This is an interesting but kind of sad letter sent four months after the passing of my great-grandfather P.W. Pearson. J.W. Johnson first addresses his grand-niece Edna, thanking her for a letter she had sent previously.
The Wilcox Posse – “Who are those guys?”
Did you watch “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” on PBS last night? It was pretty good. They spent quite a bit of time talking about the Pinkerton posses that chased after Butch and Sundance. Remember this dialogue from the 1969 movie? Joe LeFors was a real person, and he really did go after Butch […]
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Let’s take a break from the sadness of P.W.’s untimely death and look instead at his job for the Union Pacific Railroad. I’m not sure when exactly my great-grandfather started working for the railroads. I have a copy of a letter of reference stating that he worked for the Burlington railroad in Denver in the […]
J.W. Johnson to Clara, July 1920
Not quite three weeks after P.W. died, Clara’s Uncle Johnson sent her this letter of condolence. I have been doing a considerable amount of research lately into the Johnson family – J.W., Gustafva, and all their siblings. I have some new and interesting findings to share in the coming weeks. Stay tuned! Here’s is Uncle […]
Johnson Family to Clara Pearson, June 1920
We now come to a sequence of letters pertaining to the very sad and tragic death of P.W. Pearson. Sometime in 1919, he was diagnosed with cancer in his mouth, which later spread to his throat. The family desperately tried everything they could to save him, including mortgaging the farm to pay for his radium […]
