Sterling Johnson
Photo taken: abt. 1943
Photo found: Appalachian Antiques - Berkeley Springs, WV
Status: looking for family
One would think that with a name like Sterling, it wouldn't be too difficult to find who you were looking for.
Well, think again.
Turns out there were a lot of Sterling Johnsons living in the United States, all over the country, before WWII. How was I ever going to decipher which of these Sterlings was the Sterling in our photo?
The Sterling Johnson living in Arkansas was born in 1938 - much too young. The one in Texas was born in 1901 - a little too old to be our Sterling, who looks to be no older than a teen in the photo. What about the Sterling from North Carolina? He was born in 1928...but North Carolina seems a little too far considering all our other subjects were from South Dakota.
I wondered...if I narrowed down the search results to only Sterling Johnsons residing in South Dakota, could I really be that lucky? South Dakota was, ostensibly, the link between all our subjects so far: Roy Aspen, Ray Dillavou, and Raymond Von Wald.
Turns out I was more than lucky: my hunch was on the nose. The first record result that came back from FamilySearch was a Sterling Johnson, born 1925, living in Lead, SD.
Now, if you're new here, you might not get why Lead is such a special place. Let me inform you. Our first subject, Roy Aspen, was from Terraville, now a ghost town destroyed for mining but what was once a rural area just outside of Lead. Our second subject, Ray Dillavou, though born in Nebraska, eventually took up a job at the Homestake Mining Company, located in Lead. And our third subject? Raymond Von Wald? Well he hailed directly from Lead as well.
So there you have it. It would appear we found the correct Sterling Johnson.
Sterling was born in 1925 to Albert and Hilda Johnson. Albert was employed at the gold mine, just as everyone else in Lead appeared to be. Roy Aspen's father was employed there, Raymond Von Wald took up a job there, was there anyone in Lead who wasn't somehow connected to Homestake Mining?
Sterling enlisted in the Navy in the early 1940s - by 1943 he had completed his 16 weeks of training in Farragut, ID has the below Newspapers.com clipping indicates:
What is particularly great about this clipping is that it mentions his training as taking place in Farragut, ID - the same town where Sterling was photographed.
Sterling served on the USS Dixie...
and served out his Navy service in the South Pacific:
Thanks to Sterling, we also have a fairly good idea of what the lead up to the nuclear tests in Bikini Atoll were like:
Sterling married Marlys McKay in a double wedding in March 1948 and their first child was born in 1949. It would appear they moved the family to Cheyenne, WY for some time. Sterling died sometime before 2014.
Photo found: Appalachian Antiques - Berkeley Springs, WV
Status: looking for family
One would think that with a name like Sterling, it wouldn't be too difficult to find who you were looking for.
Well, think again.
Turns out there were a lot of Sterling Johnsons living in the United States, all over the country, before WWII. How was I ever going to decipher which of these Sterlings was the Sterling in our photo?
The Sterling Johnson living in Arkansas was born in 1938 - much too young. The one in Texas was born in 1901 - a little too old to be our Sterling, who looks to be no older than a teen in the photo. What about the Sterling from North Carolina? He was born in 1928...but North Carolina seems a little too far considering all our other subjects were from South Dakota.
I wondered...if I narrowed down the search results to only Sterling Johnsons residing in South Dakota, could I really be that lucky? South Dakota was, ostensibly, the link between all our subjects so far: Roy Aspen, Ray Dillavou, and Raymond Von Wald.
Turns out I was more than lucky: my hunch was on the nose. The first record result that came back from FamilySearch was a Sterling Johnson, born 1925, living in Lead, SD.
Now, if you're new here, you might not get why Lead is such a special place. Let me inform you. Our first subject, Roy Aspen, was from Terraville, now a ghost town destroyed for mining but what was once a rural area just outside of Lead. Our second subject, Ray Dillavou, though born in Nebraska, eventually took up a job at the Homestake Mining Company, located in Lead. And our third subject? Raymond Von Wald? Well he hailed directly from Lead as well.
So there you have it. It would appear we found the correct Sterling Johnson.
Sterling was born in 1925 to Albert and Hilda Johnson. Albert was employed at the gold mine, just as everyone else in Lead appeared to be. Roy Aspen's father was employed there, Raymond Von Wald took up a job there, was there anyone in Lead who wasn't somehow connected to Homestake Mining?
Sterling enlisted in the Navy in the early 1940s - by 1943 he had completed his 16 weeks of training in Farragut, ID has the below Newspapers.com clipping indicates:
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| Lead Daily Call, 18 December 1943 |
Sterling served on the USS Dixie...
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| Lead Daily Call, 23 January 1946 |
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| Lead Daily Call, 9 April 1946 |
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| Lead Daily Call, 29 June 1946 |
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