When Johannes Preisig was born on 22 July 1792, in Schwellbrunn, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland, his father, Hans Jakob Preisig, was 22 and his mother, Anna Magdalena Schiess, was 24. He married Anna Katharina Tobler on 2 December 1817. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 1 daughter. He died on 18 April 1862, at the age of 69.