of the Fuh-kien Province, China
by Mary E. Darley (1903) pp173-175:
Shortly before this, permission had reached us who were waiting in Ku-Cheng, to return, if we considered it worth our while to pay a visit of three weeks' length, as we should have to leave again when the gentlemen went to Foo-Chow in order to attend the Conference.
Miss Johnson and I gladly availed ourselves of the permission,
and immediately made arrangements for starting,
but we found to our dismay that coolies and
sedan-chairs were not to be hired; for those not
already engaged in carrying native Christians from
distant villages to attend a Church Conference
which was being held in Ku-Cheng city, expressed
themselves both unwilling and afraid to
attempt a journey to Kien-Ning after all that had
taken place there.
We had asked that if we were not to go,
something special might happen to hinder
the plan. Was this the answer?
We longed to see our Christians and they
to see us. The suggestion, that we
might walk back entirely falling in
with our own wishes, we at once acted
upon it, and set out one morning for a
three days' tramp over beautiful mountain roads, hoping
in the evening of the third day to reach Nang-Wa,
and from there to go on by boat to our
hospital.
It was not an eventful journey, and the
friendly attitude shewn towards us by
the people in the villages which we
passed through, helped to make it
pleasant and gave us many an opportunity for
speaking of the Saviour to those who had never heard
of
Him before. Then our joy in returning together,
kept the continuous walking from becoming
too wearisome, proving the truth of the
old classical saying "A pleasant companion is
as good as a coach."
Our only mishap turned out so well, that
we were afterwards thankful for it.
We were delayed on the third day; but
still, by pushing on, we hoped to
arrive at Nang-Wa before nightfall.
Tired and rather foot-sore we hurried
on. It began to rain. The narrow, cobbled
pathways
became slippery; our speed had to
slacken, and our hopes of reaching our destination
that evening gradually faded away. Darkness
was already upon us; where was the night
to be spent ?
"Sisters, come in here, in my house spend
the night."
The invitation came from a woman standing
in the doorway of a road-side cottage,
who, in simple kindness of heart and
pity, opened both her heart and her
house to two foreigners, their load-man
and servant-boy, an instance of the generous
trusting hospitality so often to be met with
in China.
Truly grateful to our unexpected and unknown hostess,
we longed to repay her in the only way we
could.
Until quite late that night she sat up
listening to the story of a Saviour's
love. We taught her a few sentences.
She repeated them over and over again.
Long before day-light the following morning
she came to the loft placed at our disposal, to
hear more of the things of Heaven.
As the first streak of dawn lit up the
bare and dusty room, we left her. Upon
the darkness of her life a gleam of
light from the Sun of Righteousness had
shone at last !
"Jesus, for me forgive sin, for me forgive
sin," were the words of a little prayer
she whispered, as we parted from her.
" Far and
wide, though all unknowing,
Pants for Thee each mortal breast,
Human tears for Thee are flowing.
Human hearts in Thee would rest.
" Dare we let them die in darkness,
When we have the Light of God,
And the life which has been purchased
With the Saviour's precious blood ?
Seek to win them,
Win them back through Christ to God."
"Slowly slowly," it seemed to us, went our
little boat from Nang-Wa that day. About
ten p.m., in bright moon-light, we once
more entered the hospital standing as
we had left it that eventful morning
only four months before. Now strains of
praise rang through the empty rooms, as
two happy people, quickly uncovering the
harmonium, sang the Doxology.
What a welcome was given us upon the
following Sunday morning when, after
service in our city house, a little
group of Christian women gathered around
us.
"Did not our Jesus keep you from fear,
when you first met here for secret
worship ? " we questioned.
"Sisters," came the beautiful answer, "
our hearts knew no fear, because Jesus
was together with us. Outside, the
streets, like rough tumultuous waters,
were all noise, loud voices, confusion.
Inside here, our hearts, like still, still
water, were all peace."
Frances was still in Kien-Ning in 1916, when Mary Darley lists her as doing
"city and district work" (Cameos of a Chinese City by Mary E. Darley p27)
1 January 1928, in Rathdown district,
county Dublin or Wicklow, Ireland, aged 74
Frances Johnson
11 February 1890, in Plymouth county,
Iowa, United States
Donald Goddard Johnson
Annie Margaret (Agnes) Johnson
Doctor. A physician and surgeon,
Frances practiced medicine out of her home in Milwaukee until her death.
