The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 1059 

OTTO M. JOHNSON.

Otto M. Johnson, who is one of the successful young farmers of Yakima county,
was born in Edmonds, Washington, February 9, 1894, a son of Otto W. and Anna C.
(Bard) Johnson, both of whom are natives of Sweden. The father came to the
United States when seventeen years of age and established his home in St. Paul,
Minnesota. The mother was but eleven years of age when she crossed the Atlantic
to the new world and they were married in St. Paul. After living for some time
in the middle west they came to the Pacific coast, settling in Edmonds,
Washington, in 1888. The father was engaged in the shoe business there for a
short time and afterward turned his attention to shingle manufacturing, in which
business he continued actively for about eighteen years. He is now a shoe
merchant of Seattle, well known as an enterprising business man of that city.

Otto M. Johnson acquired a public school education and after his textbooks were
put aside became a plumber and pipe fitter, learning the trade in Seattle. In
April, 1912. he removed to Yakima county and for a time operated a ranch
belonging to his father near Wiley City. Subsequently, associated with L. M.
Ayling, he bought a ranch near Selah and afterward rented land on Naches Heights
for two years. In 1917 he purchased forty acres and he now has twenty-five acres
under cultivation, devoted largely to the raising of potatoes, hay and grain as
well as other crops. His land is carefully developed according to modern
scientific methods and the results achieved are most desirable. The care and
thoroughness with which he has directed his interests have placed him among the
successful young farmers of his section of the state.

On the 5th of February, 1916, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Ethel
C. Hersom, who was born in Iowa, a daughter of E. B. and Evaline Elizabeth
(Henthorne) Hersom, who came to Yakima county in 1902 and settled on a ranch
near Selah. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have become parents of an interesting little
daughter, Edna Luella. They are well known and highly esteemed in the community
in which they reside, having gained many friends during the period of their
residence in Yakima county.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.