He inherited his father's farm, Kulltorp, .61 Swedish acres. It was originally a one room cabin. Originally a soldier's place "croft", given rent free by the ward's farmers to a soldier. It gave him a poor living while he was not on active duty. In exchange, no one in the ward, a part of the parish, would be drafted in wartime. The ward was called Folsvik No. 2.

He inherited it about 1880. He married and took over, added a room and a loft and moved in about 1882?, they believe.

He married Maria Nåsfelt in December, 1880. She was probably a soldier's daughter. They lived on the little farm and one day the next winter, they were riding on a horse drawn sleigh on lake Fölsjön, next to their place, and they crashed through the ice. She was so shocked that she held on to the railing and did not let go. Both the horse and Maria drowned, and when they brought her up she was still holding tight onto the handrail of the sleigh. Maria was pregnant and about seven months along.

The next winter, November, 1882, he second married Anna Bäcklund, a young woman who was a servant on a large farm in the parish.

They had eleven children and planted an apple tree for each of the children when they were born. These are lined up next to the small house. This made a nice orchard, some trees are still alive.

The place had one or two cows. There were a couple of outbuildings (one a barn with a thatched roof) which have since fallen down. Johan's son Alex took over the farm 1929 for a couple of years. Johan's daughter Olga (very slow) lived there her whole of her life and died there 1973. Then the family sold the farm.

He was a carpenter in the 1890 Varmland Census. He also made shoes in the winter. He made some shoes with birch bark soles for his wife to use in wet conditions.

People did not want used shoes and so they wanted them to squeak like new. He had to make them with a squeak in them; he could have made them quiet, but they would not have sold. His grandson Leif Söderquist has his shoemaking tools.

Seven of his children went to America and the youngest three stayed home. One child died in his third year.

The children finished school and confirmation and then at age 14 had to work outside the home.

There are no known pictures of him. He was buried in the Ostra Amtervik churchyard without a marker, as was the custom.