The "Flying Toilet Seat Salesman": Pat Johns, Algoma's #1 Screwball and RAF Fighter Pilot

Record Herald clipping

If any Algoma resident trained with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Canada other than Newman “Pat” Johns, he didn’t get Johns’ press. Perhaps the notoriety came because Johns was the son of Joshua L. Johns, Wisconsin’s 8^th District Congressman who got so much ink that he nearly swam in it.

Serving in the House of Representatives in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Joshua Johns’ stance on neutrality was nationally known. A radio address in 1940 brought an orchestrated post card campaign. Interesting is that the pre-printed cards were sent from all over the U.S. Ironically, during World War l it was Joshua Johns’ leadership that put Kewaunee County over the top – 101% - in the Victory liberty Loan drives. Joshua was born a small town boy in Richland Center, Wisconsin and never forgot those roots.

Pat Johns was also a small town boy though he had big city experiences. Maybe a big city kid would have preferred being called Newman. Newman was Pat’s baptismal name. His mother was Esther Newman, daughter of Sam Newman who founded Plumbers Woodwork, a manufacturing force for most of 100 years in what is now Algoma. It was Esther who gave the city one of its parks, one called Newman Park. Joshua ran the Plumbers. He was an attorney who also served in Congress.

Little more than a year after graduating from Algoma High School with the Class of 1932, Pat was one of about 100 in his company at the San Diego Naval Training Station during August 1933 when he was selected as the weekly man of honor, one who demonstrated a neat appearance, initiative, and excellence from instruction. A few years later –August 1936 - Johns was stationed at Pearl Harbor when the news of his wedding was announced. St. Andrew’s Cathedral in the Territory of Hawaii was the scene of the wedding uniting him with Oconto’s Marjorie Chosa. They sent greetings from “Honolulu, Crossroads of the World and Paradise of the Pacific.”  

In May 1937 it was announced that the young couple arrived in Algoma from Honolulu to make their home in the lower flat of the Johns’ home on Third Street. Pat joined the family business as Director of Sales. The marriage didn’t last long though and just before Christmas 1938 Judge Henry Grasse refused Pat's request for a divorce. At least temporarily. Johns said conflicts began soon after the marriage. Marjorie Johns protested the proceedings as the couple had a six-month old child and another on the way. Johns made news when the marriage was eventually dissolved, but there was more to come.

It was written in October 1939 that Pat Johns put Algoma in more newspapers across the country than anyone else in its history.  He achieved plenty of publicity that September when he announced both a trans-Atlantic and a trans-continental flight. At the time he had a student pilot license and flew from Chicago to Manchester, New Hampshire. The student license prohibited him from flying farther than 25 miles from the point of take-off. Just weeks later he had his solo license enabling him to go anywhere in the U.S. Filling in the blanks is not difficult.

The idea of a peace flight that brought the national press. An idea for such a flight came to him while talking with reporters. One of the newsmen jotted it down and somehow the story “got legs.” It made wire services and was blown out of proportion. By then Johns’ plane was in Chicago where mechanics were reconditioning it, enabling the 65 horsepower mator to clear the Rockies. From Chicago he planned to go west in 800 mile hops. Newspapers called Johns “bald in the head and bold in the air,”  however the papers seemed to be making sport of him when it was further said he was “Screwball #1” in the Algoma club of 200 members. Algoma probably still has a few of the charter members who paid their 10 cents to join it.

In addition to making all the necessary preparations – including that overhaul – the “Shamrock Kid” was going to do an air show in Minneapolis at what was then Wold-Chamberlain Field. After that he planned to take some time in Algoma before returning to California.  Johns was planning his transcontinental World’s Fair to World’s Fair hop – San Francisco to New York – which was thwarted when officials in Oakland, California refused to allow his take-off. Runways were 6,000’ but Johns had an incredible gas load. Then he went to Sacramento, planning a take-off on a 3,000’ runway!

When Johns talked about the transatlantic flight, he called it a peace trip. He said he wanted to do what FDR could not, and that was end the war in Europe. The plane called "Johns’ Midget" didn’t make it and the trip was scraped. Part of the problem was balking federal authorities,the  Federal Aeronautical Authority. He had dealings with them more than once.

Johns’ plane had a 34’ wing span and a cruising range of 250 miles, however he was determined that every available part of the cockpit would carry extra fuel to insure a non-stop flight. Somehow 160 gallons were crammed into his “flying gas tank,” increasing the cruising range to 3,000 miles that would, hopefully, give him that non-stop flight.  Plans were to use the Weemes System of navigation which estimated the flight would take 34-36 hours. Some thought obstacles were insurmountable and that Johns was a “screwball flier.” If the screwball came through, honors were sure to follow. It didn’t happen. Johns completely wrecked his small plane just after take-off. Those who witnessed the wreck said it was miraculous that Johns escaped with nothing more than a few bruises.

