1 Aug 1903 – 20 Mar 1990
Wife of Joseph Harold Cardon
Biography of Mary Johnson Cardon
Contributed by Linnea Cardon
My mother’s family were among the first founders of the Isle of Man, Great Britain. Later they settled in Philadelphia in the early colonial period.
My father’s family were among the earliest founders of Massachusetts and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1831. The mother, Julia Hills Johnson, and sixteen children all joined but the father, Ezekiel Johnson, was hesitant because he had an alcohol problem. He was about to be baptized when he suddenly died.
My mother was Maggie Lavinia McNeil and my father was Sixtus Harlem Johnson. Maggie McNeil was born in Salt Lake City, on January 31, 1875 and Sixtus H. Johnson was born in Johnson City, Utah on March 31, 1874.
My mother was very strict and very religious. The oldest child in her family, she worked hard and was very much a pioneer. She had high ideals and a high standard. My mother was a homemaker, kept flowers and a good garden. She provided the butter, cheese, bread, fruit in the winter and vegetables through her industry. My mother was a practical nurse – had years of experience delivering babies. She was strong in spirit but not in body. She was a pretty woman.
My father was all he should be, kind and gentle, devoted to mother and parents and also to us, the children. He was a farmer and a hunter. He grew wheat, potatoes, an orchard; raised chickens, cattle, and hunted for deer, turkey and mountain lions.
(As a teenager, I thought my parents were “old fashioned”, but good. I thought all grown people were wise and acted so.)
I was born August 1, 1903 in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. I was born at home as there were no hospitals in Colonia Juraez. I was the third child (daughter) born and the second one to live. (My older sister died at age 27, leaving me the oldest child of my Parent’s family.) I was named for my Grandmother Mary Stratton Johnson. However, early in life, I thought I was named for Mary the mother of Jesus, so it became a problem when I wanted to tease or get into mischief.
My earliest memory is going out into the night and seeing the Heavens just full of bright stars. For all our special days, we’d love to gather around our old organ, while Mother placed a chord to fit each song. At eventide my Father joined in with his very fine bass voice. What beautiful music.
There was plenty of work to be done and no shortage of soap, hot water, and clean rags. We raised all of our food except salt, sugar, and rice. I worked in our garden, made cheese, and milked cows. As a child I picked blackberries for pay.
Our clothes were mostly homemade cottons, although we also had special silk dresses. We girls never wore slacks of any material, and no “man-like” shirts. We did wear skirts and blouses.
There were plenty of toys for children but not all the high priced kind we have today. Children were happy with red wagons, stuffed animals, dolls, train sets, and rocking horses. As a child I played jacks, marbles, hide and seek, and always games with balls. The best gift I got as a child was a plain gold band ring I received for Christmas.
We had a family dog named Fannie. (Heaven will be lacking without her.)
I remember being really sick with a bad case of scarlet fever. I also had the mumps, measles, and whooping cough.
When I grew up, I wanted to be a teacher, wife and homemaker. (Later in life I went to a semester of school for teaching at El Paso High. My major course of study was teaching children in the early grades of school. I taught grade school two years and have had much teaching for Church education.)
I liked Indian stories, “Little Women”, Fairy Tales, and Stories of early America. I loved to read and re-read the story of “The Other Wise Man.” Church magazines and pioneer stories in our own family history made for a world of good reading.
In Mexico, we had big fruit orchards, so we ate just lots of the finest fruit in the world. We also had gardens with all kinds of good vegetables. Cows in the corral for milk, cheese, butter, whipping cream, and ice cream. We had home cooked foods, bread, cakes, and candy. We had clean, clear river water to swim in and lots of fun going horseback riding. In the summer, we ate many dinners out in the orchard.
My family lived in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico from my birth on August 1, 1903 until the 14th of December, 1909, when we moved to Colonia Pacheco. We lived in Colonia Pacheco until the Exodus to the United States in 1912. When the Exodus from Mexico came, we packed a few clothes and bedding and left our home and lived in a tent near my Grandparent(s) Johnson in Pomerine, Arizona the whole school year. A few years later, when the revolution settled down, we returned to our home in Colonia Pacheco.
