the Johnson kids, Sunday best

Bill Johnson / Schanzenbach Page

1999 – 2011 · all of Billy's website, together again

From Billy's Front Porch, 2000–2010

January 2000
Bill Johnson / Schanzenbach Page If you want to look…

April 2000
List of Songs on my CD collection New photos of my d…

October 2000
List of Songs on my CD collection JAMMIN' at th…

March 2001
List of Songs on my CD collection Christmas 2000 Pho…

April 2001
List of Songs on my CD collection Some new Photos, S…

July 2001
List of Songs on my CD collection Some new Photos, S…

April 2002
St. Benedict's School, All Alumni Reunion Pleas…

May 2002
Please click here for info and help. My Grandfather …

August 2002
Pictures of Webbers Falls I-40 Bridge Collapse Read …

September 2002
New Home on GeoCities.com My Grandfather Eugene Scha…

June 2003
Now hosted from home My Grandfather Eugene Schanzenb…

July 2003
This is my first effort at building this web page. A…

March 2004
Now hosted from home OK, here goes nothing; Eugene S…

April 2004
Now hosted from home OK, here goes nothing. I will m…

June 2004
How to get to BrokenBow Lake and Stephens Gap Camp G…

September 2004
Now hosted from home July 3 and 4 Rick and Melissa t…

November 2004
Happiness is a journey not a destination, Drink like…

February 2006
Family Birthday Calendar Family Tree Walt Ruick’s Ph…

December 2006
Family Birthday Calendar Family Tree Google Picasa P…

January 2008
Bill Johnson (Schanzenbach) Family Home Pages UNDER …
Happiness is a journey not a destination,
Drink like there is no tomorrow
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you never been hurt, and
Dance like no one's looking

For ten years this page was the family's front porch: new news up, old news down. The archives caught all of it. He announced the Snow of 2000 and that "Mike and Sam Johnson have a new daughter Amanda Nichole." He posted "JAMMIN' at the Johnson's" when Gary and Jay came picking, the Christmas 2000 album, the lake trips, and pictures of the Webbers Falls bridge collapse. He moved to GeoCities in 2002, declared it "Now hosted from home" in 2003, sent everyone to Broken Bow with three hand-made maps, and slipped away with Cindy to Cancun. By 2008 the sign read "UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Please be patient and drive carefully," the parlor game was Farkel, and his last post, July 2010, was an invitation: "Let's Go FISHING in Oklahoma."

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The Family Story

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 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.

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 Billy built, reaching back to Franz Michael Schanzenbach, born 1817 in Binswangen, Württemberg  ·  the family tree page  ·  GrandMa (Schanzenbach) Johnson's SourDough Bread

Music & Family Sounds

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 · the photo album that went with the Sounds pages

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.

Billy's website once held about 4,900 photographs; about 1,200 survive in the internet's archives.
2,466 are still missing — one of them might be in your shoebox.

"Maybe someday, I will get energy and start up again, or maybe one of my cuzins will say
'Hey, I could help you with that.'" — Billy, July 2003
A great nephew finally did!  darienbathalter@gmail.com