While the trans-continental and trans-Atlantic flights were tabled, Johns became a member of the Canadian Hurricane Fighter Squadron and in 1943 was promoted from fighter pilot to a flying officer.

Early in 1941 while his father was pleading for defeat of Lend-Lease, it was said Pat was away from Algoma some time and making plans for his training. Congressman Johns said 95% of the country sided with England as did he, but the U.S. had done nothing to create the war unless it was the world war, meaning World War l. He felt more than one man – FDR - should decide about going to war. In February Congressman Johns spoke before Congress saying he was saddened with a “heavy-heart” because his only child had phoned to say that he was joining the RAF. The Congressman told his House colleagues that his son had been flying for many years and would leave for Canada in a month. Following 6 months of training, Pat would leave for England. Meanwhile Pat was in Algoma and when asked, for whatever reason, he denied his enlistment.

There were rumors about Pat and exactly what was going on with him. The war in Europe was ratcheting up but the U.S. was not involved when in June 1941, Canadian papers were full of Johns. While his father believed in neutrality, Pat was training with the RAF in Canada and getting ready to go to England. It was said that Johns found a four-leaf clover while having dinner with newspaper publisher Arthur Ford. He told Ford the clover would give him good luck and he intended to fill his “quota of Heinies.” Johns was full of confidence because when he was asked to bring back Hitler, he said he couldn’t do it because the Fuhrer was already promised to one in Chicago. It was said Pat had stationery printed with a green caption in the corner: “Pat Johns, the Wild Irishman.” Whether or not that was true, Chicago friends gave him an ID bracelet engraved with “Wild Irishman.” The London Free Press felt he was going to be an ace airman. He had the enthusiasm, pluck and love of adventure. What was not written was that he was also called “the flying toilet seat salesman.”

Oct. 30, 1942

Congressman Johns was asked by the publisher of the London Free Press – the Canadian newspaper – if there were not family inconsistencies. After all, the Congressman voted against Lend-Lease and his son wanted to fight the Germans. Not so said Joshua Johns. He was all for Britain and against all Hitler stood for. His problem was President Roosevelt having too much power and becoming a dictator himself. Johns said even if Lend-Lease failed, Britain would get aid.

Sixty-three fliers began the Canadian Air Force program, 43 finished and only 11 would win the commission. In July 1942 the papers hinted that Pat would be one of 11 commissioned. In 1943 Pat was in Newfoundland flying a fighter plane for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Algoma felt it would have something to cheer about if he ever did get to England. Canadian papers felt he’d do big things.

If Algoma’s” #1 Screwball” achieved his dreams, the press didn’t follow. At his father’s death in 1947, the obituary indicated Pat was living in Toronto. A year earlier Pat was visiting in Algoma when the newspaper mentioned the former RAF officer as being there for a few days before returning to Toronto and his job as a taxi driver. Newspapers that were filling pages with the exploits of a man on either side of 25 said he graduated from Belle Easton private high school in Algoma. Possibly there was confusion about which Algoma. Was it the one in Wisconsin or perhaps someplace in the Town of Algoma in Ontario, Canada? No doubt there were errors in other stories as well.

Whatever followed World War ll, Pat Johns’ celebrity status gave Algoma something else to think about. His grandfather Sam Newman entertained Ahnapee, as the city was then called, with his race horses. Sam knew horse flesh. Pat’s father Joshua was the only city resident who served as 8^th District Congressman. Pat was the only city resident to serve in the RAF. He was also the only city resident honored as #1 Screwball and its only flier to be called “the flying toilet seat salesman.”

Sources: Algoma Record Herald; Commercial Development in Youngs and Steele Plat and Other Selected Properties in Algoma, Wisconsin, c. 2006; Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010;  Joshua Johns files in the Area Research Center at UW-Green Bay; Yours Truly from Kewaunee County, c. 2014.

Ahnapee/Algoma and the Christmas Tree Connections

Two Rivers’ Rogers Street Fishing Village has a treasure trove of information with its numerous artifacts from the famed Christmas tree ship Rouse Simons. Christmas Tree Point is found in Algoma and is named in honor of the 52 Christmas tree ship captains known to have passed the Lake Michigan port city. Author-historian Fred Neuschel found that 44% of all Christmas tree ship crew members were from Algoma. Captains such as the Schuenemann brothers, Armstrong, Nelson and Sibilsky were among the illustrious. Others were not quite so well known. Increasing numbers of German immigrants to Milwaukee and Chicago brought a demand for evergreen trees at Christmas, and the ship captains did their best to supply them. November weather is Lake Michigan's worst, but it was the affect on the bottom line made the tree captains feel the risks were worth it.

When Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Schuenemann stepped on to the dock the day they came from Manitowoc to settle in Ahnapee in 1860, first born August was a baby. Other children followed, including Herman, the second Christmas tree captain in the family. August was the first. The boys and their siblings spent their childhoods and beyond in Ahnapee before most of the family moved to Chicago in the 1880s. Though far from Ahnapee, they maintained contact with relatives including their uncle, Herman Bietz.

Herman Schuenemann

It was the golden age of schooners on Lake Michigan. Traffic was so high before 1900 - and for awhile after - that boats were known to come upon ship-wrecked survivors. But it didn’t happen in November 1898 when August and his crew went down with the S. Thal. August had recently purchased the vessel and was taking trees from Sturgeon Bay to Chicago. As rough weather got worse, August made a run for shelter at Manitowoc. Continuing to Chicago when the weather died down, the Thal again met severe weather about 30 miles north of the city. As winds pushed the boat toward shore, Schuenemann tried to get the vessel farther out into the lake while flying distress signal flags which were seen though not reported.  All were lost when the boat went down. By then the Schuenemann brothers were living in Chicago where Herman had stayed with his wife who had recently given birth to twins Pearl and Hazel. Had Herman been with August that fateful day - as he would have been without the new babies - the rest of the story would have never happened.

August was gone but the Schuenemann tradition continued without interruption and loads of Christmas trees were taken to Chicago from northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. That last trip of the year often provided more income than a season of sailing and the additional money meant repairs to the old wooden boats.

There was a romance in a ship loaded with Christmas trees coming into port to be met by throngs of excited people.  With his whiskers, stature and sparkling eyes, Herman added to that romance presenting an image fitting Clement Moore’s description of jolly old St. Nick.  And, Herman was a generous man who also knew how to market himself. Dubbed “Captain Santa,” Herman was a Chicago favorite. Income from the last voyages was dwindling and in early November 1911, Herman told reporters that interest in the trees was waning.  That year his cargoes held 27,000 trees while a year earlier the city was supplied with 150,000 trees, though not all his. He figured 100,000 trees would meet the needs in 1911. What happened? It was partially the railroad, and tree farms were coming into vogue.

When Herman’s Rouse Simons left Thompson, Michigan that 1912 November day, many looked at the sky and wondered why he was leaving. It was said that even the rats ran off the ship in the brewing storm, however Herman felt he could outrun it. His crew would have been light as at least one crew member also took off.  

Kewaunee Station 1909

This blogger’s ancestors were in school with the Schuenemann kids and the families attended St. Paul’s Church together. Farming along the lake as they did, how many times did my grandparents see the Christmas tree ships go past? When the Rouse Simons was off Kewaunee that 1912 day, she was seen and known to be in distress. Grandpa’s first cousin Nelson Craite was the Kewaunee lighthouse keeper. There was a valiant rescue attempt but the seas were too rough and the life-saving crew was powerless. Kewaunee Station called Two Rivers to be on the lookout. Joe Dionne, another first cousin, had been reassigned to Sheboygan sometime before. In his place was Capt. George Sogge, a man with ties to Algoma. When Joe was interviewed after it was known the Simons was lost, he said conditions on Lake Michigan were bad as he’d ever seen them.

The Rouse Simons went down before it reached Two Rivers, but where?. Over the years trees washed up along the shore and eventually a “farewell” note in a bottle was found washed ashore near Sheboygan. It took 49 years for the boat to be found by diver Kent Bellrichard, and somewhat by accident. Bellrichard was diving to a wreck, but he never expected it to be the Rouse Simons.

When the boat failed to reach Chicago on schedule, Barbara Schuenemann and her daughters were concerned, though in storms captains made for the safety of a port and stayed until the storm blew itself out. It didn’t happen that time. Captain Santa was gone and greatly missed, though his spirit remained. Barbara and the  girls, Elsie, Pearl and Hazel, took over supplying trees and greens to the folks in Chicago. In November 1916 - four years after Herman went down - the paper mentioned Barbara loading her new schooner with trees in Schoolcraft Co., Michigan. Barbara, then being called the “Christmas Queen,” worked with one daughter to scour the woods of the U.P.  Another daughter remained in Chicago to handle sales.