I used to walk to school as none were very far. I went to eight years of grade school and four years of high school. We lived in Colonia Pacheco during years of first to eighth. I enjoyed my studies and liked all sports, but always came in second, but that was good. I always played hard and got a red face. As a child about nine years old, I sang in the chorus of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs along with all the lower grade children.
Since our only high school was in Colonia Juarez, we left home for High school each winter and returned for the summer. In high school I enjoyed choir, also singing in our church choir for meetings. Our main dances were the waltz, quadrille, and square dancing with the fox trot coming and going over a period of many years.
Since we had lost some time in school due to the Exodus in the United States, all of the students were a little behind in graduating from High School. I was twenty years old in my senior year. That was the year that I first met my future husband, Harold Cardon, who was near his 19th birthday.
Harold was such a good boy, handsome too. His parents and mine had been pioneers and friends in early Colonia Juarez. We belonged to the same Church and had the same goals. I remember the moonlight nights in Colonia Juarez. They were always special. Spring was warm with sweet flowering fruit trees growing everywhere. Love is always beautiful.
Our wedding took place at the home of Ethel and Lawrence Kasey 3610 Clifton Street in El Paso, Texas, August 4, 1925. I was wearing a white silk wedding dress that I had made. I remember making a mistake and said “I do” when it was Harold’s turn. So I got to say “I do” twice. I meant it, too! For our honeymoon we took a trip down to San Antonio, later named Cuatemoc. It was a three day journey. The second night out we slept in the car, stuck in a ditch with running water under the car. We were pulled out the next morning. Later we were married in the Arizona Temple in 1932.
It seems that enough money has a history of not being plentiful. But married life was not a difficult adjustment for us. We loved each other and that minimized most of the adjustment. But there were some problems getting used to the bills. In Colonia Pacheco, there was no electricity or public water and so I was not used to having bills. We had no stores in our town – just places to buy home necessities like salt, sugar, flour and a few medicines. We walked or rode horses in Mexico, and traveled by team and wagon – we used the light spring wagon for the family. We ate our own crops, put up fruit, and sewed our own clothes, so there really was very little to do with money. In El Paso, all of these bills were something that I had to get used to.
Life was much different then. There were good shows to be seen for thirty five cents and people went often. There was radio, but no television. I think we enjoyed our Public Parks more at that time. We also enjoyed our swimming pools. At the turn of the century public transportation was a mule drawn street car. Then it became an electric car called the Street Car. It ran on two metal rails down the center of the road. It got its power from an electric line also running down the center. Now we travel on buses. They are fine.
Back then our floors were wood, covered with linoleum, almost no rugs except area rugs. Early teenagers were the only owners of simple grass cutters and they cut people’s front yards. Now the cement floors are covered by carpeting and every family can own his lawn mower and so many implements to keep a beautiful yard. Today there are electric light fixtures, beautiful lamps, more than one bathroom in a home, water heaters, stoves and refrigerators. In my lifetime I’ve seen the invention of the television, computer, and airplane travel.
I am a member of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers organization. I have been vice-president (4 years), secretary (5 yrs), Chaplain (4 yrs), President (2 yrs), and Historian (2 yrs).
My favorite hobbies are reading good books, sewing, crocheting, dress making, house plants, yard beautification, and quilt making. I’ve also collected a few coins and rocks.
Most of the family heirlooms were lost because of the War in Mexico, but a few things – old wedding dresses, pictures, histories, etc. – have been passed down from one generation to another. After we were married, in March of 1929, we did the same thing: leaving all we had earned in three and a half years in Mexico and taking only a few clothes and bedding to return to the United States.
I’ve had my share of embarrassing moments – a country girl in the city. One of the funniest things that ever happened to me was in St. George, Utah. We went into a grocery store. I smiled at two women whose slips were a bit too long. Before we left, I was losing mine.
