Johan's First Sweetie

My grandfather, Johan Roy Tolve Johansen, is seated on the right. He is five years old. His sister Alma is next to him, the one in the dark colored dress. I love this photo. The "Bough" children were neighbors and the photographer was their father. He had his studio in Ringsted, Iowa when this photo was taken. 

My grandfather wrote in his scrapbook that the little Bough girl was his "first sweetie" - he had a crush on her! I love all the children's toys in the photo and often wonder if this was a picture taken at Christmas time. I bet his sister Alma got the doll she is holding for a Christmas gift. A lot of stories are buried in this picture and I can only imagine what they were.

Kolding Photos

Armand? Hans? Johan?

For years I've only seen this photo of the boys cropped from the Cabinet Card mount, so I never saw the name of the photographer and the location of his studio until now. With this new information, I'm not too sure who they are anymore.

I've searched for Kolding and only found a town by that name in Denmark.

• 1888 Armand was born in Denmark
• 1890 Hans was born in Michigan
• 1900 Johan, my grandfather was born in Nebraska

My grandfather never mentioned that he had been to Denmark when he was about 10 years old. No extended family member has ever mentioned that the three boys, or even the family, had traveled back to Denmark sometime around 1910. The time frame is an estimate based upon the year my grandfather was born, 1900, and he looks to be 10 years old in this photo. Are the boys who we think they are?

Johan Johansen's sister and her husband

Recently I located another family photo that was taken in Kolding. This photo is of my grandfather's aunt and uncle, the wife being the sister of Johan Johansen, my great-grandfather.

Johan Johansen had two sisters, Kjerstine and Anna Marie. I do not know which of the two sisters this photo is of and I also don't have the marriage information for either of the two sisters.

In summary, we have two photos in our family that were both taken in Kolding, Denmark. Did the Johansen-Madsen boys go back to Denmark? Which sister is in this photo? Don't know.

Headstone Monuments for Johan and Juliane Johansen

I've never been to Iowa to see where my great-grandparents, Johan and Juliane [Hansen] Johansen, were buried. These headstone photos were taken by their son, my grandfather, Johan Roy Tolve Johansen. Grandpa got interested in his genealogy during the 1960s and on a trip back to Iowa to see his half-brother Armand Madsen, he also visited the place where his parents were buried. My grandfather's sister, Alma Christine [Johansen] Jones, was also buried in this cemetery, but sadly the cemetery does not have a record of her burial.

Johan and Juliane were both born in Denmark. Juliane immigrated to the United States in 1888. Johan's immigration date is unknown. They were married in Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska in 1893. They had two children, Alma born in 1895 and my grandfather Johan born in 1900. 

My grandfather often wrote his name as,  Roy T. Johansen. Four months after Roy was born the family moved to Ringsted, Emmet Co., Iowa. They lived in Ringsted for ten years and then moved to Clinton, Clinton Co., Iowa. A year-and-a-half later, Juliane passed away. My grandfather was only 11 years old when his mother died.

Johan remarried, a lady named Mary Waldorf, and they eventually moved out west to Arizona. 

In 1940 Johan died and his body was sent back to Iowa for burial next to his first wife Juliane.