Johannes Johnsen was born of Danish parents May 19, 1864, in the province of Schleswig Holstein  near Denmark. In 1884, at the age of 20 years, he immigrated to the United States and settled in the area of Cordova Nebraska. 

Catherina Schilling was born November 2, 1863 and immigrated to America from Woines, Germany in 1886.

Johannes and Catherina were married on November 2, 1888 in York County, Nebraska. They settled on an 80 acre farm in the West Blue Township on the Seward and York County line. They purchased the 80 acre farm for $50 cash, a $1,400 first mortgage and a $400 second mortgage. It took them 10 years to pay for the farm which cost them $23 per acre. Just after World War I, they bought a quarter section (160 acres) at a cost of $141 per acre. Their last purchase of land in Seward County was 160 acres in 1934 at a cost of $56 per acre. They retired from farming in 1916 and moved into the village of Cordova, Nebraska.

To the union of Johannes and Catherina, six sons and two daughters were born, Arthur Johnsen, Albert Johnsen, Walter Johnsen, Leonard Johnsen, Harold Johnsen, Lawrence Johnsen, Anna (Johnsen) Jensen and Alma (Johnsen) Tilman.

They were charter and lifetime members of Our Savior Lutheran Church of Cordova.

Johannes Johnsen died at his home in Cordova, Nebraska on March 29, 1951 at the age of 86 years. Catherina (Schilling) Johnsen died at the Warren Memorial Hospital in Friend, Nebraska in 1960 at the age of 97 years. This was the first time she had been hospitalized during her lifetime. At the time of her death, there were 27 grandchildren, 44 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren. Interment was in the Zastrow Cemetery near Cordova, Nebraska.

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