Fred Johnson was born May 6, 1851 at Avre Romerike, Norway. He came to America in 1869 at the age of eighteen. His mother, sister Annette and brother Gust, came later.

Fred worked in a butcher shop in Chicago and as a lumberjack before coming to Barnes County in 1879. He homesteaded on Section 30, Thordensjold Township, the first to homestead in this township.

Fred Johnson married Thora Tufsrud, who also was born in Norway in 1860. To this union were born three children: Eugene, born September 17, 1884; Alex born October 6, 1885 and Adolph, born January 2, 1887. In 1899 a foster child, Nellie, became a member of the family.

Adolph and Alex attended the Agriculture College at Fargo but all worked on the family farm until retirement. Thora Johnson passed away February 20, 1916. Fred followed on January 12, 1939. Eugene died at the age of eighty and Alex at the age of eighty two. Nellie and Adolph survive, living in Valley City.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 113