Advertisement

Lottie <I>Wilson</I> Johl

Advertisement

Lottie Wilson Johl

Birth
Iowa, USA
Death
7 Nov 1899 (aged 43–44)
Bodie, Mono County, California, USA
Burial
Bodie, Mono County, California, USA Add to Map
Plot
Miners Union Section
Memorial ID
View Source
Nobody knew anything about Lottie, not even her last name. She worked in the red light district of Bodie, California, as a prostitute, where she met Eli Johl, a rough German man who co-owned the City Market where he worked as a butcher. They fell in love and married. Lottie cleaned up her life and attempted to join the respectable society of town, but because of her past lifestyle the people of Bodie shunned her. She once attended a costume ball, decked out in the best of finery. Her outfit was picked for the "Most Beautiful Costume" award, but at midnight when the masks came off and everyone found out it was her, she was asked to leave and the award was given to someone else. One day Lottie fell ill and consulted the doctor who gave her a prescription. Later that evening she started having violent convulsions. The doctor was called again, but could not determine what had caused such a drastic turn for the worse. She was dead by morning. Eli requested that an autopsy be performed, where it was discovered that the druggist had mistakenly given her poison instead of the proper medication. The townsfolk demanded Lottie be buried "outside the fence" in Boot Hill, instead of the cemetery proper where decent people were interred. Eli argued, and eventually was allowed to bury her inside the cemetery perimeter, on the west side, farthest from the cemetery gates and the town.

Source for addition of maiden name:
Esmeralda County NV Marriage Records
Volume Misc. page 30
Ely Johl and Lottie Calhoun were married on 4 Jul 1881

Added 11/25/2018:
Per Sondra S. Ettlinger, Johl family descendant, Elias (aka Eli) Johl married Charlotte J. Wilson, daughter of George W. Wilson and Nancy Ann Swearengen. She was married to Newton Robert Calhoun in 1868 in VanBuren County, Iowa. Lottie and Calhoun had one child identified as being Mattie Mary Calhoun, born Apr 27, 1870 in Winchester, Iowa. Ms. Ettliner notes the marriage to Eli Johl, which matches the information herein.
Nobody knew anything about Lottie, not even her last name. She worked in the red light district of Bodie, California, as a prostitute, where she met Eli Johl, a rough German man who co-owned the City Market where he worked as a butcher. They fell in love and married. Lottie cleaned up her life and attempted to join the respectable society of town, but because of her past lifestyle the people of Bodie shunned her. She once attended a costume ball, decked out in the best of finery. Her outfit was picked for the "Most Beautiful Costume" award, but at midnight when the masks came off and everyone found out it was her, she was asked to leave and the award was given to someone else. One day Lottie fell ill and consulted the doctor who gave her a prescription. Later that evening she started having violent convulsions. The doctor was called again, but could not determine what had caused such a drastic turn for the worse. She was dead by morning. Eli requested that an autopsy be performed, where it was discovered that the druggist had mistakenly given her poison instead of the proper medication. The townsfolk demanded Lottie be buried "outside the fence" in Boot Hill, instead of the cemetery proper where decent people were interred. Eli argued, and eventually was allowed to bury her inside the cemetery perimeter, on the west side, farthest from the cemetery gates and the town.

Source for addition of maiden name:
Esmeralda County NV Marriage Records
Volume Misc. page 30
Ely Johl and Lottie Calhoun were married on 4 Jul 1881

Added 11/25/2018:
Per Sondra S. Ettlinger, Johl family descendant, Elias (aka Eli) Johl married Charlotte J. Wilson, daughter of George W. Wilson and Nancy Ann Swearengen. She was married to Newton Robert Calhoun in 1868 in VanBuren County, Iowa. Lottie and Calhoun had one child identified as being Mattie Mary Calhoun, born Apr 27, 1870 in Winchester, Iowa. Ms. Ettliner notes the marriage to Eli Johl, which matches the information herein.


Advertisement

See more Johl or Wilson memorials in:

Flower Delivery Sponsor and Remove Ads

Advertisement