sur·name  /ˈsərˌnām/  a hereditary name common to all members of a family, as distinct from a given name.

What's in a name?  If it is our FAMILY name, then it is very important.   It is often a link to our Kin.  

My mom, Violet Marie (Flatau) Johnson, loved gathering and collecting information.  She also loved to sort, file, make lists, and capture data and dates on the information that she collected.  She was an avid amateur photographer and a professional collector of photos.  I now have her collection of photos, lists, newspaper articles, announcements, etc., and this website will be where I share the information, stories, and photos with all of you.

This website began as a legacy for our children.  The information and photos are 'filed by' or 'tied to' a SURNAME.   Because this information involves all of my families I have arranged the data into collections of SURNAMES of my immediate families in the list below.  Clicking on a family name will take you to a list of individual names and their life stories and photos.  A list of ALL the "Individual's Life" stories is listed at the end of this page.

'From the first human handprint on a cave wall, we're part of something continuous.   So we don't really die.' - Basil Brown (The Dig)