Harold and I have a very beautiful family. We had eight children, one of whom died as an infant. They are: Hallie Marie, born May 12, 1926. Hallie was given her name from the nicknames of her parents; Joseph Wayne, born March 15, 1928; Rodney Harold, born Sept 24, 1929; Melvin Johnson, born June 1, 1931; Earl Leon, born October 26, 1934. Each of the boys were given family names; Charles Howard, born Sept 3, 1936. Charles was named for his Uncle; Betty Jane and Bonnie June, born March 16, 1943. We liked them as twin names. (Betty died the next day on March 17, 1943.) The years I spent raising my seven children will always be special to me. Some of my favorite recollections are working together in the home and all around the home to make things clean and neat, going to the park on picnics, and going to visit family and friends. We all went to our Church services together. As a family, we prayed together. My children were expected to wait on themselves, do good work in their school, respect their elders, love each other and their relatives (grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles and cousins), be honest, dependable and live clean moral lives. Last but not least stay close to our church and help in its organizations, be a worker. The children all have grown and married in the Temple and all of the boys have been on missions for the Church.
If I could do it better, I’d like to privilege of living the years over that I spent raising my family. But if not, I wouldn’t want the sorrow of having made mistakes the second time. I can’t seem to remember the happy times, but my impatience and thoughtlessness are always with me.
My dear husband and I are very humble in our attitude of family raising. We were married with all the bright stars in our eyes. We were going to be the very best in the world. Today we have our memories and know we failed in many areas, but please remember, we were never taught parenting. We both came from strong unschooled pioneer families, some of whose teachings from the Bible were “spare the rod and spoil the child.” This teaching was very fundamental in their lives. But thank goodness that wasn’t all they had. They had love of God, who they wanted to become like, also love of home, family and children, the greatest of all, a very strong desire to teach their children that as a family we could have the privilege of living together for time and all eternity, if we lived righteous lives. We believe that as parents we can never become great, it is our children who make us great, because they are great. So though we have made mistakes, they can grow on the foundation they have inherited from parents who tired to be the best. As one good man said, when asked how he was able to raise such a fine family, he answered, “they were fine spirits before they ever came to me.” Harold and I feel we have one of the Earth’s great families. We see it in our grand children and in our great grandchildren. We are not disappointed in a single one of them and are proud of their accomplishments. We love them without reservation. They chose good companions and we love each of them for their greatness. We will all make mistakes but this is the life to overcome them and grow as near perfection as possible.
I’m afraid I didn’t do much differently from my parents in raising my children. They say “an apple never falls far from the tree.” So we can expect our children to do much the same as they see their parents do. One of the most difficult parts of being a parent is living up to the standards I taught my children. None of it was easy but the rewarding things were plentiful. They grew up to be fine citizens of our country. They wanted a good education and helped to make that possible. They married the right people in the right time and place. They are all hard workers and raising good families. We are a very blessed family and thank the Lord daily.
I am proud of my life with my Grandchildren. I think we should all be Grandparents first, then we would make good Parents. Being a grandparent is much easier than being a parent: loving them, feeding them, playing with them, then sending them back to their parents when they and you are tired and need a good nights rest. We also enjoy seeing them grow to be good young people, free from drugs and sin. Ours are “special.” My advice for my grandchildren is to live righteous lives, for “memories are forever.” Happiness depends so much on memories.
I have a strong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of its truth and its foundation, and the way of life it has given me and all my loved ones. I honor all its prophets and leaders. In all my eighty years of life I have never heard of any teaching or principal that I questioned, and if lived I would be a better person. I know that we lived in the spirit world before coming here with a Heavenly Father, Mother, and family of brothers and sisters. If we live righteously we will be able to return to that Heavenly home. This is great to think of: being away from summer heat, and winter cold, and the dirt of this earth. No fear of being hurt, robbed, or killed or injured in any way. With much work and effort we can become perfect, not in this world, but in the life here after. Another blessing, we can know all the beloved people we have known or have ever heard of: Father Adam and Mother Eve, and all the greats that ever lived.