Frances was president of the
Milwaukee branch of the Altrusa Club, a women's service organization. There
are a number of references to her in this capacity in the Milwaukee
Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal
(elected as a director
in
1946, vice
president
in 1952, and president
in
1953-4)
One reference mentions a post-converntion vacation that Frances took:
Milwaukee Sentinel 26 July 1953 page 2-D,
column 1
FOUR MILWAUKEE women, members of the
Altrusa Club, combined business with pleasure last week as they travelled
to Los Angeles, Calif., for the Altrusa International biennial convention
held Monday through Wednesday - taking their vacations either before or
after the convention.
Delegates representing the Milwaukee club were Dr. Frances Johnson,
president, Esther Pfeiffer and June Rolleston. Dr. Anna L. Hehn, a past
president, was the alternate.
Drs. Johnson and Hehn flew to San Francisco and then drove along
the coast to Los Angeles. After the convention, they flew to Hawaii for a
10-day vacation. Miss Pfeiffer joined other Altrusa members for the
post-convention tour to Bryce Canyon sponsored by the international
organization.
Another curious reference mentions Frances's unusual advice at a meeting of
the Business and Professional Women's club.
Milwaukee Sentinel 9 May 1929 page 4, column 7
DAY after day we read parts of
addresses made for the benefit of women who would reduce.
Now comes Dr. Frances Johnson and, at a meeting of the Business and
Professional Women's club, she dares to tell women in business how they
can gain weight and work hard at the same time.
"Eat plenty of bread and butter, potatoes and pie," she says.
9 March 1972, in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, United States, aged 82
Milwaukee Sentinel 11 March 1972, part 2 page
14, column 1
Johnson, Dr. Frances
Of 2604 E. Hartford Ave., March 9, 1972, aged 82.
Dear sister of Miss Dorothy Johnson, sister-in-law of Mrs. Evelyn (Donald
K.) Johnson and Mrs. Dorothy (Colin W.) Johnson and of Robert S., Philip
D., Donald S., Peter, Michael O. and Colin D. Johnson and Mrs Ann
Sundstrom. Other relatives also survive. Complete memorial services 2:30
p.m. Sun, at FASS FUNERAL HOME, 3601 N. Oakland Ave. The family will
receive friends from 1:30 p.m. Sun, until time of services. In lieu of
flowers, memorials to the Heart Association, Milwaukee Children's Hospital
or the charity of your preference appreciated.
| |
|
Gravestone of Frances Johnson in
Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton, Iowa
|
Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton,
Sioux county, Iowa, United States. The grave is located south of the E-W
entrance roads, row 27 west of Cty Road K30.
1900:
Eagle
township, Sioux county, Iowa
1920:
Sioux
county, Iowa
1956: 2504 E. Hartman Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Milwaukee Journal 16 April 1956)
1972: 2604 E. Hartford Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (death notice)
Geraldine Alice Johnson
27 September 1870, in Wexford
district, county Wexford, Ireland
Samuel
Johnson
Marianne
(Richards) Johnson
16 May 1916, in Rathdown district,
county Dublin or Wicklow, Ireland, aged 45
1911: 14
Belgrave Road, Monkstown, county Dublin
Honor Lucretia Philippa(Johnson) Somerville
26 June 1902, in Dublin, Dublin South
district, county Dublin, Ireland
Philip Bernard Johnson
Elizabeth Charlotte Annie (Pope)
Johnson
Reginald Malcolm John Bellingham
Somerville in 1936, in Rathdrum district, county Wicklow, Ireland. Reginald
was born on 14 February 1897, at Clermont, Rathnew, county Wicklow, the son
of Bellingham Arthur Somerville and Margaret Hall Clinch. Reginald was
previously married to Maude Gwendolyn Constance Violet Moore in 1928 in
Rathdown district, county Wicklow or county Dublin.
1911:
Newrath, Rathnew, county Wicklow
1911:
Bollarney South, Wicklow, county Wicklow
Louisa Florence Johnson
28 July 1858, in Ireland
Samuel Johnson
Marianne
(Richards)
Johnson
28 June 1933, in Gorey district,
county Wexford, Ireland, aged 74
 |
|
Headstone of Louisa Florence Johnson in St
John the Apostle graveyard, Ardamine, county Wexford.
|
St John the Apostle graveyard,
Ardamine, county Wexford, Ireland. Louisa's headstone reads:
Louisa
Florence Johnson
born july 28th
1858
DIED June 28th 1933
The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Clarence
Volume p284 by Melville Henry Massue Ruvigny et Raineval
(1994) lists Louisa living in Oxford, although the date of this is not
known.
