Parents: {of Columbus, Ohio}

- Richard Johnson [1873-?]

- Margaret Johnson [1880-?]

Married Blanche McCloud (Whalen) Johnson

Child:

- Blanche Johnson Britts

Military Service

U.S. Army, PFC, WWI

Battery F of the 73rd Coast Artillery

Note In Bottle Leads To Bride: A Canal Love Story

by Jon Wolz

Harry C. Johnson was returning home to Columbus, Ohio from Brest, France on the ship Scotian, on December 12, 1918 after the Armistice of November 11, 1918 in effect ending World War I. Only a few months previously he shipped out of New York City on the ship Mongolia on September 25, 1918, so he was in France for only a brief time. Harry was a private first class serving under Battery F of the 73 Coast Artillery. He was twenty-one years old when he left home. His mother Margaret Johnson was listed as the contact person in case of emergency. Harry's father, Richard died shortly before going off to war. His father was a barber and had owned his own shop. In addition to his mother, Harry had a younger brother Howard and a younger sister Blanche. Harry was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1897 and

completed high school.

When reporting for duty, on his way from Ohio, the trains he took brought him through the countryside of various States. Along the way east from Ohio, the train paralleled the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Maryland. The entire time he was away from home, he thought about the canal and its beauty. Homeward bound in early 1919, after returning from France, Harry's train ride from New York took him to Washington, DC where he boarded a train that took him west through Maryland and eventually to his family's home in Ohio. On the way home on the train, he wrote a note on a slip of paper with his name and address dropping the note into a bottle. He put a cork in the bottle and tossed the note into the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal above Dickerson, Maryland between Noland's Ferry and Point of Rocks. He watched the bottle fly through the air and splash into the waters of the canal. He wondered if he would ever hear anything from his note in the bottle. That bottle began its journey down the waters of the Canal. It floated across the 516 feet of the Monocacy Aqueduct, passing the Monocacy basin heading towards lock 27.

In 1919, living alongside the C&O Canal in the lock house at lock 27 was twenty-three-year-old Blanche Whalen. She lived with her father John Whalen who was the lock tender at the lock and her uncle, Henry Collier who was a level walker for the C&O Canal. Blanche completed two years of high school and helped with the upkeep of the house, vegetable garden, helped with tending the lock and the nearby waste weir. During the night of October 31, 1911, Blanche's mother Fannie Collier ran out of the house and was found the next morning by her husband in the waters of the lock, a drowning victim. Blanche had an older sister, Emma, who married Reginald Cross in 1899 and together they moved to Darnestown, Maryland. Sometimes Emma would visit her family at lock 27 and three of her children were there in 1910 when the census taker came by. Those three children also appear in the 1910 census with their parents in the Darnestown census.

One day in the spring of 1919, Blanche was walking along the towpath near lock house 27 when she noticed a bottle floating in the canal. She got a stick and fished the bottle towards her, leaned over and pulled it out of the water. She could see something inside the bottle so she pulled the cork off the bottle and using a small twig, pulled the slip of paper out of the bottle. Seeing that it had written on it the name of Harry C. Johnson, Columbus, Ohio, Blanche decided to write Harry. Once her letter was written, she crossed the lock using the pivot bridge walking on the road that led to the Dickerson Post Office. The Post Office at the store at the Mouth of Monocacy closed in 1909. After a couple of weeks, Blanche received word that there was a letter for her at the Dickerson Post Office. She heard back from Harry C. Johnson of Columbus, Ohio. They began writing each other several letters and photographs were exchanged. One day Harry showed up at the lock house and two days later, Harry and Blanche married. The wedding was held in the evening by Reverend George R. Mays in the parsonage of the Clarksburg Methodist Episcopal Church. Harry moved into the lock house with Blanche. They shared the house with John Whalen and Henry Collier. Harry got a job at the Dickerson Quarry and his wife continued helping out at the lock.

