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LUDWIG H. JOHANNSEN.

Since coming to America in 1881, Ludwig H. Johannsen, a well-known farmer of Villa township, this county, has become the owner of a splendid farm of one hundred and fifty-nine acres. He is the only member of the Johannsen family living in Audubon county.

Ludwig H. Johannsen was born in Schleswig, Germany, on January 1, 1857, the son of Julius and Christena Johannsen, both natives of and residents of that section of Germany, who came to America in 1881 and located in Scott county, Iowa, where Julius Johannsen worked in a saw-mill. He remained in Scott county the remainder of his life, dying in 1895. His widow, the mother of Ludwig H., is still living. In their native land, Julius Johannsen was a ditching contractor. He and his wife lived to rear a family of five children, who are living in different parts of the country.

After having completed his education in the German schools, Ludwig H. Johannsen, worked in a tobacco factory until he came to America with his parents. Naturally, he located in Scott county with his parents and there he worked in a saw-mill with his father and also in a lumber yard. After remaining in Scott county for two years, he went to Wisconsin and worked as a logger in the timber until 1896, when he came to Audubon county and located in Melville township. After renting a farm in Melville township for about ten years, Mr. Johannsen purchased the farm where he now lives in Viola township. In addition to the land he owns he is also renting sixty acre of land. He raises eighty acres of corn every year and thirty acres of small grain, some of which he feeds to his hogs and cattle, but most of which he sells.

In 1885, four years after coming to America, Ludwig H. Johannsen was married to Anna Heyermann, daughter of Henry Heyermann, to which union seven children have been born, Henry, Hulda, George, Walter, Carl, William and Margaret, the latter two of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mr Johannsen, although they are not members of any church, attend the Lutheran church. Mr. Johannsen is an independent Republican in politics and has served as school director in Melville township and worthily discharged the duties of that office.

The Johannsen family is well known and all of the members of this family are highly respected in Viola township, where they have lived for years. Mr. Johannsen is considered one of the enterprising spirits of that township and one of its most capable and successful farmers.



Transcribed by Gunter Schanzenbacher, Waynesboro, PA, March 27, 2013 from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 586-587.