CLAUD IVERSON JOHNSON

Born May 31, 1876 and was the 1st child of William Harrison Johnson and Nancy Wood

Claud married Daisy Alma Morse at the Congregational Church parsonage in Dennison, Texas, on 12 October 1899. Daisy was the daughter of Edward and Rose Greenwood Morse. Edward was a school master in Dennison.

Thelma Johnson Haley said Claud served as a Texas Ranger for a short while. His must have been a temporary appointment because no records are available in his name, according to the historian of the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco. Claud was the Under‑Sheriff and later Sheriff of Altus, Oklahoma, a position he held for a long time. According to the newspaper obituary of Daisy, Claud was once mayor of Duke, Oklahoma, where he owned a business until the family moved to Altus in 1918. From photos furnished by Jolene Hill Doering, in 1913 Claud owned a store selling Coal, Grain, and Ice. He also had owned a smaller feed store earlier.

Pearson related the story that once when Ozzie and another relative were visiting, there was a robbery. Since Ozzie and the cousin were "strangers" in town, they were suspected as the criminals by some of the townspeople. Claud tracked down the real criminals and returned to town with the villains in custody just in time to prevent an angry mob from lynching Ozzie and the other relative.

Claud was an avid social‑service organization joiner, which is important to a politician. According to his daughter Thelma, he was in Masons, Knights of Pythias, and Woodmen of the World, but his funeral notice mentions only I.O.O.F. and Masons. He liked reading westerns and true crime stories.

v Claud and Daisy Johnson had four children.

§ Tressie Mae Araminta was born 9 July 1899 at Denison, Texas, and married James Setliff on 11 July 1917, and they had one daughter, Virginia. After a long fight with severe diabetes, Tressie died of uterine cancer in Tulare, California on 5 Oct 1968. Tressie was a good cook and a caring person loved by all who knew her.

§ Ervin Lesley Johnson, born 11 Nov 1903 at Louis, Oklahoma, married Gladys Hardwick at Altus, Oklahoma They had two sons:

· Billy Joe, born about 1925, and Jack, born about 1930.

· Ervin died 3 Oct 1985 at Calvin, Oklahoma.

· Ovid Raymond Johnson was born 30 Aug 1905 at Louis, Oklahoma, and married three times: the first was named Arvella (who insisted on being called Aquilla),

· the second unknown for a brief marriage, and the third named Jessie Eleanora Thorte, whom he married 15 Aug 1937. By Eleanora, Ovid had four boys all of whom live in Tipton, California.

¨ Jimmy,

¨ Donny,

¨ Charles,

· Jerry

§ Thelma Necolena Rosilee "Tootsie" Johnson was born 17 June 1907 (the year Oklahoma became a state) at Louis, Oklahoma. Her middle names supposedly are after her grandmother's Cherokee names. Kids in school made fun of her long name so she shortened it to Thelma Lee. She first married Walter Leroy Johnson on 25 September 1923 and their child Wilda Laverne was born 30 August 1924 at Altus, Oklahoma. They were divorced and Thelma next married Andrew Joseph Haley by whom she had Thelma Katherine on 14 February 1927 at Tulsa, Oklahoma, and a boy who was born a "blue baby" and lived only a very short time. Andrew adopted Wilda and she took his last name.

According to Wilda, Thelma said Daisy was related to Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph, and to Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steam engine.

When Tressie was a baby, the family lived in a house in with a breezeway separating part of the house. The family had a collie dog who "babysat" Tressie. He would lie down in front of Tressie to keep her from crawling off the end of the breezeway. When he did this, Tressie would turn around and crawl toward the opposite end of the breezeway. The dog would watch her until just before she reached the other end, then he would get up and go lay down in front of her again. Pearson and Guice sometimes had to babysit Tressie inside the house. Pearson said they would stay with her for a while, but would get tired of it and pinch her so she would cry. When Tressie cried, one of the adults would come take over and the boys could go outside to play.

Ø Claud's and Daisy's grandchildren, etc.:

o Virginia Setliff married Gene Winsett and their three children are

§ Pam, Pam is divorced from Bob Dennis and works as a beautician in Visalia, California. She lives in Tulare, California, and has two children, Pammi and Rusty.

§ Ginger, Ginger is married to Edward Cox, whom she met while a student at Lubbock Christian University. They live in Armarillo, Texas, with their sons.

§ Gene, Jr. is married to Denise and they now own the home in Tulare which once belonged to his parents. Gene, Jr., works at Keller and Wigley, an engineering firm.

