OBITUARY
Ventura County Star Free Press
June 10, 1966
John C. Boetius
Funeral services for John Christen [sic] Boetius, 112 E. Main St., Ventura, were conducted today in Ivy Lawn Cemetery with Chaplain Don Kelly officiating, the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura, directing arrangements.
Mr. Boetius, 70, was a retired bookkeeper with Doheny Oil Co. of Los Angeles. He was born March 27, 1896, in Denmark, and had lived in this county four years.
There are no known survivors.
******************
BIO by Gale Boetius Perez, his granddaughter (Find a Grave Contributor 47724849)
Johannes was born in Copenhagen and was baptized May 22, 1896 (the date of his baptism is is inscribed on his silver baby cup; see photo).
As of May 1, 1900, the family lived at Nørregade 16 , 3, and on September 23, 1900, his brother Povl was born. Povl would grow up to lead a distinguished career in the Danish government, serving as Denmark's Minister of Industry and of Agriculture.
On May 1, 1906, the family lived at Frederiksborggade 33, 4. On January 11, 1910, the family still lived at the same address, but on the third floor rather than the fourth. On June 11, 1912, the family lived at Linnésgade 31, 1.
On April 2, 1915, at age 19, Johannes ("Hans" to his family) boarded the S.S. United States in Copenhagen and sailed to New York, arriving April 16. His intended destination was Clinton, Iowa. On the ship's manifest, he is described as 5'8" tall, with dark hair and blue eyes. He rented a room at 106 2nd Street and worked as a clerk for the department store Towle & Meyer in Clinton. He is in the 1915 Clinton directory as "Hans Boeteus."
Johannes then returned to Denmark. In May 1918 he is recorded as living in Nykøbing with his future first wife Edith Christensen, and working as a clerk in a bank. It is possible that he moved to Nykøbing to attend the Nykøbing Falster Cathedral School, where his uncle Johan Henrik Vilhelm Boetius was rector.
Expecting a child, Johannes and Edith were married on September 7, 1918 at the Aldersro parish church, called Taksigelseskirken. They now lived at Classensgade 9, 3. Their daughter Daisy Annelise was born October 24, 1918 in the Helligånds parish, and was baptized July 27, 1919 at Skt Jakob Sogn, Sokkelund Herred, Copenhagen. Lillian was born March 19, 1920 in Maria parish, Copenhagen, and baptized March 26, 1920 at St. Thomas Kirke, Copenhagen.
Johannes and Edith lived at Classensgade 9 , 1 until November 1, 1919, when Johannes left (four months before Lillian was born), as noted in the Copenhagen city records. On May 16, 1920, he arrived in America, having crossed from Southampton to New York on the ship "Royal George." He stated on the manifest that he was single and intended to make America his permanent country of residence.
At this time, Johannes adopted the name John. He moved to Los Angeles and clerked for the Union Oil Company.
John later worked for one of Edward L. Doheny Sr.'s oil companies (Petroleum Securities Co., 714 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles). He was employed there as a bookkeeper/auditor beginning in the late 1920s and possibly (as stated on his Social Security card application) as late as 1956.
Two and a half years after leaving his wife and two young daughters in Denmark, John married a second time, to Alice Ida Picco, on December 30, 1922. They were married by the well-known Evangelist Robert P. Shuler, pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church at 1201 South Flower Street, Los Angeles. Alice and John had no children, and they divorced in 1929.
It seems likely that John met his third wife (my grandmother, Olive Kullgren) while working for Mr. Doheny. Olive was Mr. Doheny's private secretary. They were married by the Reverend Paul C. Elliott, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Glendale on March 1, 1930. Olive's brother in law, John Deitrich Zook, and U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall's private secretary, Harry G. Clunn, were witnesses. (John and/or Olive would have become acquainted with Mr. Clunn as they worked for Edward L. Doheny, Sr.)
Olive and John had two sons: Paul, born March 3, 1933, and John Christian, who was born June 4, 1936 but died a day later. They divorced in 1939.
By 1959 John had retired and was working as a florist at The White House Florists in Santa Barbara, California.
Soon after his son (my father) Paul was born, John wrote a letter to his parents in Denmark. The letter, dated March 12, 1933, speaks of three major events that week - Paul's birth; a devastating earthquake in Long Beach (magnitude 6.4) which struck while Olive was still in the hospital and killed 12,656 people; and the national banking crisis which resulted in the closure of all banks across the United States. The original and a translation follow:
Kære Mor, Far og Tut:
Der er ikke meget at fortælle on jordrystelsen her, dar man ikke endnu kan gere sig meget begreb om hvor mange mennesker den ramte. de fleste bygninger i den del af byen hvor det var værst er i ruin og efter al sandsynlighed er der mange begravet derunder.
