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Show ' ''-- Wi,9. 4sw-'- 4. vajteS f iv iVc Silk Industry In Brigham City In ?' z ?& y sy7 t- T-- w Ml Mary Stark, President; S. P. Sweden; Sent Some Converts To Brigham City Boothe. Mary Snow, Eugena On June 19, 1850, Elder ForsJohn Eric Forsgren, first L. D, Peirce, Lydia Snow Peirce, assistants. While the work of S. missionary to Sweden. By gren arrived in Copenhagen bound for Sweden there to open learning the industry was car- Mrs. John Heber Forsgren. ried on the local people were Son of John Olah and Anna up a mission among his counCo-O- p He proceded to Gafle, busy planting mulberry orHolstrand Forsgren, trymen. a seaport town of Sweden sitchards or single trees on or near Christina There were in Brigham City their homes. Several such trees was born Nov. 7, 1816 in Gefle, uated at the mouth of the GafSweden. He was baptized in le River and on the Bay of during the Co-odays some are still growing around town. Boston, Mass. In his youth he Bothnia. Near this city he found furTwo on are the corner of first was a sailor and as such forty different industries, visited his brother Peter Adolph Fors- nishing employment to all the south and First east near Mrs. all of the important seaports of people who otherwise were not Yates home. One is north of the world. He served with the gren and his sister Christina to the Cooley hospital near First Mormon Battalion and was the Ereka Forsgren still living at employed, and especially the old homestead. His father help emigrants who were as north. A few of the Second ward only Scandinavian in the or- Johan Forsgren was abyet not acquainted with the lan- mulberry grove are still stand- ganization. He arrived in the sent on Olof a sea voyage to Amerguage of our American ways, ing on Third west and Sixth great basin as early as 1849. He, ica. Elder Forsgren found his hut who, themselves, had usu- south. One grove was planted by with Hans C. Hansen of Denbrother very sick with consumpally learned a trade in their the Relief society in each ward. mark and Ellen Sanders Kim- tion, and by the physicians denative land, and learned it The writer, as a youngster, ball of Norway, were the first clared past recovery. most thoroughly. But the silk helped his mother and father representatives of Scandinavia Upon making known the obindustry was a relatively new plant the ones'in the Fourth in the Rocky mountains. of his visit to the neighbors ject to of across and them the road from the many industry ward, At a conference of the he immediately encountered optherefore had to start from Fourth ward meeting house, church special held In Salt Lake City The laws of the counscratch and learn every step, east. in October, 1849, a number of position. later teaching it to others, which In 1897 the state legislature missionaries were called to go try prescribed penalties for any they willingly did. In pioneer passed a bill providing for a to distant lands. They became religious movement which the priests regarded as dajs the people were guided state commission composed of the first missionaries to be sent Lutheran to the Lutherian creed largely by t cclesiatieal authori- five members to be appointed out from the Valley to preach inimical which is the state religion of ties in every line of work in by the governor. As a result of the restored gospel to Sweden. The Lutherian priests other words they pooled thetr the passage of this bill the silk countries. Elder John E.foreign Forsinformation for their common industry flourished, good spun gren was sent to his native with the civil authorities-- on their side were strict in enforcgood. In 1S76 Brigham Young silk bringing 84 cents per pound. country, Sweden, under the dithe laws even though the organised a state Seracultural Perhaps the Forsgren family rection of Apostle Erastus Snow. ing were insistent on repeople society with Zina D. Young as made the most outstanding sue He with thirty-fou- r other mismore liberty. its president. The stake presi- cess in the silk line, as they sionaries met at the mouth of ceiving The first convert to the truthdent of the Relief society auto- wove in all, 120 yards for them- Emigration canyon where they of his teachings was his local selves, in addition to many were set apart and received fulness matically became the brother Peter Adolph Forsgren president. They in turn passed yards they sold for as high as their instruction. Pres. Brigham who through faith and annoint-inthe instructions on to the ward $2.00 per yard. They also made Young met with them and orwith oil had been raised directors. Harriet Squires Snow silk neckties and mittens. Mrs. ganized them for traveling Ocfrom his bed of sickness and had general supervision here. Eliza Forsgren was called on a tober 19, 1849. pronounced cured by his physiIler assistants were Susannah mission to Chicago to demoncians. He was baptized a memP. Boothe, and Mary Stark. The strate the work of silk making tall but were vigorously eut ber of the church of Jesus Christ local directors w'ere Harriet S. In Utah. At the manufacturing back so as to produce new wood of Latter Day Saints on July 26 Snow. Brigham City; Jane Perry, at the worlds fair on which the leaves grew much 1850, being the first person to Three Mile Creek (Perry); Mary dtparlment in 1893, Utah silk received a larger and more tender making come into the church in the Ann Hubbard, and Willard, a better grade of silk. Many Scandinavian mission. Soon afmedal. Hannah Ha: per of Harper ward. gold While passing from Damascus homes in Brigham City in those ter he baptized his brother John President Young sent to France to Beyrout in norther Palesdays were noisy with the low E. Forsgren, baptized his sister for cocoons and instruction: tine, the writer passed through rumbling of the silk worms at and two other converts in Gafle. and each ward sent one repre- several mulberry groes where their work making silk. One Then he decided to go to Stocksentative to Salt Lake City for the Syrians are engaged in the such home with Mrs. Sophia An- holm the capitol of Sweden hoptraining. Brigham City sent silk industry, and was impress- dersen, grandmother of D. O. ing to find more tolerance on Octavia Pierce to Salt Lake City ed with their improved meth- end Lester Andersen, who made the part of the officials. to learn the reeling of silk. She ods as He performed with ours of many yards of silk. Some sea21 baptisms, in turn taught one person from earlier compared There the trees sons she sold as high as S100.00 translated some L. D. S. liters-- ; days. each ward how to do the work, were not allowed to grow bounty on her crop of cocoons. ture into the Swedish language. Days p u g , i. 0 1 4 's penhagen . branch conferawe and later as president of the Scandinavian mission. He opened a council by which many people were converted to He was president of the first company of saints to sail from Scandinavia. The company of two hundred and nine- saints sailed on the Forest Monarch. Some of these emigrants settled in Brigham City, Box Elder county and in Sanpete county, Utah. On February 15,' 1848 he married Sarah Bell Davis,- daughter of William and Sarah McGee Davis, first settlers of Brigham City. According to L. D. S. church - Mor-monis- r - records on December 25, 1845, he married Mary Ann Hunt in Boston, Mass. Nothing more is known of this marriage. Three children were born to John Eric and Sarah Bell Davis. They were Charles William, Sarah Alice and John Heber. In 1856 he and his family moved to Carson City, Nevada, in answer to a call from President Brigham Young for. colonizers. They remained there until the spring of 1858 when all the saints were called back to Utah because of the coming of Johnson's army. Shortly after this Mr... .Forsgren became- .in-- , active in church and civil The history books of his native land, Sweden, speak of him as a great colonizer. His contemporaries speak of him as a very intellectual man, enthusiastic in any cause he espoused, and bold in the declarations of his beliefs. His contribution to Utah itself has been mainly through the work of his descendants, and. the people he converted to Mormonism. He died January 22, 1890 in Salt Lake City, Utah, of an ailment incident to age and physical exposure. He was buried in the Brigham City cemetery. Do you have a news item of Interest? 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