Bill Johnson / Schanzenbach Page

If you want to look at a Big Picture Album, CLICK HERE — his words, and still the best place to start. Hand-typed captions under every photo.

The people: Bill Sr. · Eugene Sr. · Ida · Joe · Tony · Alfred · Frank · Nick · Clara · Ben · Billy himself

The times: Easter '99 · the 4th of July cookout · Christmas · Broken Bow · Cancun · the 2007 ice storm · Shelly & Jed in Mexico

» all 30 albums

My Grandfather was named Eugene Schanzenbach, but he changed his name during WWI to Johnson.
That same day, he came home, anounced to his wife and 8 children that NO German will be spoken in this house"

Read my notes I made during my interviews (Don't go here if you are offended by bad spelling :)

Eugene Schanzenbach Sr.'s younger brother was Father Benedict Schanzenbach of the "Capuchin" Order (they invented capuchino.) Here is his eulogy.

My Father was Bill Schanzenbach Johnson.   I am Bill Johnson Jr.

The family, as Bill kept it:

Eugene Schanzenbach married Louisa Gilliard: Ida (Ripley) 1889 · Joe 1891 · Tony 1893 · Alfred 1895 · Frank 1900 · Nick 1903 · Eugene 1907 Louisa passed away, and Eugene married widowed Clara (Day) Brown: Bill 1910 · Ben 1916 In 1917, Eugene changed his last name from Schanzenbach to Johnson. Same for his wife and 6 boys still at home. Joe and Tony were in the Army by then. After the war, Tony changed his name to Johnson, but Joe kept Schanzenbach to his death.

Deeper roots: the genealogy database Bill built, reaching back to Franz Michael Schanzenbach, born 1817 in Binswangen, Württemberg  ·  the family tree page  ·  GrandMa (Schanzenbach) Johnson's SourDough Bread

A "Binder" is a International Farm implement used long ago.  It is also the nick name of such IH trucks as the "SCOUT"

Bill rebuilt his 1975 Scout and documented every wire: the Scout pages · taillight wiring · gauge schematics

And when he wasn't under a truck he was on the water: the sailboat Havana Daydreamin' · boats · the 2001 boat races · the garage

Sounds of Bill Johnson Sr. and Elmer Harden playing guitars and talking. Also, recordings of Ben's Boys recordings from 1962

List of Songs on my CD collection

A note from the family: the recordings themselves — the interview with Bill Johnson Sr., the guitar sessions, Dreamer, Mistic Madona and the rest — were never captured by the internet archives. If any relative has these .wav files on an old computer or backup CD, they are the most precious missing pieces of this whole site.

His poems and notes: biograph · dreamer · evelyn · concista · deedsand · the interview notes

The old contract he hid behind the letter "o" of his own name in 1999 — the hiding place is preserved in the title above, just as he left it.

Happiness is a journey not a destination… Work like you don't need money, Love like you never been hurt, and Dance like no one's looking — as Bill posted it, November 2004

Shelly also has photos on this website — Bill's line from 2005. Her whole site, michellejohnson.net, is restored here too: visit Shelly's pages.

More family pages Bill kept: the Rhonda & Allen Miller family · Alexis Hanks · Grandma Morefield · David Lewis