From Gary Tietjen, Ernst Albert Tietjen: Missionary and Colonizer (Bountiful, Utah: Family History Publishers, 1992), 350–52
Daughter of Ernest and Emma C. Born in Savoia, 18 March, 1882.
“Being a middle child in a growing family is never easy. Olga Tietjen coped with it by becoming rather reserved, though she was always helpful and friendly. She was tall, well-built, and had brown hair. She learned to work hard in the New Mexico desert home.
“When she was about twelve, she splintered her leg. An old Indian used his medicine and set it for her. Although she had to wear an elastic stocking all her life and it sometimes pained her, she was able to walk. She also had heart trouble most of her life, but everyone says they never heard her complain.
“With her sister Laura, she went to the railroad camps to cook and wash clothes for her father and Emma O’s boys, as the men earned as much as $15 a day. It is not known what wages she received, if any, although in those days girls weren’t usually paid for helping.
“Although Olga treasured a few running arguments with others, she was friendly and helpful to others in need.
“Olga was introduced to Niels Johnson who owned a store at Snowflake, Arizona. He was much older than she; his wife had died and left him with children who were, at that time, nearly grown. Olga was persuaded to marry Niels. They lived for a time in Kirtland, New Mexico, area where Niels opened another store, then they moved to Cowley, Wyoming. They had a home built at the rear of the store, a common practice in those early days. Eventually, their home was only about four blocks from the home of Olga’s sister Augusta, who married Ben Monk.
“Olga loved her children as they came into her home. She cared well for them and was kind. When the eldest of the three, Doris Emma, graduated from high school and turned 17 (Clifton was 15 and Caroline 13) Olga went to Salt Lake City for a couple of years to do genealogical and temple work. She did much research in her lifetime.
“Her daughter Caroline and Clifton’s wife, Edith, found employment in San Francisco where they associated with Howard and Grace Child, step-children of Olga’s sister, Doris Emma.
“In Wyoming, Olga became a baby-sitter for the two sons of her daughter, Doris Emma Thomsen. When Doris Emma and husband Carlo (an excellent cook and European violinist) moved to California to be near Caroline and Clifton, Olga went with them and continued to care for Carson and Theodore, delightful and highly intelligent young men. Niels died in 1921.
“In her early fifties, Olga had a stroke and died in San Francisco in January, 1942, greatly sorrowing her family. She was a good woman whose children and grandchildren were always important to her. They relate the cheerful way she played games with them and entertained them. She took them to the World’s Fair though her leg hurt her; she always saw that they were well-fed and liked to take them on little trips.
“All of Olga’s grandchildren return her kindness in the form of friendship to others and show great care for their parents. Olga cherished the gospel of Jesus Christ. She saw that Clifton filled an honorable mission to Europe and though Clifton and Doris Emma have now passed away, they and Carolone have given strong testimonies of the truth of the church for which their grandfather sacrificed so much.”