Mary Isabella (Johnson) Collins
23 August 1859
Samuel Johnson
Marianne
(Richards)
Johnson
James
Stratford Collins on 17 February 1890
The
history
of the Church Missionary Society: its environment, its men and its work
p793 by Eugene Stock (1899):
[James Collins] had married a C.E.Z. lady in the
Fuh-kien Mission, one of two Misses Johnson of Dublin, sisters of the
present head of the Irish Church Missions to Roman Catholics there.
Missionary in China. It seems
that Mary went to China as a missionary of the Church of England Zenana
Missionary Society. She married Rev. Collins who had gone out to China in
1887 with the Church Missionary Society and as Mrs. Collins she is often
referred to as being part of the C.M.S. rather than the the C.E.Z.
On 31 May 1890, Rev. Collins wrote to the The
Church Missionary Gleaner October 1890 p162
from their station in Lo-ngwong:
A foreign lady is a new species of "show," and
every week many women come to see Mrs. Collins, and each visit results in
an invitation to visit in return. The poor Christian women are terribly
dark and ignorant, and as a rule do not come to church at all.
9 June 1897, in the wreck of the Aden off Socotra
in the Mahra Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra (now part of Yemen). After being
widowed in China, Mary was returning to England on the Aden,
which struck Rasradresa reef off the island of Socotra in a storm on 9 June
1897. Three of the four lifeboats were washed away and the last was reserved
for women and children, including Mary and her two young children. This boat
was launched but never seen again. In total, 78 lives were lost in the
wreck, but 45 passengers and crew members were rescued from the Aden
17 days later.
A memorial to Mary and her husband has been placed in Ardamine Church,
county Wexford.
In
loving memory of
Rev. James Stratford Collins. C. M. S.
drowned in Min River, China, April
20th 1897 aged 37
buried at Foo Chow
also of Mary Isabella his wife aged 37
Ethel aged 2 and Philip aged 1 their
children
and Margaret Hogan their nurse
lost in the wreck of the 'Aden' off
Socotra June 9th 1897.
The wreck of the Aden was reported
in
the New York Times on 30 June 1897,
and this more
detailed
account appeared in The Daily Star
(Fredericksburg, Virginia), also on 30 June 1897:
THE
WRECK OF THE ADEN
It
Resulted in the Loss of Seventy-eight Lives,
AND FORTY-FIVE WERE RECSCUED.
Thrilling Experiences of the Survivors, Who For Seventeen Days Were Held
Captive on a Reef, With the Vessel Gradually Breaking to Pieces
Aden, June 30.-The Indian government's
steamer Mayor [sic. actually the Mayo], sent out in search of the missing
steamer Aden, which was last heard of when leaving Columbo June 1 for this
port, has returned here and reports that the Aden was totally lost off the
Island of Socotra, at the eastern extremity of Africa.
The captain of the wrecked steamer, some of
her officers and crew and seven white passengers, were swept overboard and
drowned very soon after she ran ashore.
Eight women passengers, nine children, two officers and a few of the
Aden's crew succeeded in getting away from the wreck in a boat, but they
have not been heard of since and little hope is entertained of their
safety.
The Mayor saved nine of the Aden's
passengers and three of the white and 33 of the natives of the steamer's
crew. All these persons were rescued just as the Aden was breaking up.
In all, the drowned and missing include 25
passengers, 20 European officers and 33 natives of the Aden's crew.
Two days after leaving Colombo the Aden was
struck by a severe monsoon, with squalls, violent and incessant. Day by
day the weather grew thicker. At 3 o'clock on the morning of June 9 the
vessel struck upon the Rasradresa Reef, on the eastern coast of the island
of Socotra.
The engineroom was instantly flooded, and
utter darkness ensued. Wild with panic the passengers rushed from their
cabins and fled terror stricken to the upper decks in the scantiest
clothing. The women and children screamed in freight and confusion, but
the men retained their self possession and courageously assisted the
officers and crew to do their best to save the vessel and to inspire
calmness.
