William JOHNSON Wanda Louise JOHNSON Living STEVENS Hazel JOHNSONWIFE Pearl May BOND Mini tree diagram
Ridgely Prentice JOHNSON

Ridgely Prentice JOHNSON1,8,8,2,3,9,8,4,5,6,10,7

31st Jul 19091,2,3,4,5,6,7 - Dec 19818,3

Life History

31st Jul 1909

Born in Kinta, Haskell, Oklahoma.1,2,3,4,5,6,7

29th Jun 1930

Birth of daughter Wanda Louise JOHNSON in Stigler, Haskell, Oklahoma.10

5th Nov 1930

Death of daughter Wanda Louise JOHNSON in Stigler, Haskell Oklahoma

16th Oct 1940

Resident When Prentice registered for the WWII draft, he reported he was living at Kinta, where he was born, but his mother, reported as his closest relative, was living in Banning, Riversdie County, California. He later moved to California also & died in Pomona. in Kinta, Haskell, Oklahoma.2

Dec 1981

Died in Los Angeles County, California.8,3

Other facts

 

Married Living STEVENS

 

Married Hazel JOHNSONWIFE

Notes

  • 1910 Federal Census, Haskell County, Oklahoma, 27 April, Kinta, District 84, page 22A, Hse #121, Fam #131
    Bond, Ridgely Head M W 58 [b abt 1852] Marriage 2 Married 22 yrs MD MD MD White Farmer Owns
    Bond, Siny Wife F Ind 45 [b abt 1865] Marriage 2 Married 22 yrs 8 child/8 living Choctaw/OK Chickasaw/MS Choctaw/OK 1/2 choctaw/1/2 white English mother tongue
    Johnson, May Dau F Ind 17 [b abt 1892] Widow 1 child/1 living Choctaw/OK White/MD Choctaw/OK 1/4 Choctaw/1/4 White English mother tongue
    Johnson [Bond], Bennett F Son M Ind 15 [b abt 1895] Single Choctaw/OK White/MD Choctaw/OK 1/4 Choctaw/3/4 White English mother tongue
    Johnson [Bond], Wallace Son M Ind 12 [b abt 1898] Single Choctaw/OK White/MD Choctaw/OK 1/4 Choctaw/3/4 White  English Mother Tongue
    Johnson [Bond], Ridgely E Son M Ind 7 [b abt 1903] Single Choctaw/OK White/MD Choctaw/OK 1/4 Choctaw/3/4 White  English Mother Tongue
    Johnson [Bond], Margaret Dau F Ind 5mos [b abt Sept 1909] Single Choctaw/OK White/MD Choctaw/OK 1/4 Choctaw/3/4 White  English Mother Tongue
    Trahern, Douglas Stepson M Ind 13 [b abt 1897] Single Choctaw/OK White/MD (should be OK, father is Choctaw) Choctaw/OK 1/2 Choctaw/1/2 White  English Mother Tongue
    Johnson, Ridgely P Grandson M Ind 3mos [b abt Jan 1910] Single Choctaw/OK White/OK Choctaw/OK 1/8 Choctaw/7/8 White  English Mother Tongue

    "My great grandma Pearl and my grandpa Prentice moved here to California.  Prentice met my grandma and they married and divorced, they had 4 kids."
    --  Jenifer Johnson, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 9 May 2020

    Ridgely P (Prentice) Johnson was reported as 3 months old at the time of the 1910 census.  That should make his brth some time in January.  But the date of birth he reported to Selective Service for the WWII draft was 31 July 1909!  Notice that his mother Pearl May (May in this census) was reported as a widow.  Assuming the census is correct in reporting her status as widow, Prentice's father could have died any time from his conception, about November 1908.

    Oklahoma, World War II Draft Registration Cards,1940-1945
    Printice Rigley Johnson
    Birth 31 Jul 1909 Kinta, Oklahoma
    Residence Kinta, Haskell County, Oklahoma, United States
    Nearest Relative Pearl Rogers, Mother, 440 North Hardgrave, Banning, Riverside County, California
    Occupation None
    (back)
    6' 1" 165 Brown Eyes, Brown Hair, Dark Complexion
    Registration 16 October 1940 Stigler, Haskell County, Oklahoma, United States
    Signed as name is entered here.  The surname is spelled as Ridgely in his father's records.
    Repository FamilySearch.org

    May's son wa reported under the name of Prentice in 1920.  His age of 10 matches the earlier report and his later WWII draft regisraton above for birth in 1909.

    1920 Federal Census, Haskell County, Oklahoma, 3 February, Center, District 28, page 1B, Hse #14, Fam #16
    Schuster, John H Head  Owns M W 36 Married AR NY Austria-Father's mother tongue German Farmer
    Schuster, May Wife M W 27 Married OK MD OK
    Johnson, Prentice Stepson M W 10 Single OK OK OK [b abt 1909]
    Johnson [Phipps], Phipps Sep-dau F W 6 Single OK IL OK [b abt 1913]
    Schuster, Frank Son MM W 1yr10mos Single OK OK OK

    There was a very short marriage to Lillie May Stevens, producing one child.  His daughter's Find a Grave memorial provides some details.

