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Johann Heinrich Lienhard was born in Canton Glarus, Switzerland, on 19 January 1822. He lived and worked on his father's farm until 1843 when he left home to fulfill his ambition to emigrate to the United States. During his first years in the United States, he worked on various farms in Illinois, or as a woodcutter. In 1846, he joined a company of emigrants heading for California. Upon arrival, in order to pay his debts incurred by his western trek, he accepted the bounty offered and joined the United States Army and fought in the war with Mexico. Upon discharge, he went to work for John Augustus Sutter where gold was discovered in January 1848. Increased prosperity prompted Sutter to send Lienhard to Switzerland to escort the remainder of the Sutter family to California. The trip took about six months. Lienhard returned again to Switzerland and married Elsbeth Blumer in 1851. Three years later, he and his family traveled back to the United States and settled in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1856 they moved to Illinois and purchased the home formerly owned by Heber C. Kimball, LDS Church member of the Twelve Apostles. J. Heinrich Lienhard died on 19 December 1903 in Nauvoo, Illinois.