Josephine Ryberg

Josephine Ryberg Johnson was born on January 8, 1862 in the province of Halland, Sweden. This province is on the west coast of Sweden in the southern part of the country. Her entire family came over to the United States in 1873 with the exception of her eldest brother. in Sweden the family had been quite well-to-do with a family business and even had household help. then the father drank and gambled and lost his money so he decided to come to America where "he could make a lot of money." Not knowing anything about farming they weren't successful at it. The farm they settled on was on the Clermont-Wilcox road, closer to Wilcox.
Josephine Ryberg had three brothers and three sisters in this country. John Ryberg lived in Warren, Pa. and had a large family of 8 or 9, he was next to the oldest. Next was a sister Mrs. Lindberg who lived in Sheffield, Pa. and died rather young. Following her was Mrs. Parks "from the West, a very attractive woman". Next was Josephine and her twin brother Charles, also of Sheffield. Aunt Anna was next; she married Anton Anderson and lived in Wilcox her entire life. (It is thought that Josephine was closes to this sister Annie.) Relations between the Smethport Johnson/Hull and the Wilcox Anderson cousins remained close for years. Aunt Annie had at least three sons and one daughter: Carl, Art, Alice Walters and Harry. The youngest brother of Josephine was Uncle Adolph who lived with is parents and took care of the farm. He got married when he was older.
As a young lady, Josephine Ryberg went to Smethport to work as a domestic for a couple named Ford. Their daughter married Dr. McCoy. She worked for six years before she married Charles Johnson on August 14, 1884. They first lived in what was reputed to be the oldest house in Smethport, a small home on the site of the later property of J. Alfred Johnson. They then bought the adjacent property and built a home. This home was the site of many gatherings of relatives and friends, eg. church socials, visiting ministers, etc. The church members were a homogeneous group to the extent that they were virtually all immigrants from Sweden; services were conducted in Swedish for many years. Therefore, it is natural that their social life was mainly among this group.
Josephine died on April 17, 1923. She appears in pictures to have a stern and serious look, with hair pulled back from the face. (The writer remembers remarking on this to her mother, and Vera said that to the contrary her mother had a good sense of humor. It should also be recognized that people in photographs from this ear always looked serious.)
Charles and Josephine had four children, one of whom, Anna, died in infancy.