Vi er alle alright heldigvis, men selvfolgelig lidt blege om Næbet. min kone var i hospitalet da det skete 5 o clock Fredag aften og jeg var tilfældigvis i hollywood hos venner. Det er en distance omtrent 30 engelske mil til den del af byen hvor hun var og det var altsaa med og skynde sig. Jeg kom derover of fandt hospitalet med den rigtige side op og hende og den lille dang lidt bange men ellers udenfor fare. Imidlertid begyndte bygningerne at falde omkring hospitalet saa jet fik fat i en ambulance og korte hende hjem.
Vort hus ligger jo i omegnen af North Hollywood hvor Rystelsen ikke var saa slem. Vi har den stadigt, met 5 - 6 timmers mellemrun, men det er vist kun reaktionen efter det store slag. Jeg vil antage at det i virkeligheden var meget storre end det der hændete i san francisco i 1906, men da man nu om tiden har moderne brandvæsen, var der kun meget faa brande og de fleste døde af nedfaldne murbrokker. Vi er meget taknemlige for at have sluppet ud af det or kan jo kun haabe at det er forbi nu.
Vi har oivrigt haft en usædvanlig livlig uge herover. Den tredie marts var den lille dren født (han dedder Paul, fordi man ikke kan udtale POVL paa englisk), den fjerde marts fik vi en ny President, den femte blev alle Banker lukker i los angeles og man kan ikke trække sine penge ud, den sjette blev alle banker i de forendede stater lukket, hele landet over og till DD er de lukkede hvorlænge ved man ikke, den tiende marts fik vi endeligt jordskælvet som satte kronen pas værket.
Saa nu kan vi aidde og vente paa hvad der vil ske i de naeste par uger. Under alle omstændigheder, vi er alle tre paa den rigtige side af floden styx. Jeg sender et par udklip af Los Angeles Times, som giver et billede af hvad der skete, men det er some sagt unuligt at sige hvor stort omfang det havde. Paa grund at pengemangel, (for forste gange im nage maaneder har jeg ikke fem dollars da jeg ikke kan komme i banken) kan jeg ikke telegrafere, men haaber i her forstaaet paa min tavshed at alt er i orden.
Dette Brev vil circulere i familien da jet ikke har mine nerver til straekkeligt samlet til at skrive tre breve.
Kaerlig Hilsen, Hans
Dear Mother, Father, and All:
There is not much to tell of what has happened to the country here, we cannot imagine how may people have been hit. Most buildings in that part of the city where it was worst are in ruins and in all probability there are many buried below.
We're all alright, fortunately, but of course a little pale in the beak. My wife was in the hospital when it came about 5 o'clock Friday evening and I happened to be in Hollywood with friends. It is a distance of approximately 30 English miles to the part of the city where she was and it was so then to get there in a hurry. I came to find the hospital intact and her and the little baby a little frightened but otherwise out of danger. However, the buildings began to fall around the hospital as we just got hold of an ambulance to escort her home.
Our house is located in the vicinity of North Hollywood where the damage was not so bad. We have since had 5 to 6 tremors, but it is shown only the reaction after the great battle. I would assume that it was in fact much larger than the hit in San Francisco in 1906, but since we now have a modern fire department, there were only very few fires and most died of fallen rubble. We are very thankful to have gotten out of it and can only hope that it is over now.
We have had an unusually lively week. On the 3rd of March our little son was born (his name is Paul, because we cannot pronounce POVL in English). On the Fourth of March, we got a new President. On the fifth all banks closed in Los Angeles and no one could pull any money out. On the sixth all banks in the United States were closed, the entire country over and the DD [??] were closed and it is not known for how long, then on the 10th of March we got the deathly earthquake which put the money to work. [Not quite sure whether money or crown]. So now we can wait and see what will happen in the next few weeks.
In any case, we are all three on the right side of the river Styx. I'll send a couple of clips of "Los Angeles Times", which gives a picture of what happened, but some say it is unlikely to say how extensive it hit.
Owing to lack of money (for the first times in years, I do not have the five dollars since I can't get in the bank), I can not phone, but hope you understood my silence now and know that everything is ok.
This letter will serve as circulation to the family as I do not have the energy to type 3 letters with the same information.