In 1921, Harry and Blanche had a baby girl and named her Blanche Elizabeth Johnson. Baby Blanche was born in lock house 27. Her mother was born in the lock house too. Baby Blanche most likely was the last baby born in that lock house. The last boating season for the C&O Canal was 1923 because in the spring of 1924, there were floods that closed the canal for good. All canal employees were let go and no longer were paid with the exception of a few employees. John Whalen and Henry Collier continued living in the lock house. John died in 1926 and Henry in 1929. When the canal closed, Harry, Blanche and baby Blanche moved to Columbus, Ohio, where Harry got a job as a bread salesman for a bakery. The Johnson family lived next to Harry's brother-in-law and sister, Charles Hirst and Blanche Hirst. Charles was the sale manager for the bakery. Harry's wife Blanche was a laundress working for a laundry company,

By 1940, Harry, his wife Blanche and their nineteen-year-old daughter Blanche were living in Dawsonville, MD where Harry was a farm laborer. Wife Blanche stayed at home and daughter Blanche was a waitress at a restaurant. That census was taken on May 6. By May 19, the census in Front Royal, VA, found daughter Blanche had married forty-six-year-old Adam C. Britts and they were living in Front Royal, VA. Adam was a foreman for the Payron Chemical Factory. He had previously been married with several children. After 1950, Blanche Britts divorced, marrying again in 1966 and divorcing a second time. She died in 2007 at age 86 and is buried in a cemetery in Front Royal, VA. She did not have any children and has a gravestone. She is not buried with any family members.

In 1942 Harry and Blanche Johnson had moved back to Dickerson, MD where Harry worked as a painter for Newton Gilbert Roberson. On Harry's draft registration card it said he was 5'11" weighing 155 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair. He had scars over his left eye and face. He had a ruddy complexion. In 1950, Harry and Blanche decided to move back to the C&O Canal where they first met and were living in the old store across from the vacant lock house at lock 27. That old store is long gone, however a stone wall and a hole in the ground remain with broken glass strewn about. It was next to the berm side road that went along the canal to the store next to the canal basin near the old granary. Their address was described by the census taker as "off Potomac and Monocacy Rivers." Their neighbors were Roy "Squirrely" and Nellie Lambert. Squirrely's occupation was "boat tender" and he was "taking care of Govt. boat". Was he caring for an old canal boat? Harry was unable to work and Blanche was keeping house in 1950.

In 1952, illnesses with both Harry and Blanche forced them to separate in attempt to recover. Blanche

Johnson went to Front Royal to stay with daughter Blanche Britts. Unfortunately, while staying with her daughter, Mrs. Johnson was hospitalized and died on February 5. She was brought back to Maryland where she was buried at the Monocacy Cemetery. Harry Johnson died on July 14, 1953 at the Newton D. Baker Hospital (now the Veterans Affairs Hospital) in Martinsburg, WV. Harry was taken back to Montgomery County. The Reverend Raymus Hilliard of the Poolesville Methodist Church conducted his funeral service. Pallbearers included members of the Daniel-Jeffers American Legion Post 247. Harry was buried alongside his wife Blanche at the Monocacy Cemetery. They share a single gravestone.

Lock house 27 had many inhabitants along with its stories during the canal operating days however it remains vacant today. The lock house is awaiting the C&O Canal Trust's action to turn it into a Canal Quarters where overnight guests may stay and enjoy the peaceful experiences of lock 27.

Obituary

Harry C. Johnson, 56, a resident of Dickerson, died Tuesday at the Newton D. Baker Hospital in Martinsburg.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. Johnson is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Blanche Britts, Front Royal, Va.; a sister, Mrs. Charles [Blanche] Hirst, Columbus, Ohio, and a brother, Howard Johnson, Hollywood, Calif.

He served as a private first class in World War I in Battery F of the 73rd Coast Artillery.

Friends may call at the funeral home in Barnesville where services will be held Friday at 10 a.m. conducted by Rev. Raymus Hilliard, pastor of the Poolesville Methodist church. Interment will be in Monocacy Cemetery, Beallsville.

Members of the Daniel-Jeffers Post American Legion will serve as pallbearers. William B. Hilton, funeral director.