    Wanda Louise Johnson
    BIRTH 29 Jun 1930 Stigler, Haskell County, Oklahoma, USA
    DEATH 5 Nov 1930 (aged 4 months) Stigler, Haskell County, Oklahoma, USA
    BURIAL Stigler Cemetery, Stigler, Haskell County, Oklahoma, USA
    Mother LILLIE MAY STEVENS 1914-1990
    Father RIDGELY PRENTICE JOHNSON 1909-1981
    Parents married in 1929. But in 1930 federal census Lillie is living at home with her parents (JAMES J. STEVENS & FANNIE WILLINGHAM STEVENS)
    Created by Nancy T 6 Jul 2015
    --  Find a Grave Memorial 148769971, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148769971

    The FAG memorial led to the folloing marriage record.

    Oklahoma, County Marriage Records, 1890-1995
    Prentice Johnson, age 21
    Lilile Mae Stenvens, age 19
    Both of Stigler, Haskell County, Oklahoma
    License issued 2 August 1929 Stigler, Haskell County, Oklahoma
    Marriage 2 August 1929 Stigler, Haskell County, Oklahoma
    Ceremony by L R Crumb, Freewill Baptist Minister
    Witnesses Miss Amandy Cumming and Mr Tony Cumming, both of Kinta, Haskell County
    Recorded 10 August Haskell County Marriage Book, p 154

    But in 1930, at age 20, Ridgely was reported as single, in his mother's and stepfather's home.  The marriage was in August 1929, the census was in April 1930.  The daughter Wanda was born in June 1930.  So why was Prentice (Ridgely) reported as Single in the Schuster household in 1930?  Note that the Find a Grave memorial reports that Lillie was also in the home of her parents for the 1930 enumeration.  So they separated even before the birth of their daughter, by April census time at the latest.

    Note that the FAG memorial reprots Prentice as Ridgely Prentice Johnson.  In 1930 Ridgely P Johnson was again enumerated under that name as in 1910, rather than Prentice.  Some records report him simply as Prentice Johsnson, including his California death record.  His granddaughter Jenifer Johnson refers to him as Prentice.

    1930 Federal Census, Haskell County, Oklahoma, 10 April, Center, District 31-4, page 3A, Hse #47, Fam #48
    Schuster, John H Head Rents $8 Has Radio M W 45  First married at 32  OK Austria NY (parents oppostie of the 1920 report) Coal Miner
    Schuster, May Wife  F Ind 37  First married at 23  OK Mixed Choctaw [1896 Choctaw record and roll show her father was Intermarried White]
    Schuster, Frank O Son M Ind 12  Single OK Mixed Choctaw white]
    Schuster, Junita (Juanita?) Dau F Ind 7 Single OK Mixed Choctaw
    Schuster, Wallace B Son M Ind 5 Single OK Mixed Choctaw
    Johnson, Ridgely P Step-Son M Ind 20 Single OK Mixed Choctaw
    Phipps, Emma Step-Dau F Ind 17 Single OK Mixed Choctaw

    Note above that the 1940 draft registraton reporteed Ridgely's residence as Kinta, Oklahoma, but his mother in California as his contact.  The 1940 census actually reported him already resident in Riverside County, Callifornia for the enumeration of the census.  The census date that year was Aoril 1, so it seems the residence in July when he registered for the draft should have been Riverside County, California, not Haskell County, Oklahoma.

    The census did report that in 1935 both Prentice and his wife Hazel had been resident in Haskell County, Oklahoma.  So they must have been in the process of moving.  It appears that Prentice registered for the draft while he was back in Oklahoma, at his old address, but already had been in California and enumerated at his new address.

    1940 Federal Census, Riverside County, California, 1 May, Indio, District 33-18, Page 6A, 113 North Jackson, Rents $15
    Johnson, Prantice R [sic] Head M W 30 Married Grade 8 b Oklahoma In Rural Haskell Co OK in 1935 Farmer [b abt 1910]
    Johnson, Hazel H Wife F W 21 Married Grade 7 b Oklahoma In Rural Haskell Co OK in 1935 [b abt 1919]

    We don't have any information on the time of Prentice's marriage to Hazel.  His granddaughter mentions two marriages, but the language is ambiguous, saying after his first mariage, he "remarried Hazel."

    "My great grandma Pearl and my grandpa Prentice moved here to California.  Prentice met my grandma and they married and divorced, they had 4 kids.  One of them my dad, my grandpa remarried Hazel and had kids."
    --  Jenifer Johnson, email to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 9 May 2020

    The language here sounds like it could mean he married Hazel for the second itme.  But he has been single in every censusee until 1940.  That sentence reports that both he and Hazel lived in the Rurla Haskell County, Oklahoma.  It does not, however, confirm for us whether they were already married before 1935, or simply lied in the same county.

    Jenifer also says that Prentice had four children with his first wife.  But it is not clear when that could have happened, given the report from his daughrter Wanda's FAG memorial above that Prentice and Lillie maried only in 1929.  Becuse Prentice was in his parents' home and reported as sinlge in 1930.  And it was no long before Prentice and Hazel were in California.

    United States Social Security Death Index
    Prentice Johnson
    Age 72
    Birth Date 31 Jul 1909
    Last Place of Residence Pomona, Los Angeles, California
    Death Dec 1981 California

    California Death Index, 1940-1997
    Prentice Ridgley Johnson
    Death 30 Dec 1981 Los Angeles, California, United States
    Birth 31 Jul 1909 Oklahoma
    Mother's Name Bond

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