Loving greetings, Hans
Ventura County Star Free Press
June 10, 1966
John C. Boetius
Funeral services for John Christen [sic] Boetius, 112 E. Main St., Ventura, were conducted today in Ivy Lawn Cemetery with Chaplain Don Kelly officiating, the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura, directing arrangements.
Mr. Boetius, 70, was a retired bookkeeper with Doheny Oil Co. of Los Angeles. He was born March 27, 1896, in Denmark, and had lived in this county four years.
There are no known survivors.
******************
BIO by Gale Boetius Perez, his granddaughter (Find a Grave Contributor 47724849)
Johannes was born in Copenhagen and was baptized May 22, 1896 (the date of his baptism is is inscribed on his silver baby cup; see photo).
As of May 1, 1900, the family lived at Nørregade 16 , 3, and on September 23, 1900, his brother Povl was born. Povl would grow up to lead a distinguished career in the Danish government, serving as Denmark's Minister of Industry and of Agriculture.
On May 1, 1906, the family lived at Frederiksborggade 33, 4. On January 11, 1910, the family still lived at the same address, but on the third floor rather than the fourth. On June 11, 1912, the family lived at Linnésgade 31, 1.
On April 2, 1915, at age 19, Johannes ("Hans" to his family) boarded the S.S. United States in Copenhagen and sailed to New York, arriving April 16. His intended destination was Clinton, Iowa. On the ship's manifest, he is described as 5'8" tall, with dark hair and blue eyes. He rented a room at 106 2nd Street and worked as a clerk for the department store Towle & Meyer in Clinton. He is in the 1915 Clinton directory as "Hans Boeteus."
Johannes then returned to Denmark. In May 1918 he is recorded as living in Nykøbing with his future first wife Edith Christensen, and working as a clerk in a bank. It is possible that he moved to Nykøbing to attend the Nykøbing Falster Cathedral School, where his uncle Johan Henrik Vilhelm Boetius was rector.
Expecting a child, Johannes and Edith were married on September 7, 1918 at the Aldersro parish church, called Taksigelseskirken. They now lived at Classensgade 9, 3. Their daughter Daisy Annelise was born October 24, 1918 in the Helligånds parish, and was baptized July 27, 1919 at Skt Jakob Sogn, Sokkelund Herred, Copenhagen. Lillian was born March 19, 1920 in Maria parish, Copenhagen, and baptized March 26, 1920 at St. Thomas Kirke, Copenhagen.
Johannes and Edith lived at Classensgade 9 , 1 until November 1, 1919, when Johannes left (four months before Lillian was born), as noted in the Copenhagen city records. On May 16, 1920, he arrived in America, having crossed from Southampton to New York on the ship "Royal George." He stated on the manifest that he was single and intended to make America his permanent country of residence.
At this time, Johannes adopted the name John. He moved to Los Angeles and clerked for the Union Oil Company.
John later worked for one of Edward L. Doheny Sr.'s oil companies (Petroleum Securities Co., 714 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles). He was employed there as a bookkeeper/auditor beginning in the late 1920s and possibly (as stated on his Social Security card application) as late as 1956.
Two and a half years after leaving his wife and two young daughters in Denmark, John married a second time, to Alice Ida Picco, on December 30, 1922. They were married by the well-known Evangelist Robert P. Shuler, pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church at 1201 South Flower Street, Los Angeles. Alice and John had no children, and they divorced in 1929.
It seems likely that John met his third wife (my grandmother, Olive Kullgren) while working for Mr. Doheny. Olive was Mr. Doheny's private secretary. They were married by the Reverend Paul C. Elliott, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Glendale on March 1, 1930. Olive's brother in law, John Deitrich Zook, and U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall's private secretary, Harry G. Clunn, were witnesses. (John and/or Olive would have become acquainted with Mr. Clunn as they worked for Edward L. Doheny, Sr.)
Olive and John had two sons: Paul, born March 3, 1933, and John Christian, who was born June 4, 1936 but died a day later. They divorced in 1939.
By 1959 John had retired and was working as a florist at The White House Florists in Santa Barbara, California.
Soon after his son (my father) Paul was born, John wrote a letter to his parents in Denmark. The letter, dated March 12, 1933, speaks of three major events that week - Paul's birth; a devastating earthquake in Long Beach (magnitude 6.4) which struck while Olive was still in the hospital and killed 12,656 people; and the national banking crisis which resulted in the closure of all banks across the United States. The original and a translation follow:
Kære Mor, Far og Tut:
Der er ikke meget at fortælle on jordrystelsen her, dar man ikke endnu kan gere sig meget begreb om hvor mange mennesker den ramte. de fleste bygninger i den del af byen hvor det var værst er i ruin og efter al sandsynlighed er der mange begravet derunder.
