Johansson, Eva

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Swedish American Genealogist Volume 36 Number 3 Article 2 9-1-2016 Her strong faith brought her to America Eva Johansson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag  Part of the Genealogy Commons, and the Scandinavian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Johansson, Eva (2016) "Her strong faith brought her to America," Swedish American Genealogist: Vol. 36 : No. 3 , Article 2. Available at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag/vol36/iss3/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Swedish American Genealogist by an authorized editor of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@augustana.edu. 1Swedish American Genealogist 2016:3On 6 June 2013, we meet for the very firsttime, cousin Lynette and me. She had trave-led far, all the way from Arizona in theUnited States, to see the farm in centralHalland in Sweden where her great-grand-mother was born. With her on her trip, shehad her husband Lynn Miles and sisterSharol with husband Bill Moore.Lynette and I had been in touch for overa year, and sent each other a lot of infor-mation via e-mail. Now we could finallymeet. And we knew instinctively that wewere related. Lynette’s great-grandmotherAlbertina and my great-grandfather Ema-nuel were siblings.My great-grandfather Emanuel Larsson(b. 28 May 1842 in Askome, Hall.), hadsix  siblings. Three of them died as infants,the rest grew up to be adults. The oldestsister was named Albertina and she im-migrated to America. Her sister Josefinamoved to Denmark and their little brotherCarl Alfred stayed at home and bought afarm in the neighboring parish.Her strong faith brought her to AmericaAlbertina - a strongwomanThis story is about Albertina Larsdotter,strong and stubborn, her hat high on herhead. She traveled halfway around theworld, had a strong religious conviction,and gave birth to 14 children.This her family knew nothing about thatday of 15 January 1847 when she was bornon the farm Svenstorp in Köinge parish inHalland, a few miles north of the parishchurch. Her parents, Lars Arvidsson (b. 1Dec. 1817 in Askome) and Anna ChristinaSvensdotter (b. 7 Apr. 1819 in Köinge),had bought the farm in 1843 and movedhere when their eldest son Emanuel was ayear old. During her childhood, Albertinaexperienced the death of half of hersiblings. Maybe this affected her religiousfaith.To DenmarkLars Arvidsson was not only a farmer, hewas also a constable in the village. A fewyears after he bought the farm, Lars suedthe seller after some irregularities weredetected with the sale. Lars won the battle.Some time later he bought another part ofSvenstorp, so that he now owned the wholehomestead. But in 1860 he sold everythingafter they became insolvent, and Lars andChristina settled in the little cottage Kop-paråsen where they lived until his death 40years later. The children followed them tothe cottage.When Albertina was 17, she moved tothe city of Falkenberg and became a maidin a family. It was a sixteen-day journeyaway,  so visits home at the cottage maybedidn’t happen so often.In Falkenberg, she became a maid atJohan August Lindgren’s, who was a tailor,and his wife Beata Charlotta Norman. Theylived at block number 50, at the addressStorgatan 38, where the tailor and hisfamily rented a home. The owner of theproperty was a blacksmith’s widow IngerBY EVA JOHANSSONAlbertina Larsdotter around 1876.Svenstorp in Köinge parish (Hall). (Photo by Eva Johansson).The story of an early immigrant to Utah and her life there2 Swedish American Genealogist 2016:3Christina Möller. There is a famous pain-ting from 1892 that shows this particularhouse and courtyard. The painting wasmade by Robert Lundberg. In 1903 thehouses were demolished.After a year in Falkenberg, Albertinamoved to the parish of Morup where sheworked as a maid for the tenant AlfredStrömberg and his wife Anna Maria Nor-man on the farm Sjöbohl. With them shestayed for two years, then moved backhome, and the next year immigrated toRanders in Jutland in Denmark. This wasin August 1868.There she soon married Nils Nilsson,20 years old and from Kristianstad inSweden. They had two children, AlmaMaria, who died three weeks old in 1871,and a son Nils born 12 Mar. 1873 in Rand-ers. He came with his mother in 1877directly to Utah. He died 26 Mar. 1954, inBlackfoot,  Bingham Co., ID.Why she chose to leave Sweden forDenmark we do not know, but it was notunusual for Swedish adolescents to be guestworkers there, as well as in Germany.MormonIt was in Randers Albertina found her faithand became a Mormon. On 26 August1876, she was baptized there into TheChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.It was founded in 1830 by the AmericanJoseph Smith and is now headquartered inSalt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.Albertina was a very devout Mormonand when Nils did not share the same faiththey divorced.In 1850, the Mormons had arrived inDenmark and Sweden. In Denmark, therewas freedom of religion since 1849, but inSweden free churches were still prohibited.It took until 1858 before the law waschanged and leaving the Swedish StateChurch became possible, under the con-dition that you joined another church.As an adult Albertina’s older brotherEmanuel became a religious brooder.Perhaps Albertina was influenced by him.Her faith is well documented and wasstrong throughout her life and her childrenand descendants in later generations arestill active Mormons. Lynette, great-grand-daughter of Albertina, and her husbandLynn have assignments