My Genealogy Hound

AUGUST JOHNSON is one of the most prosperous farmers of Hayes township. He was born in central Sweden, August 15, 1839, and is the son of John and Sarah (Styne) Larson, both of whom were natives of Sweden.

Our subject spent the first thirty years of his life in his native place, attending school and working on the farm. He came to America in 1869, landing at New York, June 15, and soon found employment in the stone quarries there. He then came West and located in Henderson county, Ill., where for eight years he labored on a farm. In 1873 he came to Kearney, Nebr., and with the money he had saved through his industry and rigid economy he purchased a half section of railroad land at $3.50 per acre. At that day there were but two or three settlers to be found between his place and Kearney (city), and it was one wild, unbroken prairie, and antelope could be seen in herds of twenty or thirty. Mr. Johnson returned to Henderson county, Ill., and in 1875 came back to look after his land. The grasshoppers had devastated the country the year previous, and when he arrived were fast destroying the crops of that year. Mr. Johnson was so discouraged that he offered his half section of land for sale at a great discount, but did not dispose of it. He went to Kearney, there being but five stores there then, and while there witnessed the grasshoppers come in clouds like an approaching storm and fall so thick and fast that he could not place his finger on the ground without touching one. He returned to Illinois, and, February 15, 1876, came back to look after his land. The outlook was but little better. Hearing better reports as time advanced, he came back in 1879 to stay. He traded his 160 acres of railroad land for eighty acres homestead and eighty acres railroad land, constructed a small dug-out and began “baching” it. He lived a lonely life for three years and then built a fine frame house. He has had good crops every year except one, when he had a partial failure. The fine buildings, together with the high state of cultivation of his farm, are good evidence of his prosperity since coming to Kearney county.

He was married March 15, 1885, to Louisa Wielhemena, who was born November 21, 1863, in central Sweden. She came to America when eighteen years of age, with an uncle, her father and mother having died when she was quite young. Her father and mother were Andrew P. and Sarah Louisa Weisman, both natives of Sweden. There were four children in the family, the other three still living in the old country. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson both incline to the Lutheran faith, although they are not members of the church. He helped to build the old sod church in his community, and later on contributed towards the erection of the present fine structure. Politically, Mr. Johnson is a republican.