Vi er alle alright heldigvis, men selvfolgelig lidt blege om Næbet. min kone var i hospitalet da det skete 5 o clock Fredag aften og jeg var tilfældigvis i hollywood hos venner. Det er en distance omtrent 30 engelske mil til den del af byen hvor hun var og det var altsaa med og skynde sig. Jeg kom derover of fandt hospitalet med den rigtige side op og hende og den lille dang lidt bange men ellers udenfor fare. Imidlertid begyndte bygningerne at falde omkring hospitalet saa jet fik fat i en ambulance og korte hende hjem.
Vort hus ligger jo i omegnen af North Hollywood hvor Rystelsen ikke var saa slem. Vi har den stadigt, met 5 - 6 timmers mellemrun, men det er vist kun reaktionen efter det store slag. Jeg vil antage at det i virkeligheden var meget storre end det der hændete i san francisco i 1906, men da man nu om tiden har moderne brandvæsen, var der kun meget faa brande og de fleste døde af nedfaldne murbrokker. Vi er meget taknemlige for at have sluppet ud af det or kan jo kun haabe at det er forbi nu.
Vi har oivrigt haft en usædvanlig livlig uge herover. Den tredie marts var den lille dren født (han dedder Paul, fordi man ikke kan udtale POVL paa englisk), den fjerde marts fik vi en ny President, den femte blev alle Banker lukker i los angeles og man kan ikke trække sine penge ud, den sjette blev alle banker i de forendede stater lukket, hele landet over og till DD er de lukkede hvorlænge ved man ikke, den tiende marts fik vi endeligt jordskælvet som satte kronen pas værket.
Saa nu kan vi aidde og vente paa hvad der vil ske i de naeste par uger. Under alle omstændigheder, vi er alle tre paa den rigtige side af floden styx. Jeg sender et par udklip af Los Angeles Times, som giver et billede af hvad der skete, men det er some sagt unuligt at sige hvor stort omfang det havde. Paa grund at pengemangel, (for forste gange im nage maaneder har jeg ikke fem dollars da jeg ikke kan komme i banken) kan jeg ikke telegrafere, men haaber i her forstaaet paa min tavshed at alt er i orden.
Dette Brev vil circulere i familien da jet ikke har mine nerver til straekkeligt samlet til at skrive tre breve.
Kaerlig Hilsen, Hans
Dear Mother, Father, and All:
There is not much to tell of what has happened to the country here, we cannot imagine how may people have been hit. Most buildings in that part of the city where it was worst are in ruins and in all probability there are many buried below.
We're all alright, fortunately, but of course a little pale in the beak. My wife was in the hospital when it came about 5 o'clock Friday evening and I happened to be in Hollywood with friends. It is a distance of approximately 30 English miles to the part of the city where she was and it was so then to get there in a hurry. I came to find the hospital intact and her and the little baby a little frightened but otherwise out of danger. However, the buildings began to fall around the hospital as we just got hold of an ambulance to escort her home.
Our house is located in the vicinity of North Hollywood where the damage was not so bad. We have since had 5 to 6 tremors, but it is shown only the reaction after the great battle. I would assume that it was in fact much larger than the hit in San Francisco in 1906, but since we now have a modern fire department, there were only very few fires and most died of fallen rubble. We are very thankful to have gotten out of it and can only hope that it is over now.
We have had an unusually lively week. On the 3rd of March our little son was born (his name is Paul, because we cannot pronounce POVL in English). On the Fourth of March, we got a new President. On the fifth all banks closed in Los Angeles and no one could pull any money out. On the sixth all banks in the United States were closed, the entire country over and the DD [??] were closed and it is not known for how long, then on the 10th of March we got the deathly earthquake which put the money to work. [Not quite sure whether money or crown]. So now we can wait and see what will happen in the next few weeks.
In any case, we are all three on the right side of the river Styx. I'll send a couple of clips of "Los Angeles Times", which gives a picture of what happened, but some say it is unlikely to say how extensive it hit.
Owing to lack of money (for the first times in years, I do not have the five dollars since I can't get in the bank), I can not phone, but hope you understood my silence now and know that everything is ok.
This letter will serve as circulation to the family as I do not have the energy to type 3 letters with the same information.
