Charlotta and Robert Goetze
Last updated: November 10, 2015

Charlotta Hartung (b. July 31, 1878 in Dahlgren County, Minnesota. She died December 6, 1973 in old folks home in Dahlgren (source: Kenneth J. Johnson 2009) or in Delano, Hennepin County, Minnesota (source: Johnson family pedigree chart). Name after marriage: Charlotte Hartung Goetze. She is buried in Waconia, Carver County, Minnesota. More about Charlotta Hartung and her ancestors here...

Charlotta's parents were Caroline Charlotte Anhalt (b. 1837 in Germany) and Charles Hartung (b. 1838 in Germany). We have no records further back on this family.

Robert Julius Goetze (b. November 10, 1882 in Young America, Carver County, Minnesota, d. September 19, 1952 in St. Paul, 69 years 10 months old). Robert grew up in Young America. He is buried in Waconia, Carver County, Minnesota.

Robert's parents were Anna Emma and Jacob Goetze. Jacob was born in Germany. His surename was probably spelled Goetz in Germany. Emma and Jacob lived in Young America. More about Robert Goetze and his ancestors here...

Charlotta and Robert married in Young America by reverend Raekea on May 22, 1906.

Robert had engineer's license. He had a lumber sawmill in Carver County and liked to go thrashing. In later years, he was in Heyde Lake & Norwood in Young America, a creamery business where he worked as a licensed engineer. The family moved to Waconia in 1924 where he worked for a farm machinery company, Wagner Well drilling for a long time. The last seven years he had employment with Wagner Empliment Company as a machinist. His job was to repair farm machinery. One time he was a policeman.

Charlotta and Robert had six children:

1) Earl Jacob Goetze (b. September 22, 1908 in Carver, Carver County, Minnesota, d. 1932). He was buried May 4 (month and date not verified) in Waconia, Carver County, MN. Earl did not marry. He was a pilot colleague of Charles Lindbergh when the planes were just starting at rural Chamberlain Airport in Minneapolis. Earl did not know Lindbergh well but he had a hat autographed by him. Earl was a barnstorming pilot and went to South Dakota and bought a plane and was fixing it up, but apparently something went wrong. He ended up in a corn field there and was killed. Barnstorming was a way of living in the early days of flying. Barnstorming pilots landed on farmers' land and offered people in the area a ride.

2) Cora Amanda Goetze (b. July 17, 1911 in Delno, Minnesota, d. 2004 or 2005)
Cora married Jarl Alvar Lindfors (b. February 16, 1908 at Åland Islands, Finland, d. December 9, 1990 in Panorma City, California, buried Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood, California). Cora died 93 years old in her son Adrian's home.
They had two children: Child no. 1: Robert Lindfors (b. in Minneapolis, Minnesota), no children. Child no. 2: Adrian Gary Lindfors (b. in Hollywood, California), probably living in Idaho, two children.

3) Gordon Grover Goetze (b. May 2, 1913 in Young America, Carver County, Minnesota, d. in Waconia)
Gordon lived in Waconia all his life. He married Idella Vahl on August 3, 1941. They had 4 children.

4) Raymond Lawrence Goetze (b. July 30, 1916 in Young America, Carver County, Minnesota). Four children in first marriage. Married two or three times.

5) Jacob Robert Goetze (b. July 18, 1920 in Young America, Carver County, Minnesota)
He married Viola who was a widow with 3 kids. A son they had together was living in San Fransisco and died very young.

World War II driver for a colonel (Army). Died. He had a Fort Snelling military funeral.
One son might be living in St. Paul.
Another son died in a boating accident – the widow had 3 kids, among them a son who were living in San Fransisco and died young without any children.

6) Adele Cecilia Goetze (b. in Young America, Carver County, Minnesota). Adele was baptized by Rev. Bathedorff (check spelling!) in Young America. From two years of age she grew up in Waconia. Adele was educated and worked as a nurse. She married Dr. Kenneth J. Johnson (b. in St. Paul), who was a doctor of medicine. They got four children. More about Adele and Kenneth here...

My father Robert
«Robert was a very dogmatic German. He loved to listen to Hitler on the short-wave radio. He would not go to church but he always listened to the radio and listened to Father Coughlin who was a famous priest that prieched on the radio every Sunday. I guess he had his religion in his own way. He had four cultured sisters who came from Minneapolis and always told him (a blue-collar worker) how to improve himself. He was not as dumb as his sisters thought.» Adele G. Johnson 2000

My mother Charlotta
«My mom always took us to Sunday school. That was only a block and a half from our place, to the Morovian Church. She sawed all my cloths and was a good cook. Charlotta gardened until she was 90 years when she went to a home. She was very intelligent, wrote and talked German fluently and had a nice handwriting.»
Adele G. Johnson 2011

Three years old Adele sees a nun...
«The first time I saw a nun was in Waconia. I was three years old. I ran home crying to my mother. I thought it was a bogey man. Nuns dressed in their black barb. It scared mee to death.»
Adele G. Johnson 1999

Hard times during the 1930's Depression period
Adele tells about her childhood, "I grew up in Waconia, a little town just northwest of Minneapolis. It was a good childhood, although we were kind of poor. In fact during the Depression, we were very poor. It left its mark on me somewhat because I'm always a little insecure about having enough food in the house."

Adele gets interrupted by her daughter-in-law who comments, "If you buy one, you have to buy two to put into storage."

Adele contiunes, "Ken often asks me, 'Where is that another husband?' Another thing I like is shoes because I had to go to school and cut cardboard out of the shoe boxes to get to school because I had holes in my shoes and couldn't afford to buy a pair of shoes. But anyway, we had a good childhood. It was a small town. We played tennis and swam in the lake and bicycled. We finally could afford to buy a bicycle when we were a little older.

Christmas was a little sparse. An orange was a really treasured thing at Christmastime because we didn't get fruit except from my mother's apples in her garden. She had a wonderful garden and that carried us through the winter – potatoes, berries (strawberries etc.) and everything fresh out of the garden. It was wonderful. During the hard times the relatives helped us with food. My mother had three brothers on farms nearby and they would bring in some meat for us and we'd butcher it in the kitchen. The relatives were very good about helping because my dad would go out there and repair machinery all the time.»
Adele G. Johnson 2000

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