Probably unfortunately for this search, if he had been in US in 1890 he might have been found in the US census for that year. Of course that census was mostly destroyed and not usable.
Does he turn up in the Norwegian censuses in 1900 or 1910? In the 1910 he might report where he last lived in US as some of the repatriots were covered in that fashion in that census.
Do you know of any other relatives of Johannes' in US, aunts, uncles and cousins?