But it was soon seen that the steamer could
not survive the shock, and that the only chance for safety lay in the
boats. Life belts were distributed, distress signals given and the boats
on the lee side prepared for launching. Those on the weather side had
already been washed away. In the meantime, seeing that some hours were
likely to elapse before it would be possible to launch the boats, the
passengers gladly accepted the assistance of the crew to obtain more
clothing.
The storm continued to increase in
violence. The seas washed the vessel with terrible force. Daylight brought
no relief, and only served to reveal still further the awfulness of the
situation. Misfortune followed
misfortune. A lifeboat was lowered, only to be swept away immediately,
with three lascars and the first officer, Mr. Carden. The gig was
dispatched to the rescue, with Mr. Miller, the second officer, but both
boats were rapidly swept away.
The only remaining life boat was then
lowered amid a scene of intense emotion. A cry of anguish broke from the
lips even of the men when this half capsized, throwing the sailors and the
stores into the sea. After great efforts the boat was righted and the
women and children were lowered into it, with the exception of Madames
Gillett, Pearce and Strain, who heroically decided to share the fate of
their husbands, and Misses Lloyd and Weller, who remained on board. The
boat, manned by a European crew, left in a tremendous sea and drifted
rapidly out of sight.
Vast waves still swept the wreck, dashing the people about and
leaving them almost prostrate on the deck. One by one, men, women and
children, grown too weak to withstand the repeated buffetings, were washed
overboard in sight of those who were momentarily expecting the same fate.
Among the first thus engulfed were Mr. and Mrs. Strain and their two
children; Misses Lloyd and Weller, the missionaries; Mrs. Pearce's baby,
with its Chinese nurse, and then Captain Hill, whose leg was broken, but
who had borne himself calmly and bravely. He was washed overboard with
several of the native crew.
All day the victims were picked off one by one, until 5 o'clock in
the afternoon, when those who still survived retreated below. Many were
badly hurt, and passed the night in suspense and bodily pain, huddled in
the small cabin, which they expected would be their tomb. None of the
survivors care to talk of this terrible night.
The storm abated slightly on the morning of the 10th, and those who
were able to move began to search for food, hunger, until then, having
failed to assert itself over more acute privations. This proved a task of
the greatest danger, as big seas were still sweeping the vessel. The
fourth engineer, while trying to procure water near the poop, was struck
senseless and almost washed overboard before he could be dragged to a
place of safety. Artificial respiration and similar expedients were
resorted to, but it was five hours before he was restored to
consciousness. Mr. Pearce was only saved from being washed overboard by
the prompt action of his dauntless wife.
The search for food resulted in their getting very little of it, and
this was shared out equally and in very small portions. All the time
desperate men kept a sharp lookout. But no vessel was sighted until the
13th, and even then the distress signal was not seen. On the 17th, and
again on the 20th, other vessels were sighted, but the signals either were
not seen or were ignored.
These unhappy episodes caused painful and half crazy scenes of rage
among those who had previously been self controlled. Each day it was
necessary to curtail the allowance of rations. Mrs. Gillett did the
catering and contributed greatly to the cheering up the ships company.
The weather usually moderated in the morning, but always increased
in violence during the afternoon. Frequently a sea 30 feet high would
sweep the deck from stem to stern and carry away portions of the vessel.
On June 25, when things were at their worst, and the food supply was
almost exhausted, Messrs. White, Kelt, Cave and Valpy bravely ventured
across the well deck to the storeroom and got a fresh supply. That evening
two steamers were sighted. One proceeded without paying any attention to
the distress signal. The other anchored under the lee of the island. As
soon as was sighted a lascar mounted the rigging and signaled her. In
reply candles burned at her portholes, and at daybreak on the 26th, a
suspense of 17 days was relieved by the spectacle of the steamer rounding
the point and heading towards the wreck. She dropped anchor about a mile
away.
A very heavy sea was still running, but the wind had moderated
slightly. With heartfelt joy, mingled with tears of the men and hysterical
sobbing of the women, they saw the lifeboat lowered. It took her
three-quarters of an hour to reach the wreck. Everyone rushed to the
broken side of the ship. It was the lifeboat of the Indian government
steamer, in charge of Lieutenants Dobbin and Goldsmith. They skillfully
avoided the tremendous wash, and rescued all the survivors in two
trips.