Loving greetings, Hans
OBITUARY
Ventura County Star Free Press
June 10, 1966
John C. Boetius
Funeral services for John Christen [sic] Boetius, 112 E. Main St., Ventura, were conducted today in Ivy Lawn Cemetery with Chaplain Don Kelly officiating, the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura, directing arrangements.
Mr. Boetius, 70, was a retired bookkeeper with Doheny Oil Co. of Los Angeles. He was born March 27, 1896, in Denmark, and had lived in this county four years.
There are no known survivors.
******************
BIO by Gale Boetius Perez, his granddaughter (Find a Grave Contributor 47724849)
Johannes was born in Copenhagen and was baptized May 22, 1896 (the date of his baptism is is inscribed on his silver baby cup; see photo).
As of May 1, 1900, the family lived at Nørregade 16 , 3, and on September 23, 1900, his brother Povl was born. Povl would grow up to lead a distinguished career in the Danish government, serving as Denmark's Minister of Industry and of Agriculture.
On May 1, 1906, the family lived at Frederiksborggade 33, 4. On January 11, 1910, the family still lived at the same address, but on the third floor rather than the fourth. On June 11, 1912, the family lived at Linnésgade 31, 1.
On April 2, 1915, at age 19, Johannes ("Hans" to his family) boarded the S.S. United States in Copenhagen and sailed to New York, arriving April 16. His intended destination was Clinton, Iowa. On the ship's manifest, he is described as 5'8" tall, with dark hair and blue eyes. He rented a room at 106 2nd Street and worked as a clerk for the department store Towle & Meyer in Clinton. He is in the 1915 Clinton directory as "Hans Boeteus."
Johannes then returned to Denmark. In May 1918 he is recorded as living in Nykøbing with his future first wife Edith Christensen, and working as a clerk in a bank. It is possible that he moved to Nykøbing to attend the Nykøbing Falster Cathedral School, where his uncle Johan Henrik Vilhelm Boetius was rector.
Expecting a child, Johannes and Edith were married on September 7, 1918 at the Aldersro parish church, called Taksigelseskirken. They now lived at Classensgade 9, 3. Their daughter Daisy Annelise was born October 24, 1918 in the Helligånds parish, and was baptized July 27, 1919 at Skt Jakob Sogn, Sokkelund Herred, Copenhagen. Lillian was born March 19, 1920 in Maria parish, Copenhagen, and baptized March 26, 1920 at St. Thomas Kirke, Copenhagen.
Johannes and Edith lived at Classensgade 9 , 1 until November 1, 1919, when Johannes left (four months before Lillian was born), as noted in the Copenhagen city records. On May 16, 1920, he arrived in America, having crossed from Southampton to New York on the ship "Royal George." He stated on the manifest that he was single and intended to make America his permanent country of residence.
At this time, Johannes adopted the name John. He moved to Los Angeles and clerked for the Union Oil Company.
John later worked for one of Edward L. Doheny Sr.'s oil companies (Petroleum Securities Co., 714 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles). He was employed there as a bookkeeper/auditor beginning in the late 1920s and possibly (as stated on his Social Security card application) as late as 1956.
Two and a half years after leaving his wife and two young daughters in Denmark, John married a second time, to Alice Ida Picco, on December 30, 1922. They were married by the well-known Evangelist Robert P. Shuler, pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church at 1201 South Flower Street, Los Angeles. Alice and John had no children, and they divorced in 1929.
It seems likely that John met his third wife (my grandmother, Olive Kullgren) while working for Mr. Doheny. Olive was Mr. Doheny's private secretary. They were married by the Reverend Paul C. Elliott, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Glendale on March 1, 1930. Olive's brother in law, John Deitrich Zook, and U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall's private secretary, Harry G. Clunn, were witnesses. (John and/or Olive would have become acquainted with Mr. Clunn as they worked for Edward L. Doheny, Sr.)
Olive and John had two sons: Paul, born March 3, 1933, and John Christian, who was born June 4, 1936 but died a day later. They divorced in 1939.
By 1959 John had retired and was working as a florist at The White House Florists in Santa Barbara, California.
Soon after his son (my father) Paul was born, John wrote a letter to his parents in Denmark. The letter, dated March 12, 1933, speaks of three major events that week - Paul's birth; a devastating earthquake in Long Beach (magnitude 6.4) which struck while Olive was still in the hospital and killed 12,656 people; and the national banking crisis which resulted in the closure of all banks across the United States. The original and a translation follow:
Kære Mor, Far og Tut:
Der er ikke meget at fortælle on jordrystelsen her, dar man ikke endnu kan gere sig meget begreb om hvor mange mennesker den ramte. de fleste bygninger i den del af byen hvor det var værst er i ruin og efter al sandsynlighed er der mange begravet derunder.
