The Johnson Family
By Edna Johnson Cotton

George Johnson Sr. was born in 1843 in Tronjheim, Norway, where he worked his farm, which in that country is referred to as a 'Gorin'. It is an old tradition in Norway to name your farm something different than the family name, so George's called his Gorin the 'Spillum Gorin.' George used Spillum Gorin as his last name until shortly after arriving in the Little Prickly Pear Valley.

Amma Kolden who later became Mrs. George Johnson Sr., was born in Stavanger, Norway. Both she and George Sr. came to America between 1875 and 1880 and were married in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. they lived and worked in LaCrossse until about 1901, at which time they moved to the LIttle Prickly Pear Valley. George's brother, Conrad, had come to the valley some years before and encouraged them to move to Montana.

George and Anna had seven children: Alfred, Torvall, Lena, Jenny, George, Agnes, and Carl--four of whom died at early ages--Alfred, Torvall, Lena and Jenny. Agnes and Carl passed away a few years prior to George. George Sr. passed away in 1928, and Anna, who later had gone to live with her daughter, Agnes, in Townsend, passed away in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

George E. Johnson, Jr. was born August 27, 1888, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and died July 9, 1969. Gertrude M. Pearce was born August 8, 1893, in Marysville to John and Mary Pearce, grey up in Bald Butte, and passed away April 19, 1933. George Johnson married Gertyrude pearce on June 14, 1910, and had three children: edwin who was born June 14, 1912, currently resides in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Rose; Helen, who was born March 4, 1916, married Walter Moser of Butte, where she remained until her death in March of 1982; and Edna, who currently resides in Helena was born December 20, 1924, and married Roger Cotton, who passed away in September of 1966. Edwin, Helen, and Edna all attended grade school at the Little Prickly Pear School.

John and Mary Pearce were born in Cromwell, England. John signed up for two years as a mine superintendent in Durbin, South Africa, in order to earn enough money for them to come to America. the year or reason why they moved to the Marysville/Bald Butte area is unknown.

Nestled in the Little Prickly Pear Valley in an area known as the "Heart of the Hills" is the 360 acre Johnson Ranch which was originally owned by William Floyd, who sold it to John in Mary Pearce in about 1906. When George Johnson, Jr. married Gertrude Pearce, they were given the ranch by John and Mary Pearce. The Johnson ranch was sold to Henry and Violet Dueringer in the 1940s, and they sold it to John Vincent, who currently resides there.

The work that went into making this ranch productive was accomplished by the use of a team of horses to pull whatever machinery was necessary and long, hard hours by George, Gertrude, and their family. the ranch proveded hay, oats, beef, horses, chickens, sheep, hogs, potatoes, and garden products, many of which were sold for living expenses while the rest was used for food for the family. When fall approached, the root cellar was stocked with fresh vegetables and canned food to last until the following year. George and Gertrude built a log home on their ranch for his parents, who lived there for many years.

Members of the Johnson family posed informally in 1948. They are, left to right: Edwin and Rose Johnson, George Johnson, Jr., Helen Johnson Moser and her husband Walter, and Edna Johnson Cotton and her husband Roger.