Every attention was paid to them on board the Mayor. Their health is
improving, and they sailed homeward today on the steamer India.
This account implies that Mary and her children were in the missing
lifeboat, but does not state that explicitly. However, The
history
of the Church Missionary Society: its environment, its men and its work
p793 by Eugene Stock (1899) contains the note:
Mrs Collins sailed for England with her two
children, and joined the ill fated P. & O. steamer Aden
at Colombo. On June 9th, the ship was wrecked on the coast of the Island
of Socotra. Mrs Collins and her children were put into the one
lifeboat that was successfully got off; and that boat was never heard of
again.
Norah Johnson
1897, in Dublin North district,
county Dublin, Ireland
Philip Bernard Johnson
Elizabeth Charlotte Annie (Pope)
Johnson
1897, in Rathdown district, county
Dublin or Wicklow, Ireland, aged 0
Patricia Beatrice Johnson
1904, in Dublin, Dublin South
district, county Dublin, Ireland
Philip Bernard Johnson
Elizabeth Charlotte Annie (Pope)
Johnson
Her name appears as Patricia Beatrice
Johnson in the birth registration index, but in the 1911 census as Norah
Patricia Johnson.
1911:
Bollarney South, Wicklow, county Wicklow
- Ireland Birth Index
(2Q1904 Dublin South vol 2 p656); exact place from 1911 census
- 1911 census
Philip Bernard Johnson
Reverend 16 October 1866, in county Wexford, Ireland
Samuel Johnson
Marianne
(Richards)
Johnson
Trinity College Dublin,
receiving a B.A. in 1892, and, later, M.A.
Elizabeth Charlotte Annie Pope in
1893, in Donegal district, county Donegal, Ireland. Elizabeth was born in
1867, in Donegal district. Elizabeth was the daughter of Richard Pope, M.D.
Clergyman
The Irish
Church
Missions web site lists:
Rev. Philip Bernard
Johnson (Superintendent 1894-1902)
Having worked for ICM in itinerating evangelism around Ireland, Mr.
Johnson became a curate in the Mission Church in 1892. From a
missionary family from Wexford, two of his sisters served in the Dublin
University Fuh Kien Mission in China. During his time as Superintendent
over 100 adult converts were received into the Church of Ireland and
hundreds of street children, who attended the Mission Homes and Schools,
were confirmed. In 1902, when Mr. Fishe returned to ICM, Mr. Johnson
took special charge of ICM's itinerating evangelism work, visiting Mission
stations throughout Ireland. He later became the incumbent at Wicklow for
19 years during which time he was made Canon of Christ Church Cathedral,
Dublin. He died in 1926.
2 July 1926, in Rathdrum district, county Wicklow, Ireland,
aged 59
1911:
Bollarney South, Wicklow, county Wicklow
Robert Edward Johnson
17 July 1864, in Ireland
Samuel Johnson
Marianne
(Richards)
Johnson
7 April 1883, in Wexford district,
county Wexford, Ireland, aged 19
| |
|
Headstone of Robert Edward Johnson in St
John the Apostle graveyard, Ardamine, county Wexford
|
St John the Apostle graveyard,
Ardamine, county Wexford, Ireland. Robert's headstone reads:
In
memory of
ROBERT EDWARD Johnson
SON OF SAMUEL
JOHNSON
WHO DIED 7TH
APRIL 1883
AGED 19 YEARS.
HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH
HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE
Robert Samuel Johnson
22 November 1891, in Ireton, Sioux
county, Iowa, United States
Donald Goddard
Johnson
Annie Margaret (Agnes) Johnson
Iowa State University, graduating
as a civil engineer in 1914.
Civil Engineer. Lieutenant
(Civil Engineer Corps), United States Navy. Robert was seconded to the
Royal Canadian Navy to oversee the initial site selection and
preparation of a naval air station to protect shipping against U-boats, at
North Sydney, Nova Scotia, in August and September 1918
Naval Air Station North Sydney by Peter
Lawson pp84-5
ROBERT S. JOHNSON, Lieutenant, Civil Engineer
Lt. Robert Samuel Johnson, son of Donald G. and
Annie Johnson was born in 1891 near Ireton, Iowa and graduated as a civil
engineer from Iowa State College in 1914. He worked for two years before
attending the United States Naval Academy in 1917. Early in the summer of
1918, he was given a secondment to serve with the Royal Canadian Naval Air
Service to assist in the initial development of Naval Air Station North
Sydney, in Nova Scotia. The station was to be operated by the USN at the
request of the Canadian Government.
