On This Day – Tom Johnston Jr (1912-1973)



My grandfather, Tom J. Johnston Jr was born one hundred years ago on 7 October 1912 in Gustine, a town in Comanche County, Texas.[1]  His parents were Thomas Newton Johnston and Nell L. Hutson.  He was the third child of five, having two older sisters, Beryl and Mildred, and two younger brothers, Hal and Luther.  His mother, Nell died 14 Jul 1919 at the young age of 31.  Tom was only six and half years old and his youngest brother, Luther, was only eighteen months old.  It must have been very hard on his father to raise five children without a mother.

He married my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster, on 15 December 1933 by the Justice of the Peace in Gustine, Comanche County, Texas.[2]  They had one child, Lela Nell Johnston.

He served a short time in the United States Navy, leaving after four months with a medical discharge due to an ulcer.[3]  The family was living in Idaho at the US Naval Training Center, Farragut, Idaho.  They spent the rest of the war in construction work on other military bases.
Tom with daughter, Lela Nell

After the war, they moved to California, living in Walnut Creek out in “the country” at Mr. Ford’s property.  I don’t know who this Mr. Ford is (time to do some research).  Tom had a business in town with his brother, Hal.  They owned a pool hall and taxi service.[4]
Tom manning the Billiards Hall

Tom loved working with his hands and with wood.  He worked as a carpenter for many businesses, his last job as carpenter for the Contra Costa Community College District at Diablo Valley College.  He liked to build furniture and some of his pieces are now cared for by his grandchildren.
Tables & lamp made by Tom

Tom died 11 July 1973 in Pleasant Hill, Contra Costa County and was buried at the Oakmont Park Cemetery in Lafayette.[5]  I was only 18 years old when he died and his was the first funeral I had been to.  Tom was a quiet man, never one of those fun grandpas.  When we were small, we called him Tom-Tom, instead of Grandpa.  When we got older, it was much easier talking to him, I think, because we were not so rambunctious and loud.  Tom gave me my first tennis racket, a wooden one with a wooden press.  I used it all though college.

Happy 100th Birthday, Tom-Tom!


[1] Bureau of Vital Statistics, Comanche County, Birth Record of Tom J Johnston Jr, Vol 8 (or 80--the eight is dark, the zero is very light), pg 553, 1941, affidavit signed by J.P. Brown, MD.
[2] State of Texas, County of Hood, Marriage Record of Tom Johnston and Pansy Louise Lancaster (certificate copy), recorded in Vol I, p 161 Marriage License Records.
[3] Naval Record for Tom Johnston Jr, 938 69 00, United States Navy, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
[4] Business Card for Johnston Bros Taxi, Photo with caption on back stating “Johnston Brothers Billiards,” author’s personal collection.
[5] State of California, Dept of Health Services, Death Certificate of Tom J. Johnston Jr (73-087531).


Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Comments

Post a Comment

All comments on this blog will be previewed by the author to prevent spammers and unkind visitors to the site. The blog is open to other-than-just family members particularly those interested in family history and genealogy.

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Blogiversary & Happy 100th Blog Post!

Image
Today is a big milestone. This is the 100th blog post I have written and the 6th anniversary of the beginning of this blog. I began the blog on January 15, 2011, through a blog writing class I took at California Genealogical Society, taught by Craig Siulinski. It was something I wanted to do but wasn’t really sure what I would focus on. I finally settled on writing about my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster’s family and this was my first post . In the beginning it was hard to get started. I learned from the Geneabloggers website, that there were blogging memes I could use and I have done that off and on, especially at the beginning. But I finally learned that what worked best was to write about my discoveries as I researched my grandmother’s family. So what have I written in six years? I discovered I have only written four posts specifically about my grandmother: “Mam-ma was a Tomboy” “Fearless Females – Day 12” “Mam-ma 1913-2013” “My Grandpar
Read more

John Coor of Copiah County Made an Agreement with Joel Hoggatt

Image
This week at RootsTech 2024, FamilySearch announced a new feature that an every-word search was available for U.S. deeds and probates. It is still in the trial mode and can be found at https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/ . This is the search screen. It clearly states it is for US land and probate records and Mexico notary records. You can do a keyword search or if you click on the “more options” you can add a name. My Find I immediately gave it a try and searched first for records of the COOR family using the keyword search. Up first came deeds from Wayne County, North Carolina.  At the top, you can filter using record year, record type, record place, and collection. For the past few days, I have mainly filtered by record place. I filtered down to Mississippi. You can even filter to the county. The first entry was a document I had not seen before. It was an 1826 agreement between John Coor and Joel Hoggatt to build a set of grist and sawmills. John Coor is my 4x-great-grandfath
Read more

Using the Attendees at Lela Ann (Loveless) Lancaster’s Funeral to Discover Residences

Image
Lela Ann Lancaster, my maternal great-grandmother, died on 17 May 1951. [1] She had died in Wichita Falls, Texas, at the state hospital. The doctor’s handwriting is nearly illegible so the cause of death is difficult to determine. She was conflicted with Parkinson’s Disease which probably contributed to her death. Her funeral was three days later. [2] Lela Ann (left) with Warren, daughter Pansy, granddaughter Lela Nell, and son Wayne, c. 1935 Obituary Tells Story of Life Two obituaries were published on the same day in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune on two different pages. One gave information about her life and the funeral, and the other was about who attended her funeral. The transcription of the first is here: "Mrs. Warren G. Lancaster"    Funeral services for Mrs. Warren G. Lancaster, 55, who died at 4:30 a.m. Thursday at a Wichita Falls Hospital, were at 3 p.m. Sunday at the First Baptist Church with the Rev. Felix Gresham and the Rev. Ernest Rippetoe officiating
Read more