August+Johnson

Early Life:
August "Gus" Johnson was born in 1877 in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin. His father, Samuel C. Johnson¹, was born in Ohio, but moved to Kenosha, where he married Miss Carrie Fisk. One of two kids, his older brother Herbert Johnson², received the most attention. Indeed, he was named August because his parents wanted a girl for their second child, and upset at their misfortune, proceeded to give him a feminine name anyways. His mother dressed him in girl's clothes until the age of five, when he finally became old enough to protest with enough fervor to dissuade her. Soon after, she stopped paying much attention to him. By then his older brother Herbert was already fourteen years old. The love that August didn't receive from his parents, he got from Herbert. It was Herbert that helped August come up with his nickname of "Gus", to help August distance himself from his feminine upbringings and as he grew older, his bond with Herbert only increased.

When Gus turned 14 his parents decided to stop "wasting" money on private lessons and instead sent him to the Central High School (the public school in that area). It was clear he wasn't interested in school but they still felt he needed to be educated in order to be successful. Being part of a wealthy family, his parents didn't let him invite any of the farmer's children he met at school over to his house, but he would instead sneak off to theirs. One such friend was Ben Bones Jr. His father, Ben Bones, had been the first person in the area to experiment with the planting of cabbage³, and as a result had managed to make a small fortune, though still not enough to convince Gus' parents that he should be allowed over. He lived over in Somers, an agricultural village just northeast of Kenosha. Due to its relative proximity, Gus was able to visit his friend 2 or 3 times a week. That was how he met B. D. Anguish, a Chicago produce dealer³.

Anguish was originally attracted to Kenosha when, M. H. Pettit, ex-Lieutenant Governor of the State, started a large malting company, the M. H. Pettit Malting Company there. He appointed the treasurer and president of the of M. H. Pettit Company, Clarence E. Remer, as the general manager⁴. Remer and Anguish were friends that had met in Chicago after Remer joined the Chicago Board of Trade. After helping to finance a renovation that began in 1868 which increased the output of the company, Anguish later became interested in Kenosha again when Ben Bones began to produce large amounts of cabbage, a result of his success in selling both locally and to St. Louis³. Introducing a new variety of cabbage to Bones and other cabbage farmers, the Danish Bald Head, he was able to make profits marketing the Somers-grown goods in Chicago. Disenchanted with his daily routines at home, despite leading a life of privilege, Gus began talking with Anguish about going to Chicago with him. In 1892, at the age of 15, he learned about the World's Colombian Exposition and was immediately drawn to the prospect of attending, and exploring a bit of the world while he was at it.

A Birdseye View of Kenosha at the Turn of the Century⁵ But, because of his brothers pending marriage, an event he would never have missed, he had to delay his plans to run away from home. He knew in the commotion after the marriage, his parents wouldn't discover his absence for a while, but he felt like he had to at least talk to his brother. So, as his parents made preparations, he stole money to finance his trip from them in small increments when they asked him to run to the bank for them. He knew any extra money wouldn't be missed because if anyone discovered it, they would just assume it had just gone towards the marriage ceremony. By the time his brother married Miss Helen Converse² that year, he had nestled away $218 dollars (about $6,540 dollars in todays standards). About a week later, he approached his brother alone and told him of his plan to run away. Everything; how he had stolen $218, how he was going up on railroad with B. D. Anguish, how he didn't plan to come back after, how he still wanted to keep in touch with his brother, and how he wanted to keep it a secret from his parents. His brother Herbert didn't disappoint him, in fact, he gave Gus and extra $100 dollars and vowed to send him more after Gus wrote to him from Chicago so that he knew the address he was staying at. Nine days later, his brother joined his father firm and left with Helen to Philadelphia to establish a new flooring factory in his father's business, which he would run. One of it's main products, Johnson Prepared Wax, would eventually become so successful, that it would be sold world-wide, raising his family from "Wisconsin-rich" to the ranks of other wealthy American families.