Sadly, Lt. Johnson contracted the Spanish
influenza while in North Sydney. It was decided that he would be
immediately transported to a hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, his home base,
but pneumonia set in and he passed away on October 13, 1918 at the age of
27.
Naval Air Staion North Sydney by Peter
Lawson pp42-3
To: Chairman, Nova Scotia Steel and Coal, New
Glasgow, N.S.
From: Deputy Minister, Canadian Naval Service
Date: August 6, 1918
Telegram. Official request for temporary use of North West Bar, North
Sydney (Indian Point) for purpose establishing air station for coast
protection, Lieut. Johnson, USN now lent to Canadian Naval Department in
connection with air service engineering will call on you tomorrow. Stop.
Please grant use of this property if possible. Stop. Department prepared
to pay reasonable rent for same. Stop.
13 October 1918, in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada, of pneumonia, a complication of Spanish flu.
Officers and enlisted men of the United States Navy
who lost their lives during the World War, from April 6, 1917, to
November 11, 1918 p30 (1920)
JOHNSON, ROBERT SAMUEL,
lieutenant (Civil Engineer Corps), United States Navy.
Died : At Ottowa, Ontario.
Date: October 13, 1918.
Cause: Disease (pneumonia).
Next of kin: Donald G. Johnson (father), Ireton,
Iowa.
Appointed from Iowa.
In a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Cull to the Director of Naval
Services, on 15 October 1918, reproduced in Naval Air Station North Sydney by Peter
Lawson p48:
It is deeply regretted that Lieutenant Johnson, USN, Civil Engineer, who
was seconded to the RCN to oversee the initial site selection and
preparation at North Sydney in August and September, 1918, died (of
influenza complications) on October 13. Funerals were held on the 14 and
the body taken by his parents to Ireton, Iowa.
 |
|
Gravestone of Robert Samuel Johnson in
Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton, Iowa
|
Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton,
Sioux county, Iowa, United States. The grave is located south of the E-W
entrance roads, row 27 west of Cty Road K30.
1900:
Eagle
township, Sioux county, Iowa
Samuel Johnson
2 June 1812, in county Wexford,
Ireland
William Johnson
Frances (Tench) Johnson
Marianne
Richards on 5 November 1850 in Ardamine Church, county Wexford,
Ireland, by Edward Richards, Rector of Clonallon, county Derry. The marriage
was witnessed by S.A. Richards and J.H. Walker. Samuel is recorded as a
bachelor, of full age, a manager of a bank, of Wexford, the son of William
Johnston, a collector of customs. Marianne is recorded as a spinster, of
full age, of Ounaverra, Ardamine, the daughter of John Goddard Richards,
gentleman and Deputy Lieutenant of county Wexford.
Samuel was manager of the
Wexford branch of the Provincial Bank of Ireland (1850, 1871). In 1899, he
is listed as a J.P. for county Wexford.
2 April 1883, in Brookville, county
Wexford, Ireland, aged 70
Belfast Newsletter Thursday, 5 April, 1883
Deaths.
JOHNSON -- April 2, at Brookville, Wexford, Samuel Johnson, Esq., J.P.,
aged 71 years.
 |
|
Headstone of Samuel Johnson in St John the
Apostle graveyard, Ardamine, county Wexford
|
St
John the Apostle graveyard, Ardamine, county Wexford, Ireland. Samuel's
headstone reads:
In
memory of
Samuel Johnson
OF Brookville,
Wexford
WHO DIED 2nd
APRIL 1883
AGED 70 YEARS.
Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life:
and i will dwell in the house of
the lord for ever.
William Ward Johnson
September 1855, in Ireland
Samuel Johnson
Marianne
(Richards)
Johnson
School teacher
8 May 1904
Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Clarence
Volume p284 by Melville Henry Massue Ruvigny et Raineval
(1994) lists William as having lived in Hawarden, Iowa, United States.
 |
|
Gravestone of William Ward Johnson in
Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton, Iowa
|
Pleasant Hill cemetery, Ireton,
Sioux county, Iowa, United States. The grave is located south of the E-W
entrance roads, row 27 west of Cty Road K30.
1900:
Eagle
township, Sioux county, Iowa
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