In February 1950, papers announced the death of 56 year old Elsie Schuenemann Roberts, the Schuenemanns’ eldest daughter who carried on. It was said she was called “Elsie, the Christmas wreath girl” as she was the holly wreath supervisor, but there were also times that Elsie skippered the boat. At Elsie’s death, her twin sisters Pearl Ehlign and Hazel Gronemann were still living in Chicago.

Over the years other stories have added to the Schuenemann Christmas lore, but not all are true. One story dates to December 1873 when, as the tale goes, Herman was aboard Capt. Johnny Doak’s Ella Doak as it hurled itself against the fierce winds and waves to jump the sandbar to enter the Ahnapee River. The little bark did get into the river, a feat thought to be nearly impossible. It was said Johnny and his crew of Herman, Orange Conger, Sea Star Sibilsky, Alec Doak and Charles Nelson sailed in that ferocious weather to get home in time for Christmas dinner. When George Wing told the story, he said the feat was miraculous. However, Wing was the 16 year old editor of the young Ahnapee Record when he wrote about the event for the first time in July 1873. Writing his historical memoirs 30 or 40 years later, he had the Doak jumping the bar on Christmas Day. It’s a great story and so well written that one is freezing in the wind and cold just reading it. But it didn’t happen that way. Years later when articles said Herman Schuenemann was on the Doak for the Christmas miracle, it wasn’t true. Quite possibly if there was a Schuenemann aboard, it was August who was several years older than Herman, however August is not recorded as being on that boat either. Frederick and Louisa Schuenemann were against their sons going to sea and it is doubtful that 7 or 8 year old Herman could have gone against his parents’ wishes in 1873. Capt. Doak had an exceptionally fine crew; he didn’t need a kid.

A humorous Algoma connection to Christmas and the lake extends to the visits of the schooner Reindeer which serviced the lake ports picking up bones to be taken to city soap factories. By 1959, Algoma had another Christmas tree connection. Manitowoc’s Jerry Waak approached a relative, Algoma’s Maynard Feld, with an idea. Jerry’s Aluminum Specialty Company wanted to manufacture aluminum Christmas trees and he wanted Maynard’s Algoma Dowel Co. to supply the tree trunks. Christmas was in the air all year. Joe Schmidt, Frank Weisner, Melvin Keller, the Haegele brothers and Wally Englebert were a few of the men running the rod machines which formed dowels from strips of lumber. The dowels were sawn into the appropriate lengths by Aggie Langer, Elsie Schmidt, Gloria Zak and Jerry Vandertie. Munchkins – part-time teenage employees – drilled holes into the sections, allowing them to be pinned together to form the trunk as tall as desired. AlSpeCo, as the Manitowoc company was called, sprayed the trunks silver before drilling holes at intervals all around from top to bottom. Aluminum branches fitted into the holes formed the tree. When Christmas was over, the tree was easily taken apart and neatly stored in a remarkably small box to be kept for the following year.

The aluminum trees started as silver trees. Then there were gold or pink among the purchasing choices. Trees revolved. Then came the plates with blue, green, red and yellow sections. The plate revolved with the tree and as the plate passed over an upward-shining spotlight, the revolving tree turned colors. The aluminum Christmas trees were a fad far from the green trees brought by the tree captains, the trees farmers cut in their woodlots or city folks bought on a street corner. A little less than 100 years after the Christmas tree ship captains made an economic impact on Ahnapee/Algoma, aluminum Christmas trees were making an impact of their own.

One can only imagine what the Christmas tree captains of over 100 years ago would think seeing today’s artificial trees or the perfectly formed and shaped real trees coming from the tree farms. What comes next?

Wisconsin Historical Society Museum has had displays of Aluminum Specialty Co. trees, aluminum wreaths and more. Rochelle Pennington has written a marvelous book – and a children’s book – about Capt. Schuenemann. Fred Neuschel tells the stories of Schuenemann and all the captains coming from Ahnapee and Virginia Johnson tells the story of the growth of Ahnapee from its beginnings as Wolf River to 1897 when the place was renamed Algoma. Hans Nell and Wes Cox tell the stories of the Schuenemann family in their award-winning Algoma House Histories. Rogers Street Fishing Village in Two Rivers is a wonderful summer destination. So is Algoma.

Captain Armstrong’s great-granddaughter Nancy gifted a bench to the city. One can sit on the bench, gazing from Christmas Tree Point out into the lake imagining a time that was. The view has changed a bit. The old piers were there during the heyday of the Christmas tree ships, but in the early days there was no lighthouse. There were range markers. Schuenemann began spotting Algoma’s old lighthouse (left) in 1898. It was much like the one that can be entered at Rogers Street, though considerably larger. 

It’s been nearly 100 years since the last tree ship sailed south, but the romantic history of a time that was remains.