Vi er alle alright heldigvis, men selvfolgelig lidt blege om Næbet. min kone var i hospitalet da det skete 5 o clock Fredag aften og jeg var tilfældigvis i hollywood hos venner. Det er en distance omtrent 30 engelske mil til den del af byen hvor hun var og det var altsaa med og skynde sig. Jeg kom derover of fandt hospitalet med den rigtige side op og hende og den lille dang lidt bange men ellers udenfor fare. Imidlertid begyndte bygningerne at falde omkring hospitalet saa jet fik fat i en ambulance og korte hende hjem.
Vort hus ligger jo i omegnen af North Hollywood hvor Rystelsen ikke var saa slem. Vi har den stadigt, met 5 - 6 timmers mellemrun, men det er vist kun reaktionen efter det store slag. Jeg vil antage at det i virkeligheden var meget storre end det der hændete i san francisco i 1906, men da man nu om tiden har moderne brandvæsen, var der kun meget faa brande og de fleste døde af nedfaldne murbrokker. Vi er meget taknemlige for at have sluppet ud af det or kan jo kun haabe at det er forbi nu.
Vi har oivrigt haft en usædvanlig livlig uge herover. Den tredie marts var den lille dren født (han dedder Paul, fordi man ikke kan udtale POVL paa englisk), den fjerde marts fik vi en ny President, den femte blev alle Banker lukker i los angeles og man kan ikke trække sine penge ud, den sjette blev alle banker i de forendede stater lukket, hele landet over og till DD er de lukkede hvorlænge ved man ikke, den tiende marts fik vi endeligt jordskælvet som satte kronen pas værket.
Saa nu kan vi aidde og vente paa hvad der vil ske i de naeste par uger. Under alle omstændigheder, vi er alle tre paa den rigtige side af floden styx. Jeg sender et par udklip af Los Angeles Times, som giver et billede af hvad der skete, men det er some sagt unuligt at sige hvor stort omfang det havde. Paa grund at pengemangel, (for forste gange im nage maaneder har jeg ikke fem dollars da jeg ikke kan komme i banken) kan jeg ikke telegrafere, men haaber i her forstaaet paa min tavshed at alt er i orden.
Dette Brev vil circulere i familien da jet ikke har mine nerver til straekkeligt samlet til at skrive tre breve.
Kaerlig Hilsen, Hans
Dear Mother, Father, and All:
There is not much to tell of what has happened to the country here, we cannot imagine how may people have been hit. Most buildings in that part of the city where it was worst are in ruins and in all probability there are many buried below.
We're all alright, fortunately, but of course a little pale in the beak. My wife was in the hospital when it came about 5 o'clock Friday evening and I happened to be in Hollywood with friends. It is a distance of approximately 30 English miles to the part of the city where she was and it was so then to get there in a hurry. I came to find the hospital intact and her and the little baby a little frightened but otherwise out of danger. However, the buildings began to fall around the hospital as we just got hold of an ambulance to escort her home.
Our house is located in the vicinity of North Hollywood where the damage was not so bad. We have since had 5 to 6 tremors, but it is shown only the reaction after the great battle. I would assume that it was in fact much larger than the hit in San Francisco in 1906, but since we now have a modern fire department, there were only very few fires and most died of fallen rubble. We are very thankful to have gotten out of it and can only hope that it is over now.
We have had an unusually lively week. On the 3rd of March our little son was born (his name is Paul, because we cannot pronounce POVL in English). On the Fourth of March, we got a new President. On the fifth all banks closed in Los Angeles and no one could pull any money out. On the sixth all banks in the United States were closed, the entire country over and the DD [??] were closed and it is not known for how long, then on the 10th of March we got the deathly earthquake which put the money to work. [Not quite sure whether money or crown]. So now we can wait and see what will happen in the next few weeks.
In any case, we are all three on the right side of the river Styx. I'll send a couple of clips of "Los Angeles Times", which gives a picture of what happened, but some say it is unlikely to say how extensive it hit.
Owing to lack of money (for the first times in years, I do not have the five dollars since I can't get in the bank), I can not phone, but hope you understood my silence now and know that everything is ok.
This letter will serve as circulation to the family as I do not have the energy to type 3 letters with the same information.