within the churchwhere they live.Albertina took her young son Nils andwent to America and the Mormon Churchin Utah. They arrived in July 1877, andcame to Heber City in Wasatch Co., justeast of Salt Lake City where she became ahousekeeper for Bengt Petersson (name inSweden: Persson), also a Mormon fromSweden. He was born 12 July 1825 inHögseröd (Malm.) and had recently beenwidowed, his 2nd wife was Johanna Jons-dotter, born 24 July 1834 in Farhult(Malm.), who died 4 April 1877 in HeberCity. She left Bengt with six minor child-ren.14 childrenIt was not long before Albertina and Bengtmarried. It actually only took a few months.But their first child, daughter Martha, wasnot born until a year later, in July 1878.She died at only three months old, but wasfollowed by eleven siblings. Over the nexttwelve years Albertina was either pregnantor had a newborn baby to care for. Eightof Albertina’s 14 children lived only a shorttime after birth, up to a few months.According to her son Hyrum, she had haddifficulty breastfeeding her children, shehad too little milk, and they probably didnot get enough nutrition when they need-ed it most.Bengt was already 50 when he started anew family with twelve children to come.In Sweden, he had been married in his 20’sand had three children before his wife died.He remarried and had five children beforethe family emigrated in 1870. In the U.S.,a daughter was born before Bengt lost hiswife.They immigrated for the same reasonas Albertina, they had become Mormonsand wanted to get to the temple in Salt LakeCity. An additional factor was the severefamine in Sweden in the late 1860’s, whichmeant that many families at that timesearched for a better future in America.The farmThe same summer as Albertina and Nilsarrived in the family, Bengt had acquiredtwo  areas of land of 80 acres each, throughthe Homestead Act. The area is locatedalong Lake Creek about one mile east ofHeber City, Utah. Here they built them-selves a log house. Behind the house ran astream of cold and clear water.Lynette tells us about how the toughyears of hard work were for those who weresettlers in this area. They were attacked byIndians once, when neither parents nor theolder siblings were at home. But the oldersister Josephine managed to get away withThe area of Utah where Albertina and her husband Bengt Peterson had their farm.3Swedish American Genealogist 2016:3the smaller children into a shed and keepthem quiet. Through the cracks in the wallthey could see the Indians go through themain house.Bengt was, as many Scandinavians, bigand strong. At home in Sweden, he hadbeen the only farmhand in the parish whocould lift the largest stone and throw it faraway. His strength was not matched ingoodness; he was a strict and unforgivingfather, his children have said. They oftenwere beaten, both by hand and with a whip,and had to go to bed without supper. Butthen Albertina came to them at night withsomething to eat and to comfort. Alber-tina’s and Bengt’s son Hyrum (Lynette’sgrandfather) was beaten by a teacher atschool when he was twelve years old andrefused to return. Bengt forced him to doso but just when they arrived at the schoolHyrum ran away. After three years he retur-ned home, but his father didn’t want to seehim. Two of Hyrum’s brothers ran awayBengt Peterson (1825-1913).The author Eva Johanssonlives in Sweden.E-mail: <eva@evagun.se>Modern picture from Heber City, Utah.from their father at the same age and severalof the children and grandchildren have saidthat Bengt was a moody and hard man withexcessive demands on his children.Albertina, however, was a good, friend-ly, and happy mother and grandmother.“She never raised her voice against anyone”her granddaughter Olive Bowen has said.Albertina’s faithSince she had become a Mormon, duringher life Albertina had a very strong faith,which was a guidance during the remainderof her life. In her old age she wrote a storyabout her life. She was deeply involved inthe local Mormon Church and the familywent twice a year to the big temple in SaltLake City. They always paid their tithes tothe church, even when they themselveswere poor, and used only shops owned byMormons.In 1894 Bengt was appointed to go toSweden as a missionary for the MormonChurch for one year. Then Albertina andthe children who were at home had to runthe farm, as best they could.Eventually the family sold the farm andAlbertina and Bengt spent their last yearstogether in Driggs, Teton Co., ID, with theirdaughter Emily Ann Josephine, marriedOlmstead.On 24 Nov. 1913 Bengt died in Driggs.Albertina then settled down in Salt LakeCity, right next to the large temple whereshe volunteered well into old age. Herchildren and grandchildren took care of herand she passed away on July 7, 1932, atthe age of 85.Albertina in Salt Lake City ca 1916.The Salt Lake Temple. (Photo by E. Thorsell2014.)Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Temple is atemple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-ter-day Saints (LDS Church) located on TempleSquare in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.At 253,015 square feet (23,505.9 m2), it is thelargest LDS temple by floor area. Dedicated in1893, it is the sixth temple completed by thechurch, requiring 40 years to complete, and thefourth temple built since the Mormon exodusfrom Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846.[Wikipedia]

Her strong faith brought her to America

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Her strong faith brought her to America

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