Chicago:
Wanting to leave immediately, Gus was however forced to wait another week until Anguish was ready to head back to Chicago. In that time he had received a letter from his brother with his new address over there, so that he could write when he reached Chicago. Finally, after convincing Anguish his parents knew about his impending voyage, he was picked up from Ben Bones' house early in the morning and taken to a railroad station. Finding a ride to Chicago was no problem, there was a direct trip (with few stops in between) that left to Chicago every hour and a half. As luck would have it, the first train of the day left in 10 minutes. Being so early, when the train did arrive, Anguish bought them two tickets in a luxurious Pullman sleeping car so that they could snooze and catch some sleep on the way up. The only downside to that would have been that instead of the regular 2.14 cents a mile⁶, they had to pay 9.86 cents a mile for the Pullman cart, but Anguish wouldn't let Gus pay for his ticket, an instead purchased it for him. At first Gus stayed up thinking about what he was going to do, about what he had left behind, and feeling slightly guilty that he hadn't left any sort of message for his parents. Eventually, due to a night of little rest, he fell asleep on the comfortable bed. Next thing he knew was a black porter gently shaking him awake. He turned over to see Anguish just getting out of his bed too. "Thanks George!" he said, tossing the porter a nickel. He then turned to Gus and casually mentioned how all the porters in the sleeper cars were referred to as George's, then took motioned towards the door and together they stepped out into a crowded and smoky Chicago.

-First Impression of City- (look at Devil in the White City)

Goes to Anguish's apartment and gets told that, due to lack of room, he has to stay at a hotel. Luckily, a cheap one happens to be really near. Unluckily, it was set up by The Woman's Dormitory Association⁷, and thus only for women. Not wanting to reveal how much money he actually has, he agrees to Anguish's proposal of having his wife pretend that he is their son and that they're staying together at that hotel. After dropping Gus off, the wife could then return to her home. If he wanted to leave, he would just stop by Anguish's apartment before coming in so he could be escorted by his wife again. However, in exchange for the hassle of doing this, Gus would have to pay the $10 dollar stock, which could then be exchanged for 25 days at the hotel (or 40 cents a day)⁷.

After that he heads back to the train station with Anguish, where Anguish, assuming he's going back to Kenosha again, sees him off. At the first stop he gets off, and instead catches a return trip right back to Chicago.

Getting a job as at _ (I'm thinking some sort of shop), he rents an apartment in Chicago for about a year until the World Fair begins. Paying rent isn't a problem because in addition to his income from his job, he began getting money from his brother after writing him a letter from his new apartment. His first visit to the World Fair (on May 2, one day after the grounds were opened) was everything he expected, and more.

-Colombian Exposition research here-

Finally, after closing one day early due to the mayor's shooting, the fair closed on October 30, 1893. Having already established himself in Chicago, he originally opts for staying there, but after the fair burns down on, he decides to leave. Writing a letter to his brother to let him know, he once again goes to that railroad station and, after some consideration, boards a train to (a city where he can become involved in Bureau of Chemistry). He doesn't worry that much about having his brother send a payment to the address he left because the payments had been coming less and less frequently, and he had just received one from his brother that day for $150. Needless to say, coupled with his savings from before, he was well off with money. Gets a job at a Doubleday, Jabber & Company, (the one that published The Jungle), and through that gets exposed to an early version of "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair in 1905. Because of this he's able to join the Bureau of Chemistry relatively early, so once it gained momentum he was able to have a pretty prominent position. By now he's 28 years old (he's spent that past 11 years in this city; more detail on that later). Despite his high position, he is still extremely interested in the journalistic form of muckracking, and it's effect on public opinion.
 * New York City:**

Researching several aspects of life for the poor in this city, he publishes several articles about Factory Life and more, which focused on such topics as... -Factory plus other research here-.

Note: Although he still hasn't married, it doesn't mean he hasn't had his fair share of women. He dated ... (list of women)

This dating experience allows him to woo his wife when he meets her in Atlanta, after visiting for _. Bringing his new girlfriend and future wife back with him when he returns to this city, they fall in love as he utilizes America's extensive railroad tracks to visit her in Georgia frequently. Eventually, she convinces him to move to Atlanta with her in 1908.

Atlanta:
His wife was also born into a family of privilege, but from the South. They live on Peachtree Street. To help support them, her family gives them a large piece of land in the suburbs of Atlanta which is run by share-croppers. Not having to worry about money, they're free to travel throughout the US, but only in the Spring and Summer (by choice).