Loving greetings, Hans
Ventura County Star Free Press
June 10, 1966
John C. Boetius
Funeral services for John Christen [sic] Boetius, 112 E. Main St., Ventura, were conducted today in Ivy Lawn Cemetery with Chaplain Don Kelly officiating, the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, Ventura, directing arrangements.
Mr. Boetius, 70, was a retired bookkeeper with Doheny Oil Co. of Los Angeles. He was born March 27, 1896, in Denmark, and had lived in this county four years.
There are no known survivors.
******************
BIO by Gale Boetius Perez, his granddaughter (Find a Grave Contributor 47724849)
Johannes was born in Copenhagen and was baptized May 22, 1896 (the date of his baptism is is inscribed on his silver baby cup; see photo).
As of May 1, 1900, the family lived at Nørregade 16 , 3, and on September 23, 1900, his brother Povl was born. Povl would grow up to lead a distinguished career in the Danish government, serving as Denmark's Minister of Industry and of Agriculture.
On May 1, 1906, the family lived at Frederiksborggade 33, 4. On January 11, 1910, the family still lived at the same address, but on the third floor rather than the fourth. On June 11, 1912, the family lived at Linnésgade 31, 1.
On April 2, 1915, at age 19, Johannes ("Hans" to his family) boarded the S.S. United States in Copenhagen and sailed to New York, arriving April 16. His intended destination was Clinton, Iowa. On the ship's manifest, he is described as 5'8" tall, with dark hair and blue eyes. He rented a room at 106 2nd Street and worked as a clerk for the department store Towle & Meyer in Clinton. He is in the 1915 Clinton directory as "Hans Boeteus."
Johannes then returned to Denmark. In May 1918 he is recorded as living in Nykøbing with his future first wife Edith Christensen, and working as a clerk in a bank. It is possible that he moved to Nykøbing to attend the Nykøbing Falster Cathedral School, where his uncle Johan Henrik Vilhelm Boetius was rector.
Expecting a child, Johannes and Edith were married on September 7, 1918 at the Aldersro parish church, called Taksigelseskirken. They now lived at Classensgade 9, 3. Their daughter Daisy Annelise was born October 24, 1918 in the Helligånds parish, and was baptized July 27, 1919 at Skt Jakob Sogn, Sokkelund Herred, Copenhagen. Lillian was born March 19, 1920 in Maria parish, Copenhagen, and baptized March 26, 1920 at St. Thomas Kirke, Copenhagen.
Johannes and Edith lived at Classensgade 9 , 1 until November 1, 1919, when Johannes left (four months before Lillian was born), as noted in the Copenhagen city records. On May 16, 1920, he arrived in America, having crossed from Southampton to New York on the ship "Royal George." He stated on the manifest that he was single and intended to make America his permanent country of residence.
At this time, Johannes adopted the name John. He moved to Los Angeles and clerked for the Union Oil Company.
John later worked for one of Edward L. Doheny Sr.'s oil companies (Petroleum Securities Co., 714 West Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles). He was employed there as a bookkeeper/auditor beginning in the late 1920s and possibly (as stated on his Social Security card application) as late as 1956.
Two and a half years after leaving his wife and two young daughters in Denmark, John married a second time, to Alice Ida Picco, on December 30, 1922. They were married by the well-known Evangelist Robert P. Shuler, pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church at 1201 South Flower Street, Los Angeles. Alice and John had no children, and they divorced in 1929.
It seems likely that John met his third wife (my grandmother, Olive Kullgren) while working for Mr. Doheny. Olive was Mr. Doheny's private secretary. They were married by the Reverend Paul C. Elliott, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Glendale on March 1, 1930. Olive's brother in law, John Deitrich Zook, and U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall's private secretary, Harry G. Clunn, were witnesses. (John and/or Olive would have become acquainted with Mr. Clunn as they worked for Edward L. Doheny, Sr.)
Olive and John had two sons: Paul, born March 3, 1933, and John Christian, who was born June 4, 1936 but died a day later. They divorced in 1939.
By 1959 John had retired and was working as a florist at The White House Florists in Santa Barbara, California.
Soon after his son (my father) Paul was born, John wrote a letter to his parents in Denmark. The letter, dated March 12, 1933, speaks of three major events that week - Paul's birth; a devastating earthquake in Long Beach (magnitude 6.4) which struck while Olive was still in the hospital and killed 12,656 people; and the national banking crisis which resulted in the closure of all banks across the United States. The original and a translation follow:
Kære Mor, Far og Tut:
Der er ikke meget at fortælle on jordrystelsen her, dar man ikke endnu kan gere sig meget begreb om hvor mange mennesker den ramte. de fleste bygninger i den del af byen hvor det var værst er i ruin og efter al sandsynlighed er der mange begravet derunder.
