Have YOU worried about this, too? ☺

Evidently the homesteader who sold his claim to Joseph JANSON was named J. JOHNSON.  This map is the 1907 plat of Buckman township, and the land is still labeled with that name. There was a time in the 1920s when the farm was owned/labeled "J. Brandl", but otherwise, 'Johnson' seemed to persist. 
I've wondered alot whether ownership actually was that iffy. Grandpa Janson mentioned major ups and downs during his own tenure--was he really that close to loosing it, so often? 

Well, not necessarily.  Here's the well restored 1895 Minnesota census, enumerated by someone who didn't seem to care about correctly spelled names.  The JANSON family is spelled Johnson, see?  Hm, did Joseph say it that way?  If Joe and John were pronounced CHOE and CHON, then you'd think Janson would be pronounced CHANT-SON...?  
However, in those years, if the census taker came around when you weren't handy, a neighbor could give the info, and often did, I think.  You were accounted for, even if it was wrong.

It's just something to keep in mind when we look at plat maps, ya know?

Leaving Antwerp in February, 1883

Here's the family story about how Josef and Johannes Janson and their families left Europe:
Mom said they packed up and left by night, secretly loading their stuff and kids into rowboats on the river.  I always assumed "the river" was the Rhine, like we'd mean the Mississippi, but looking at the map of that area, there's a tributary to the Rhine right from Dielheim.  Wow--was that river really deep and wide enough to float get-away boats?
Anyway, the Rhine seems to meander all over, but eventually leads to the ports in Rotterdam and Antwerp in a whole different country, Holland.  Mom said they were "safe from pursuit" there, and could leave on the next ship out.  That ship turned out to be the Zeeland, a Red Star Line ship (last post, right!)

So this week, Larry found a pdf containing places in Belgium, the US, and Holland where you can write to find info about ancestors who left on Red Star ships. However, what really interested us were the photos sprinkled thru the brochure: 

The Red Star Line building, evidently at the port in Antwerp.

Waiting to go.
Judging by the women's clothing, this was a good 40 years
after  the Jansons left, but possibly from the same building?

 "Everything for passengers is done free of charge in this building"
says the sign (in 5 languages).  These were luggage disinfecting machines...
but I think they were not even thought of when our folks left.
These pics seem to be from well after 1900.

The most interesting photo, I think, is this pic showing passengers filing on board.
The words under the pic are the only explanation given, 
but the walkway in the foreground vs. the line of people farther down the quay 
speaks volumes.
 
And, damn, that's one SMALL ship.

The ship they rode in on...

(A title stolen directly from Larry☺ who also found this picture--surprise!)


Our Jansons came here on a ship called the ZEELAND.  It was a Belgium ship when they sailed, but here it says Norway.  lol...what did I miss?
Anyway, Larry's been trying to find an image of it for ages, and finally succeeded.  Just LOOK how small that deck is--I believe there were over 800 passengers on board.  Whew.

(Right, any nationality could sail on any ship as long as you had the cash, huh?)

A report card from 1915-1916

A legend in our family is the story about mom going to High School in Buckman.  She said the nuns only taught freshman and sophomore classes, and only in alternate years, so she was a sophomore first and a freshman second.  That would have been 1931-32 and 1932-33. (Mom finished HS in St Cloud, at Cathedral, while she worked for board and room with a local family).


Irene Janson, mom's cousin three-times-removed, attended St Michaels Parochial School (1st year) in 1915-16 when she was 14, about the year this photo was taken...

Sr Waltrudis seems to have been a tough marker--but then, just look at the list of subjects taught, beside the fact that report cards came out monthly--whew.

I've left these two scans large so you can examine them better when you click the pic.  Oh, and don't miss the didactic missive "TO PARENTS".  Evidently the nuns knew best how to raise good Catholic kids.

The other Janson family in Buckman

If you're from Buckman and remember when my ex-husband and I owned Zenner's Store, you'll recall that Irene and Robert Janson helped out there quite a bit.  Their dad was "the other" Joseph Janson, the blacksmith, and their mom was Mary Poster.  Irene and Robert had a brother, Otto, a cashier at the bank in town, who married Philomine Theis.  (That's all I know about Otto, except that he and Philomine lived in Minneapolis in 1965, according to her sister's obituary).

Anyway, back to Zenner's store.  I left the marriage, the store and Buckman in June of 1974, but Andre' stayed on with even more help from Robert and Irene.  

Robert died in 1978, and when Andre finally closed the store, he was the nearest thing to family Irene had.  As she got older, Andre' and his wife Sue graciously provided a home for her with them.

When she died in October 1993 she was buried next to Robert in St Michaels Cemetery in Buckman.  Her box of photos and mementos has been sitting in a closet of Andre's house ever since, waiting for someone who wanted them. 

Now, 18 years later, I realized they could be here, on the blog.  Andre' brought them along on a trip to St Cloud, and here they are--too many for one post, but let's start with her family of origin, ok?

If you know this part, just skip it... ☺

Two cousins came to America with their families in 1883.  They were Joseph Janson and Johannes Janson.  (Joseph was my great grandfather).

Johannes was Irene's grandfather.  His son Joseph was Irene's dad, or "Joe Janson, the blacksmith" in Buckman.  Here he is on the left, back row.

The Johannes and Mary (Sauer) Janson family in about 1895 before their family was complete.

Joseph Janson and Mary Poster

August, 1901

Below, the family on a summer day in about 1917:  Robert, Irene and Otto with their mom Mary and dad Joe.  The kneeling woman might have been Gramma Janson. or Gramma Poster?