52 Ancestors 2015 Edition: # 20 Lois Johnson Picken --My 2nd Cousin 1x Removed

Amy Johnson Crow, the author of the blog No Story Too Small, is the host of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Blog Prompt series. If you are not familiar with the project please click on the following link:  Announcing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition.

Have you ever thought you had already posted something to only realize at some time later, that you hadn't. That's the case with this picture.



This is a picture of two little girls who were there for one another. My mother is on the right and on the left is my 2nd cousin once removed  Lois Johnson Picken.

I connected with Lois's daughter Lisa last year online and by telephone. Right now, I can't quite remember how it all came about. Anyway, I should get down to the story of how these two young girls connected.

My mother had to grow up fast. She would have to often handle herself with the maturity of someone twice her age. Her mom/my grandma Mary Bryant Harrison Horton was in out of the hospital quite a bit when my mother was growing up. My mother's grandmother Ophelia Bryant died at the young age of 44. The possibility of her own mother dying was an idea my mom was well acquainted with. It hurts me now to think of the anxiety that she must have felt at that time. All I can say now is that my mother is made from some very tough stuff! 

Anyway, one summer when I think my mom was eight, she was sent to live with my grandmother's sister Eloise Bryant Grigsby and her husband Raymond. Her brother Ricky spent that summer with their grandfather, Frank Bryant in Morehead City. My mom and her family were living in Brooklyn, NY at the the time. Her father, Lemuel Harrison, was working two jobs while his wife was once again in the hospital. Aunt Eloise and Uncle Raymond came by car and drove my mom to Pittsburgh

She made it to Pittsburgh safe and sound. Pittsburgh where the only people she knew were her aunt and uncle. A little girl needs someone she can play with. Someone she can call a friend or perhaps cousin. 

After my mother settled in at her aunt and uncle's apartment, aunt Eloise told my mother that she actually had other kin in Pittsburgh. She had a cousin, a little girl named Lois.

Having a friend, a cousin close in age was a blessing. My mom had someone to lean on during a time of uncertainty.

Lois Johnson was born on September 13, 1943 in Pittsburgh, PA. Her parents were Jesse A. Johnson and Rebecca Elizabeth Parks. Lois and I are connected through my Bryant family line.

Here's how we are related.




Lois's daughter Lisa told me that her mother was supposed to be named after my grandmother's sister Loris. Somehow at the hospital, people at the nursery heard Lois and that is how her name came about.


Loris Johnson Picken died April 28, 1984. She was just 40 years old. In life, we never had the chance to meet. I would like to now say thank you to that dear sweet little girl who was there for my mother, all those many years ago.





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