Vi er alle alright heldigvis, men selvfolgelig lidt blege om Næbet. min kone var i hospitalet da det skete 5 o clock Fredag aften og jeg var tilfældigvis i hollywood hos venner. Det er en distance omtrent 30 engelske mil til den del af byen hvor hun var og det var altsaa med og skynde sig. Jeg kom derover of fandt hospitalet med den rigtige side op og hende og den lille dang lidt bange men ellers udenfor fare. Imidlertid begyndte bygningerne at falde omkring hospitalet saa jet fik fat i en ambulance og korte hende hjem.
Vort hus ligger jo i omegnen af North Hollywood hvor Rystelsen ikke var saa slem. Vi har den stadigt, met 5 - 6 timmers mellemrun, men det er vist kun reaktionen efter det store slag. Jeg vil antage at det i virkeligheden var meget storre end det der hændete i san francisco i 1906, men da man nu om tiden har moderne brandvæsen, var der kun meget faa brande og de fleste døde af nedfaldne murbrokker. Vi er meget taknemlige for at have sluppet ud af det or kan jo kun haabe at det er forbi nu.
Vi har oivrigt haft en usædvanlig livlig uge herover. Den tredie marts var den lille dren født (han dedder Paul, fordi man ikke kan udtale POVL paa englisk), den fjerde marts fik vi en ny President, den femte blev alle Banker lukker i los angeles og man kan ikke trække sine penge ud, den sjette blev alle banker i de forendede stater lukket, hele landet over og till DD er de lukkede hvorlænge ved man ikke, den tiende marts fik vi endeligt jordskælvet som satte kronen pas værket.
Saa nu kan vi aidde og vente paa hvad der vil ske i de naeste par uger. Under alle omstændigheder, vi er alle tre paa den rigtige side af floden styx. Jeg sender et par udklip af Los Angeles Times, som giver et billede af hvad der skete, men det er some sagt unuligt at sige hvor stort omfang det havde. Paa grund at pengemangel, (for forste gange im nage maaneder har jeg ikke fem dollars da jeg ikke kan komme i banken) kan jeg ikke telegrafere, men haaber i her forstaaet paa min tavshed at alt er i orden.
Dette Brev vil circulere i familien da jet ikke har mine nerver til straekkeligt samlet til at skrive tre breve.
Kaerlig Hilsen, Hans
Dear Mother, Father, and All:
There is not much to tell of what has happened to the country here, we cannot imagine how may people have been hit. Most buildings in that part of the city where it was worst are in ruins and in all probability there are many buried below.
We're all alright, fortunately, but of course a little pale in the beak. My wife was in the hospital when it came about 5 o'clock Friday evening and I happened to be in Hollywood with friends. It is a distance of approximately 30 English miles to the part of the city where she was and it was so then to get there in a hurry. I came to find the hospital intact and her and the little baby a little frightened but otherwise out of danger. However, the buildings began to fall around the hospital as we just got hold of an ambulance to escort her home.
Our house is located in the vicinity of North Hollywood where the damage was not so bad. We have since had 5 to 6 tremors, but it is shown only the reaction after the great battle. I would assume that it was in fact much larger than the hit in San Francisco in 1906, but since we now have a modern fire department, there were only very few fires and most died of fallen rubble. We are very thankful to have gotten out of it and can only hope that it is over now.
We have had an unusually lively week. On the 3rd of March our little son was born (his name is Paul, because we cannot pronounce POVL in English). On the Fourth of March, we got a new President. On the fifth all banks closed in Los Angeles and no one could pull any money out. On the sixth all banks in the United States were closed, the entire country over and the DD [??] were closed and it is not known for how long, then on the 10th of March we got the deathly earthquake which put the money to work. [Not quite sure whether money or crown]. So now we can wait and see what will happen in the next few weeks.
In any case, we are all three on the right side of the river Styx. I'll send a couple of clips of "Los Angeles Times", which gives a picture of what happened, but some say it is unlikely to say how extensive it hit.
Owing to lack of money (for the first times in years, I do not have the five dollars since I can't get in the bank), I can not phone, but hope you understood my silence now and know that everything is ok.
This letter will serve as circulation to the family as I do not have the energy to type 3 letters with the same information.
Loving greetings, Hans
