Robert Jefferson Johnson was born in November 1869 to a farming family in Holmes, Mississippi, according to the 1880 census. His future wife, Mary Barbour Legrand, was born about 1865 to a farming family in Kentucky, according to the same source. I can't find them on Ancestry.com again until 1920 (but it seems as though Ancestry.com has no records for Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 1910, so further research is necessary). Robert Barbour Johnson was born in 1907, which puts his father at thirty-seven and his mother at fourty-two. At least according to the 1920 census, he was there only child. This raises several questions: Did Johnson's parents have earlier families? Did they spend time in foreign countries, jail, sanitaria, or asylums? Was Johnson in fact adopted?
At any rate, it seems that the trio moved around a bit. They were probably in Hopkinsville, Kentucky during Johnson's early years. They were in Louisville for the 1920 census. They were in New Orleans in 1930, according to the census (and Johnson's memories--although those seem to be quite shaky on actual dates). Robert Jefferson and Mary B. both died in Christian county later in the decade, 1933 and 1934, respectively.
In the both the 1920 and 1930 census the Johnsons were boarders in group homes. Mary B. was a housewife. Robert Jefferson worked for an unnamed railroad company, in 1920 as a claims agent and in 1930 as part of the railroad's secret service, which was responsible for preventing crimes against railroads.
It was in Lousville that Johnson first encountered Weird Tales when he found the first issue on a newsstand near a fire station. He was an "inveterate reader" of other pulps and was turned off by Weird Tales poor production, but fell in love with the stories. "It contents! Ye Gods, its contents!"
According to Johnson, he wanted to be a writer ("among other things") at least since high school. He tried a few stories for Weird Tales--all rejected--but was otherwise more interested in journalism. Supposedly, he took journalism courses at Tulane while the family was in New Orleans, but no record of his attendance has been found (which doesn't mean he lied; it's likley a problem with the records, since it seems that Johnson never actually received a degree). He also supposedly worked for The New Orleans Item, writing stories first as a summer job and then beyond that--seeing his stories in print quickly and getting paid for them, also quickly, more rewarding than grinding out a magazine story that might not appear in print for months with payment only coming upon publication. Exact dates for this employment history are hard to nail down, first because of uncertainty surrounding Johnson's birthdate and second because his "specialty in those days" was pretending to be another age--apparently the start of a life-long habit. "I looked, talked and acted at least five years more than my age, and was able to pass as an adult without question," he said later.
While in New Orleans, he also found another love: the circus.
At any rate, it seems that the trio moved around a bit. They were probably in Hopkinsville, Kentucky during Johnson's early years. They were in Louisville for the 1920 census. They were in New Orleans in 1930, according to the census (and Johnson's memories--although those seem to be quite shaky on actual dates). Robert Jefferson and Mary B. both died in Christian county later in the decade, 1933 and 1934, respectively.
In the both the 1920 and 1930 census the Johnsons were boarders in group homes. Mary B. was a housewife. Robert Jefferson worked for an unnamed railroad company, in 1920 as a claims agent and in 1930 as part of the railroad's secret service, which was responsible for preventing crimes against railroads.
It was in Lousville that Johnson first encountered Weird Tales when he found the first issue on a newsstand near a fire station. He was an "inveterate reader" of other pulps and was turned off by Weird Tales poor production, but fell in love with the stories. "It contents! Ye Gods, its contents!"
According to Johnson, he wanted to be a writer ("among other things") at least since high school. He tried a few stories for Weird Tales--all rejected--but was otherwise more interested in journalism. Supposedly, he took journalism courses at Tulane while the family was in New Orleans, but no record of his attendance has been found (which doesn't mean he lied; it's likley a problem with the records, since it seems that Johnson never actually received a degree). He also supposedly worked for The New Orleans Item, writing stories first as a summer job and then beyond that--seeing his stories in print quickly and getting paid for them, also quickly, more rewarding than grinding out a magazine story that might not appear in print for months with payment only coming upon publication. Exact dates for this employment history are hard to nail down, first because of uncertainty surrounding Johnson's birthdate and second because his "specialty in those days" was pretending to be another age--apparently the start of a life-long habit. "I looked, talked and acted at least five years more than my age, and was able to pass as an adult without question," he said later.
While in New Orleans, he also found another love: the circus.
