Charlotte Josephine Johnson Nelson Life History

Charlotte Josephine Johnson

Name on birth records is: Charlotta Josefina Jonsson

Charlotte Josephine Johnson Nelson, daughter of Johannes Johnson and Anna Gabrielson, was born 12 November 1849 at Sventop, Skaraborg, Sweden.  When Charlotte was a young girl she worked in the fields.  After the work of the day was completed she helped churn butter, knit, and weave.  Charlotte had blond hair and black eyes.  You could hardly see the pupils in her eyes.  She received her schooling in Sweden.  It is believed that the Lutheran Minister taught them in school and also taught them to speak a little bit of English.  The family was considered medium well to do and so Charlotte didn’t have to work as hard as most people.  For this she was thankful.
On June 25, 1871 she was baptized into the Church along with her parents and two sisters.  They came to Utah about 1871 and settled in Grantsville.  They came to America by steam ship so the journey wasn’t as long or tiring, although they had many hardships.  Charlotte worked for a man by the name of Pherry Decker for some time. 

Charlotte married Swanty Nelson on 23 November 1874 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah.  They made their home in Grantsville several years and the first four of their children were born there:  Alice Josephine, Swanty William, Caroline, and Annie Loretta.

The family moved to Oakley, Cassia, Idaho in 1882.  Seven children were born here:  Jacob Raymond, Clarence LeRoy, Julia May, Parley Wallace, Pherry Edgar, Estella Louisa, Elva Rachel.  They lived in a one-room log house with a dirt roof, one or two windows, and a board floor which was scrubbed frequently to keep it shining and clean.  They had a cement basement outside and a rood cellar where they kept five varieties of apples, fruits of all kinds, vegetables, milk, etc.  The table was always loaded with food and always pie and cake.  Charlotte would to go the store in Oakley, the ‘Co-op’ and buy sugar and salt and the few things they couldn’t raise by themselves.  As people would stop by their house while traveling they always received something to eat.

Charlotte Josephine Johnson Nelson

She was very particular and loved beautiful things.  She didn’t like cotton sheets as she was used to linen sheets.  (While in Sweden they made all of their sheets out of linen and she was sorry that she hadn’t brought more sheets from Sweden.)  The children had nice clothes and really were never in need of anything.  One time she made her husband a wool suit.

She liked to weave, so she got a loom and made many yards of carpet for herself and her neighbors.  She carpeted the board floors of the new home.  This saved time in scrubbing.

Charlotte also took wool at shearing time and prepared it for knitting.  She first washed and cleaned it and put it out to dry.  It would then have to be picked over to remove the sticks, straws, and burrs.  Next the wool was corked for quilts and hats.  Some would be spun into yarn on her spinning wheel and later used for knitting socks, stocking caps, and sweaters.  When the First World War was on she knitted for the soldiers.  It was once said that she knitted more than anyone else in Idaho.  She knitted over 100 items for the soldiers.

She was a very good mother and had a good sense of humor.  She always took care of the company and smoothed over any problems.  As she worked she was always humming a tine.  Swanty and Charlotte were very good managers.

She was always working in the Church and mostly in the Relief Society serving as a teacher and President for many years.  She sent a lot of money to Sweden for the genealogy work.  She always had some money in her purse and if any of her children asked why she always had money she would say, “Because, I pay my tithing.”

She was always a great hand to be making soap.  Tubs blackened over the open fire were usually seen in the back yard where they awaited an accumulation of fat and grease from cooking or pig killing.  When she had enough for a batch of soap the fire would be built and the day would be spent making soap.

They didn’t have flowers because of the animals around the farm.  They did have a beautiful garden and two orchards.  Thanksgiving Day was a big day at her home for quite a number of years even after the older children were married.  They would take their families and gather at the old home for a real Thanksgiving dinner.



Alice Josephine and Lars Peter Larson
on their wedding day.

They never were idle and Charlotte would read the Bible in her spare time, finally completing it.

When the Second Ward Chapel was built Charlotte worked with the Relief Society putting on special events to raise money for the building.  She and her good neighbor, Jane Whittle, went together and cooked suppers for the dances.  They served for three years and the people finally got their brick church house.

In 1930 her eyes began to fail her and after an operation she had a lot of trouble with infection and she soon became blind.  She still kept her cheery spirit, however, and tried to make the best of it.  She became bedfast for a year and a half before her death on 28 June 1932.  She died at the age of 82 years and 7 months.  She is buried in Oakley, Cassia, Idaho.

Rewritten by Brenda Bailey, information from Loretta Nelson Smith, May Nelson and Estella Nelson Kunz