Miami:
After WWI, they sell their tract of land decide to move to the growing city of Miami during the early 1920's (when a construction boom was going on in Miami) through the Florida East Coast Railroad built by Henry Flagler. Here he meets Oliver Meade at the Venetian Pool. Only five years later, the "Great Miami Hurricane" destroyed what they had managed to establish there, leaving them homeless. Having invested heavily in real estate, they found themselves very poor after prices plummeted. Selling all they could, he left Miami to find his family's wife dead, so they decide to return to Philadelphia, where the Flooring Company his family had started had expanded dramatically. To be continued.

1. Fanny S. Stone, Racine Belle City of the Lakes and Racine County Wisconsin-Illustrated, vol. 2 of Racine, Belle City of the Lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement (Chicago: S. J. Clark, 1916). http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wiracbio/jbios/johnsonsc.htm (accessed February 28, 2010).

2. Fanny S. Stone, Racine Belle City of the Lakes and Racine County Wisconsin-Illustrated, vol. 2 of Racine, Belle City of the Lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement (Chicago: S. J. Clark, 1916). http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wiracbio/jbios/johnsonhf.htm (accessed February 28, 2010).

3. Don Jensen, "Of Cabbages and Kings," Southport (Kenosha), October 2007, http://www.kenoshahistorycenter.org/PDF/Fall_07_newsletter.pdf (accessed February 28, 2010).

4. Ellis Baker Usher, "Section 44," in Wisconsin: Its Story and Biography, 1848-1913 (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1914), 5:1369-1340, http://books.google.com/books?id=5J0UAAAAYAAJ (accessed February 28, 2010).

5. Louis Milton Theirs, "Bird's eye view of Kenosha - end of the century," Kenosha County Historical Society, Inc., The State of Wisconsin Collection Record Display, http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/data/images/MmBib/ KenoshaLocHist/large/ken1276l.jpg (accessed February 28, 2010).

6. H. G. Prout, "Railroad Travel in England and America," Scribner's Magazine, October 1894, 402, http://www.jstor.org/stable/60240790 (accessed February 28, 2010).

7. George R. Davis, "Charges at the World's Fair," The North American Review, April 1893, 387-389, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2510311 (accessed February 28, 2010).

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1638184?&Search=yes&term=Chemistry&term=Bureau&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3DBureau%2Bof%2BChemistry%26f0%3Dti%26c0%3DAND%26q1%3D%26f1%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q2%3D%26f2%3Dall%26c2%3DAND%26q3%3D%26f3%3Dall%26wc%3Don%26Search%3DSearch%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26la%3D%26jo%3D&item=5&ttl=16&returnArticleService=showArticle http://www.jstor.org/stable/1629727?&Search=yes&term=Chemistry&term=Bureau&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3DBureau%2Bof%2BChemistry%26f0%3Dall%26c0%3DAND%26q1%3D%26f1%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q2%3D%26f2%3Dall%26c2%3DAND%26q3%3D%26f3%3Dall%26wc%3Don%26Search%3DSearch%26sd%3D1890%26ed%3D1920%26la%3D%26jo%3D&item=8&ttl=3903&returnArticleService=showArticle http://www.jstor.org/stable/1636653?&Search=yes&term=Chemistry&term=Bureau&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3DBureau%2Bof%2BChemistry%26f0%3Dall%26c0%3DAND%26q1%3D%26f1%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q2%3D%26f2%3Dall%26c2%3DAND%26q3%3D%26f3%3Dall%26wc%3Don%26Search%3DSearch%26sd%3D1890%26ed%3D1920%26la%3D%26jo%3D&item=7&ttl=3903&returnArticleService=showArticle http://www.jstor.org/stable/1637464? seq=2&Search=yes&term=Chemistry&term=Bureau&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3DBureau%2Bof%2BChemistry%26f0%3Dti%26c0%3DAND%26q1%3D%26f1%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q2%3D%26f2%3Dall%26c2%3DAND%26q3%3D%26f3%3Dall%26wc%3Don%26Search%3DSearch%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26la%3D%26jo%3D&item=9&ttl=16&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doAdvancedResultsFromArticle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Miami