John was born in Illinois, and was the second child of Johann and Catherine Kochendorfer. The family moved to St. Paul, MN in 1857, and then to Renville County, MN in April of 1862. Here they lived on a claim in the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of section 33, in Flora Township. The area was known as the Middle Creek settlement. On August 18, 1862, the first day of the Dakota uprising, Indians attacked the settlement, killing several in the community. John's father, Johann, was shot and killed near the farmhouse. The Indians then entered the house to kill his mother, Catherine, and his youngest sister, Sarah. John and his other sisters, Rose, Kate, and Margaret, aged nine, seven, and five, hid in some brush behind the house, and then escaped to the woods, traveling several miles before meeting some neighbors who took them to Ft. Ridgely. Following the uprising, the surviving Kochendorfer children went to St. Paul to stay with Gottfried and Marie (Dickhut) Schmidt, friends of the family. John and Margaret continued to live with the Schmidt family, while Rose and Kate went to live with other families. Margaret married John Erchinger in 1882. They lived in the St. Paul area until 1898, then moved to Tacoma, WA. Rose lived with the Theodore Keller family of Trimbelle, WI, and some years later married Theodore, whose wife died in 1865. Kate lived with the Miller family in Farmington, MN, and later married Jacob Stapf. John married Phillipena L. Bach in Woodbury, Washington County, MN on September 12, 1877. They eventually had five children, and lived on a farm in section 16 that would later become part of South St. Paul, MN. They were prominent citizens of South St. Paul. John participated in the development of the city and was a member of the board of education. For several years they lived in a large brick home at 965 18th Ave. N., and were still living there at the time of their deaths.