Ruthora Traugh, 86, of Acme, once posed with her great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and daughter for a five-generation picture. She recently did it again, but instead of being the next to the youngest generation in the picture, she fills the oldest generation slot. Emma Johnson, her 5-week-old great-great-grandaughter, comes in as the youngest generation. "With these two pictures together, our family history spans more than 150 years," says her grandson, Carl Johnson, who figures that Elizabeth Gearhart Palmer, the oldest generation represented in the first five-generation picture, was born around the 1840s. Traugh was born in 1916, an age that didn't have indoor plumbing or other amenities that Emma will more than likely never have to worry about doing without. "When I was little, we didn't have electricity and we had an outhouse," says Traugh. "We didn't hardly have anything until about the '40s." Her toys included a hoop and a handle and ball bats made out of her dad's pick handles. "One thing that's different with Emma and Grandma Traugh is that when it comes to toys, Fisher Price is king now, and I'm fairly sure they weren't around back then," says her great-grandson Philip Johnson (Emma's father). He concedes that Emma has no homemade toys "except for the crocheted octopus that Grandma Traugh made for her." Wiona (Traugh) Johnson was born in 1935 and went to a two-room schoolhouse that served eight grades. "I lived in Acme and we walked to Freeman Falls to go swimming," says Wiona Johnson. She also admits to going to a square dance or two. Carl Johnson, Wiona Johnson's son, was born in 1954 and was involved with Boy Scouts. He grew up in Mill Run. "My brother and I were the best of friends and we hunted and fished," says Carl Johnson. "I do genealogy research on the side, and to have five generations living at the same time is great," he adds. Philip Johnson, son of Carl Johnson, was born in 1976 where he lived in Mill Run and then, later, in Normalville. "My brother and I and our cousin Mike played ball, built dams in the creek and tried to build cabins in the woods," says Philip Johnson. "I think it's just really special to have five generations, because Amanda (Grindle Johnson, his wife) only has one grandparent, so to have a great-great grandparent is just really special," he adds. Emma Johnson was born on Dec. 5, 2002. Her parents hope that she will one day realize how special it is to be involved in five generations of family history.

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