In times of trouble, my knowledge that “I am a child of God, and with his help and love I cannot fail” has pulled me through.
(Note: Mary’s biography, in her own words, was taken from An Heritage of the Lord: The Family of Sixtus H. and Margaret McNeil Johnson, compiled by Charles H. Cardon and Grover V. Johnson, 1996, p 4-5; and The Grandparent Book, a gift presented to Grandma and Grandpa Cardon from Dick, Jackie, and all 11 children, which Mary filled out in 1984.)
-Published on familysearch.org ID #KWZ7-27W
Mary Johnson
Contributed by C. H. Cardon
My mother’s name was Mary Johnson Cardon. She writes in her personal biography:
My mother’s family were among the first founders of the Isle of Man, Great Britain Britain. Later they settled in Philadelphia in the early colonial period.
My father’s family were among the earliest founders of the Massachusetts and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1831. The mother, Julia Hills Johnson, and 16 children all joined but the father, Ezekiel Johnson, was hesitant because he had an alcohol problem. He was about to be baptized when he suddenly died.
My mother was Maggie McNeil and my father was Sixtus Harlem Johnson. Maggie McNeil was born in Salt Lake City, on January 31, 1875 and Sixtus H Johnson was born in Johnson City, Utah on March 31, 1874.
My mother was very strict and very religious. The oldest child in her family, she worked hard and was very much a pioneer. She had high ideals and high standards. She provided the butter, cheese, bread, and fruit in the winter and vegetables through her industry. She was strong in spirit but not in body. She was a pretty woman.
My father was all he should be, kind and gentle, devoted to mother and parents and also to us, the children. He was a farmer and a hunter. He grew wheat potatoes raised chickens, cattle and hunted for deer, turkey and mountain lions.
My family lived in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico from my birth on August 1, 1903 until 14 December 1909, when we moved to Colonia Pacheco. We lived in Colonia Pacheco until the Exodus to the United States in 1912. A few years later, when the revolution settled down, we returned to our home in Colonia Pacheco.
Since I had lost some time in school due to the Exodus in the United States, all of the students were little behind in graduating from high school. I was 20 years old and my senior year. That was the year when I first met my future husband, Harold Cardon.
Harold was such a good boy, handsome too. His parents had been pioneers and friends in early Colonial Juarez. We belonged to the same church and had the same goals. I remember the moonlight nights in Colonial Juarez . There were always special. Spring was warm with sweet flowering fruit trees growing everywhere. Love is always beautiful.
Our wedding took place at the home of Ethel and Lawrence Kasey in El Paso, Texas. Our temple wedding was in the Arizona Temple in 1932.
Married life was not a difficult adjustment for us. We loved each other and that minimized most of the adjustment. But there were some problems getting used the bills. In Colonial Pacheco, there were no electricity or public water and so I was not used to having bills. We rode horses in Mexico and ate our own crops and so there was really very little to do with money. In El Paso, all of these bills were upsetting that I had to get adjusted to.
We had eight children, one of whom died as an infant. The children all have grown and married in the temple and all of the boys have been on missions for the church.
-Published on familysearch.org ID #KWZ7-27W
Mary J. Cardon
El Paso resident
Mary J. Cardon, 86, of El Paso died Tuesday (March 20, 1990). Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday in Harding-Orr and McDaniel Pershing Drive Chapel. Funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday in Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Douglas Street Chapel. Burial will be in Restlawn Memorial Park. Survivors include her husband, J. Harold; her daughters, Hallie M. Pratt and Bonnie J. Wheelhouse; and her sons, J. Wayne Cardon, Rodney H. Cardon, Melvin J. Cardon, Earl L. Cardon and Charles H. Cardon. She was a longtime El Paso resident.
-Published in the El Paso Times, Thursday, May 22, 1990, Page 2B (6)
Restlawn Memorial Park, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
