137 years and still going!
by Linda Fraitekh
Grants Pass, OR
At the time of this writing (2008) my family has been in the Grants Pass area for 137 years. My great-great-grandfather Peter Spar Johnston brought his wife and children here in 1871, in a roundabout way from Iowa through California to Oregon. They settled in an area known as Jerome Prairie, to farm and raise their family. His grandsons fought in WWI (and all came home!). Descendants of grandfather Peter are all over Josephine county to this day (me included), although we have spread out to many other Oregon locations.
