During a visit back home, not long after I took up hickory golf, my father reminded me that his grandfather, Clarence Gustav Johnson, was quite an accomplished golfer. He opened one of the many drawers containing our family photos and produced the picture you see above. I remembered some of the stories about sand greens and golf in Minnesota, but the picture really spoke to me. I’m sure I’d seen it as a kid, but now that I was immersed in the hickory golf scene, I was enthralled … so many questions!
I was quite curious about all of this so I dove into a research exercise that would lead me to several new discoveries. Who was Clarence? Where did all of those trophies come from? What happened to the golf clubs and bag? Do I have the DNA of a champion golfer coursing through my veins? All my father could tell me was his grandfather was an immigrant from Sweden, ran a Texaco station, and later in life, was the town clerk of Appleton Minnesota.
Initial Thought – Research Golf in Minnesota
Having pursued a history major (among a few others) in college, I decided the first step was to research Minnesota golf. Shouldn’t be a lot there right? Short season, out of the way destination, nothing but farmland etc. Boy was I wrong! The first resource I came across was this fabulous treatise on Minnesota Golf – “From Fields to Fairways” by Rick Shefchik.
I immediately bought a copy and dove in … but alas … no mention of my hickory great grandfather. As a last ditch effort, I wrote the author to ask if he might have uncovered anything on Clarence in his research. To my delight, the author responded with the following:
Hi Eric,
That’s a great photo, and a nice array of trophies. I have searched the Minnesota Golf Association record books to see if I could find your great grandfather’s name in any likely competitions — State Amateur, State Senior Amateur, State Public Links, Birchmont, Resorters and Pine-to-Palm — and did not find it. (Interesting — to me, anyway — I did notice for the first time that Jimmy Johnston’s father, Clarence Johnston, made it to the semi-finals of the 1909 State Amateur at Northland; Clarence Johnston was also one of Minnesota’s most prominent architects. But that’s off-topic for your purposes — just kind of a coincidence.)
In your great-grandfather’s day, local clubs — both public and private — held numerous competitions, with trophies and loving cups the usual prizes for winners. Several of the trophies in your photo have plates that indicate they were traveling trophies, engraved with the names of each winner from one year to the next. My suggestion would be to check with the golf clubs near your great grandfather’s home to see if they have records of their club champions, invitational or shortstop winners — or possibly the trophies themselves, which might have your great-grandfather’s name on them.
Appleton has a nine-hole course that was established in 1925; there are also a number of courses not far from Appleton, including Eagle Creek in Willmar (established in 1931), Benson (1925), Montevideo (1923, now called The Crossings), Madison (1928) and Graceville (1917). You might also try archival searches in local newspapers from that area, if the golf courses themselves do not keep records — which often, unfortunately, is the case. One other option, and it’s a long shot, would be to contact the Minnesota Golf Association/Minnesota PGA Hall of Fame at Bunker Hills to see if they have historic records of local and regional competitions, or collections of trophies.
Your great grandfather was clearly an accomplished player, and somewhere his achievements must have been noted. I hope I’ve helped you narrow down your search a bit. If you find anything, please let me know, and if you think of any other way I can help, just ask.
Rick Shefchik
Next Step – Review Family Documents
Having hit a dead end, I started thinking of other options. By this point, my grandmother had passed away so I couldn’t ask her directly about her father-in-law. However, I remembered that she had documented some of the family history … and … 22 years ago, I asked her to send me what she had. This was during a nostalgic period after the birth of our first son and the pregnant pause before the birth of our second. I sifted through the artifacts we’d accumulated over the past 25 years and eventually found the papers I remembered she had sent me.
9/2/96
Dear Eric,
Hope you can make some sense from all this. It’s really pretty jumbled. The typewritten sheets are the way my sister Grace put together information she got from Aunt Sadie – my mother’s youngest sister – Sarah Margaret Brooks Rolen.
I have always thought I’d try to make a real family tree from it but so far haven’t done anything. Perhaps you can. And now with all the computer technology it should be easier some day.
If I run across anything else I think you might be interested in I’ll send it on. Your Uncle Eric is the only other family member who is interested.
Hope Ali is feeling better. Give her my love and a big hug for Quinn too.
Love you all
Grandma
Genealogy can be Full of Surprises
There was one document, in that special cache, that referenced my great grandfather, his obituary. It was a photocopy of a newspaper article from an unknown publication dated 1958. Also on the document were two notes: one, added by typewriter and another, handwritten by my grandmother. The typewritten note revealed a family detail I had never heard before – my grandfather was adopted!
Typed Note:
Warren Linne Johnson was adopted by Clarence G. Johnson and Katherine Tyler Johnson at the time of birth. Clarence G. Johnson was born August 29, 1879 in Kalmar, Sweden. There is no info on Katherine Tyler Johnson who died in 1926.
Handwritten Note:
Eric, 9/1/96 –
Apparently the obit was given to the paper by the second wife – Emma. No mention made of first wife Katherine Tyler Johnson who died in 1926. She was the only mother your grandfather knew.
Grandma
This information, and the incessant ancestry.com commercials, led me to dig deeper into the family genealogy. The resource I went with was FamilySearch.org. They are a free service attached to the Mormon church. I really like the web application they have developed and it truly is free and full featured. More to say on the genealogy rabbit hole I went down in a future miscellaneous post.
In Conclusion …
So, now I know. I don’t have the DNA of a champion golfer coursing through my veins nor do I have a table full of golf trophies like my great-hickory-grandfather. What I do have is another layer of questions that will keep me occupied for quite some time. If Clarence hadn’t adopted my grandfather I wouldn’t be here. Or, at the very least I wouldn’t be who I am. Funny how a recently adopted avocation led me down this path of discovery.