This story of early days in the background of the Johnson family was written by Mrs. Gena Pearson, wife of James Peter Johnson, from whom she got this information.
The old Johnson farm on Section 26 in Johnson Township used to be quite a gathering place in the early years. It was homesteaded in 1884 by Christian Johnson, who with his wife Bodil Christine, five sons and one daughter moved here from Maple Valley, Wisconsin in 1883.
The first year the family lived on a rented farm near Pingree, but homesteaded the next year close to the James River. They brought cattle, horses, machinery and lumber from Wisconsin- enough lumber to build the big farmhouse, which is still used by the Myron Florhaug family, present owner of the farm. The five Johnson brothers were James Peter Johnson, Edward W. Johnson, John W. Johnson, Anton K. Johnson, Garfield F. Johnson, and the daughter Emma, who later married Julius Frederickson. A sixth son was born after the family came to North Dakota, but he lived only a few days. His father baptized him- he was given the name Young West, his name was appropriate, as his father said, "He was young and he died in the West." He was buried in the Melville, North Dakota cemetery.
All my information about the early days I have from my husband, James Peter Johnson, the oldest of the five brothers. I did not come to this country till the spring of 1903.
He related how he herded the cattle along the river that first year when he was thirteen years old and how his brother Edward hauled all the lumber over from Pingree. He was a lad eleven years old at that time and managed to haul four horse loads over the James River hills. Melville was the nearest town for many years and the boys used to take turns to walk the twelve miles to Melville every week or every other week to get the mail. Sometimes they had to carry a two-gallon can of kerosene home also. My husband also told of a trip he made to Melville one winter day to get the doctor for Mrs. Carl Norheim, their neighbor to the east. He rode a white mule and it was late on a winter day when he started from home, and there was a lot of loose snow on the ground. The wind came up and soon he could not see where he was going, but somewhere west of the river he stopped at a farm and got his bearings. He rested awhile and started out again. He had traveled a long ways he thought when he came in view of another farm light, but it turned out that he had gone in a circle and come back to the same place as before. He finally got to Melville early in the morning, roused the doctor and drove back with him with a team and sled.
In the early days people from all over the neighborhood came to the Johnson house for parties and dances and gatherings of all kinds. A lot of young people made their home there while attending the school in the schoolhouse built in 1880, just a half-mile south of the Johnson place.
A lot of butter and cheese was made on the farm and taken to Melville and exchanged for groceries, when the crops failed that was the source of income.
Christian Johnson died suddenly of a heart attack in the spring of 1889. He was buried in the Melville Cemetery.
His widow later married Albert Hansen and in her later years was known to everybody as Grandma Hansen. Grandma was a help and inspiration to everybody with whom she came in contact; in the early years she helped as a midwife and practical nurse. There is hardly a home around here where she had not been called to when babies were born and when there was illness in the homes. In her later years she lived in Kensal. She passed away in February 1932 at the age of 84 years. She is buried in the Kensal Cemetery.
When Johnson Township was organized the name was changed to Bucephalia. Bucephalia was not named after some early settler, as mentioned some other places. The school district was named Bucephalia in the early days by Christian Johnson and was named after the horse Bucephelus. There is a story in one of the early readers about the horse Bucephelus.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 185