I had been "out to the farm" several years ago. I attended the 2005 Cooley Johnson Family Reunion with Tony and we decided to make a quick stop on our way home. Traveling north on Interstate 35 we exited on Oralabor Road. As we made a left and headed west this place, this area felt familiar. I told Tony, "This is it, this is where Grandpaw Johnson's farm was located." Tony asked, "How do you know this is it?" I said, "I just KNOW it is - this is the land." Over the years I've heard conflicting reports of the location of Ed Johnson's farm. I knew one person to ask was his daughter Ethyl's daughter, Maxine. Aunt Mac had spent a lot of time on the farm when she was a little girl. She gave me instructions to locate the farm and stated if it was as "clear as mud", she'd try to make it easier for me to understand. Her instructions were on point. I found the area without any problems. I pulled the car into a parking lot of one of the businesses on the land and parked. I wanted to take a few pictures of the land. I found myself walking to the beginning of the property line. "Gramp's Farm was bordered by the railroad tracks on the West, Oralabor Road on the South..." is what she wrote in an email. I repeated the words to myself as I took each step. I thought about all the people that had taken those same steps, had walked in the same place. People like Great-Great Grandpaw Edward Johnson and his wife Orpha; Frank Johnson, Edward's brother and Frank's wife, Anna; Edward and Pinky's children: Ethyl, Helen and Rex; Edward and Orpha's children: Henry, Beatrice, Edward Jr and Hardin; Ethyl's children: Veltirea "Punkin", Marvin "Dideo", Eugene "Eckie Bud" and Doris "Mac". All of these people, our family had/have traveled that route. When I stood on the land it was easy to imagine what used to be. To know about one hundred years ago it was all farmland. "This IS it." I was standing on Ed Johnson's land. I know it's no longer in our family, but I'm proud. Proud that once upon a time, a little less than long ago, a Black Man owned all that land in Iowa. I am the Great-Great Grandson of that man and I am proud of his accomplishments.