§

Wilda Johnson Haley married James Eugene Quigly Campbell on 4 December 1942 while Wilda worked in the shipping/receiving office at Douglas Aircraft and Gene worked as a draftsman at Shell Oil Co. When Gene went into the Air Force in September 1943, Wilda took a leave of absence for about nine months to travel with him. He was in basic training in San Antonio, Texas, and Wichita, Kansas. They lived in Oklahoma City, OK; Garden City, KS; Victoria, TX; Richmond, VA; Hartford, CT; and Providence, RI. Gene was a fighter pilot with commission as 2nd Lt. After the war, he went to the University of Tulsa to get his degree as Geophysical Engineer while continuing to serve as a Flight Leader in the National Guard. He died when he was a junior there. Wilda and Gene Campbell had two children. (1) Rebecca Lee Campbell born 17 August 1946 who married on 26 August 1967 to David Charles Bouchard, who was born 24 August 1946. Becky is a school librarian in Coppell TX and Dave is an Environmental Manager for Central Southwest in Dallas. Dave and Becky have two children. Kathryn Elizabeth Bouchard was born 25 June 1971 and graduated from the University of Oklahoma School of Nursing in May 1994. She is married Dean Miller, Ph.D. (Physics) on 18 August 1994 in Oklahoma City. Dean works with a computer company in Dallas and Katie is a nurse in the trauma unit of Parkland Hospital in Dallas. David Cory Bouchard was born 30 June 1974, was valedictorian of his high school, selected as one of the top 100 for academics by Senator David Boren, made straight A's all through school, was on of 75 National Merit Award recipients in the U.S. from Avon, and received a five-year scholarship. On 3 August 1995 David married his high school sweetheart Christine McGuinty and they both attend Oklahoma State University in Stillwater OK from which they will graduate in 1997. (2) Michael Eugene Campbell was born 15 June 1948 at Tulsa. He married Tabetha Jane Hill 5 July 1969 and their daughter Jennifer Jane married Mike, who worked at Honeywell Protection. Jenny has a degree in Elementary Education but works as a nanny for two lawyers.

After Gene's death, Wilda married Thompson Snyder, who had been born in Lexington, Kentucky, on 6 October 1924. Tom served as a radio man on a PT boat in World War II and returned to the University of Kentucky after the war. He and three of his friends came to Spartan Aeronautics School in Tulsa, from which he graduated. While in Tulsa, he and Wilda met when he attended Wilda's church. Their first date was on Wilda's 25th birthday (30 August 1949) and they married a year later on 11 August 1950. Tom Snyder was in sales and sales management most of his life. He worked for Westinghouse and Norge in St. Louis and Milwaukee, and at the time of his death was Senior Salesman for Honeywell Protection Services in Tulsa. Tom and Wilda Snyder had three children. (1) Laura Ann Snyder born 4 September 1953 who married Michael Ussery from England whom she divorced after seven years. Their child Anna Lea born 18 May 1987. Laura married Bob Warner on 5 October 1995 who was born 3 September 1953. Bob has three children who live with their mother and visit Bob and Laura alternate weekends. Laura works in the mail room of Central Southwest in Tulsa and Bob is with Tayloe Paper. (2) Janice Lynn Snyder was born in Tulsa on 24 May 1959 and married Wayne Lee Hedman on 3 August 1985. Wayne was born 16 August 1959 and is a controller for a waste management company in Pheonix, AZ. Janice is a manager for Avon and does a lot of work with church and school, and she and Wayne sing. Their three children are Miles Lee Hedman born 18 May 1986 in Tulsa, Sarah Lynn Hedman born 5 June 1988 in Tulsa, and Emily Faith Hedman born 16 February 1994 in Pheonix. (3) Richard Thompson Snyder was born 4 July 1967 at Kirkwood MO. He is a licensed cosmotologist and works for a photography lab. He in the Founders Chorus, active in the singles department of First Baptist Church, loves to play piano and organ, and is an avid reader.

Thelma Katherine Haley married Eugene Clark and they have five boys: *(see note)(1) John Hugh who married Shirley in October 1983 and they have a daughter Amy Katherine, (2) David Eugene, (3) Robert Joseph, (4) James Andrew, and (5) Thomas Matthew.

(*Note: When Carolyn Johnson Smith and her family saw John Clark in the summer of 1983, he looked like the identical twin of Carolyn's younger brother Donald Ray Johnson. Their resemblance was uncanny--even to mannerisms such as the way each wore his mustache and the way each walked.)

Thelma had Oat Cell Cancer in 1999, for which she went through radiation treatment. For a short while she thought it was in remission, but it spread to her brain. She died 20 July 2000.

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