| Show historical HISTO RIGAL OF J E FORSGREN the following paper written for the occasion by oluff petersen was read at the r forsgren family faintly reunion held in brigham city july 26 1916 having been asked to write a brief sketch of the forsgren family I 1 take great pleasure in III doing so I 1 find that in searching the meagre records that we have of these early settlers that the information obtained is also the history of the conditions in utah the condition in northern europe at the time of the introduction of the gospel in the scandinavian countries as well as tile the history of other scandinavian pioneers who located in this locality in 1853 4 5 descendants ants ot of whom are now so numerous in brigham city and the box rider elder stake and who are frequently asking questions regarding their pioneer ancestors mho ho embraced the go gospel as tau taught tit by uie the humble elders sent out by the authorities of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and who left all that nv was as near and dear to them in their native land and came to this then wilderness in the far west that the lord in due time according to the predictions of ills his prophets has made blossom as a rose as we are witnesses to john erick forsgren is the son of john 0 forsgren and anna christina olson lie he was born november 7 1816 at geale sweden As a lad 9 years of age lie he went to sea and for about IS years most of his life was I 1 spent as a sailor on the mighty ocean he visited nearly every important seaport on the globe visited america several times in the spring of 1843 while at boston mass he became acquainted quain ted with tile the latter day saints attended their meetings was convinced that the elders preached the gospel as taught by the savior accepted the same and was baptized by elder win mcghen july 16 1843 and like peter of old left the sea to accept the greater I 1 work of the master alaster ile he went to nauvoo where he became acquainted with the prop prophet liet joseph smith his bro brother har r r agha ni young and oth other lead ayi R ife i ih huh 4 peter 0 hansen who afterwards became a companion 1 l of john E forsgren was born bora june 11 1818 in copenhagen enli en agen denni denmark ark emigrated to america in 1843 1 and was baptized by his brother hans C hansen in boston mass march 7 1844 as the third dane who embraced the fullness of tile the gospel ile he came to nauvoo came west I 1 during the exodus of 1846 and arrived in the salt lake valley in september 1847 I 1 these scandinavians were among the saints in those trying days of nauvoo working hard to finish the temple the mob trying in every way possible to prevent this so as one writer said it was necessary for th atie e men to work with the trowel in one hand bond and a sword in a the other after completing the temple many of the saints received their blessings within its walls before his death the prophet joseph smith had predicted that tile hie saints w uld yet move to the rocky mountains mountain s president brigham young and the twelve prepared to carry this t scheme out they could plainly see that it was useless trying to live lu in peace ir in illinois the mobs grew larger and fiercer so in august 1845 it was decided to select about nien men who with their families were to go to upper california the authorities ties of the church promised the mob leaders that it if they would not mol molest st them the saints would leave I 1 the state early the next spring the westward move began feb eb 4 1846 1946 and from that dat date on there was a continuous scream of wagons crossing the mississippi river to the iowa side in tile the snow and cold there was much suffering but the tha saints leaving their possessions behind them went ent looking with sad on their deserted homes but they would rattler rather face tile the winter storms than to live in constant dread of cruel mobs the main camp of this exiled band of co religionists was at winter quarters in 1846 war broke out between the united states and mexico what is now nevada utah arizona idaho and parts of colorado belonged then to Dl mexico exico and as president polk desired to get this large district of country tor for the united states he sent seat some soldiers westward to tile the pacific ocean the Alor cormons mormons mons traveling from nauvoo lad had asked president polk tor for assistance si in their journey to the west they said they wanted to remain under the protection of the government and were willing to aid in holding the western country tor for the united states the authorities at washington knowing that the cormons mormons were on their way to california or oregon determined to make use of 0 them to win the country president polk accordingly instructed gen kearney to call live five continued on page me two n historical SKETCH OF J E FORSGREN continued from first page hundred of these people to his aid captain james allen alien an officer of the united states slates array army arrived arrived at pisgah iowa in u june 1846 what lie he wanted was five hundred men with whish to form an army anti anil march across the continent to california to take part in the war with mexico to the saints this was startling news indeed they had bad not expected this kind hind of help and many of them looked upon the call as a plan to destroy them their encin enemies fes it appeared expected point blank refusal on the part of tile the authorities of tile church to comply with this request they could not understand the true loyal character of the latter day saints but the requested number of men were furnished taking at that time and under such circumstances cum stances so many of their strongest men away front from the camp showed to tile the government and to the whole world that tile the saints were loyal and true to their country brigham young and the twelve took an active part in getting volunteers the stars and stripes were hoisted to a tree top and the work of enrollment began within three days the little army was organized and ready for the march there were souls in the battalion who with captain james allen alien as the commander started on their dreary march july 20 1846 young gave them farewell blessings and advice they must be true to their country lie he said and true to their god not a single occasion lie he added prophetically should they be required to shed human blood john E forsgren was the only scandinavian di din avian represented in the battakian bat the boys readied reached santa fe new mexico oct 9 1846 after much suffering and enduring many hardships captain allen alien had died en route and colonel cook became the commanding officer they arrived at san sail diego california jan jail 30 10 1847 the war was over yet they were not mustered out until the following of july 1847 on which occasion the weary and half clad battalion boys were heartily her tily congratulated by their leaders colonel cook their commander wrote as follows history may be searched in vain for an equal march thru a wilderness where nothing but savages and wild beasts are found etc and general kearney when lie he heard the details of the march said aid with great earnestness earn etness bonaparte Dona parte crossed the alps but these men have crossed a continent the war lasted a year and a half at tile end of which the united states fell in possession of an all enormous territory in western america equal in area to germany franco france and spain added together S some 0 me of the boys slaved in california lif or for some trav king eipl employment OY in fit different ways and these same mormon battalion boys were successful in fit lona locating ting the first gold found in california john IS forsgren and other members of the battalion started out to fill find the pioneer saints and lit in groat great salt lake valley october 1 1847 feb 15 1819 1849 john E F forsgren married miss sarali sarah bell davis daugh daughter ter of william davis and sarah mckee who came to utah in 1848 in lorenzo snows company lit in 1850 william davis was called to settle in box elder county lie ile and his family also james brooks and family together with thomas pierce arrived at what is now known as brigham city march 11 1831 1851 A number of families soon followed for protection against indians a fort was built called box elder deriving its name from box elder creek william davis was the first presiding officer appointed lie he was ordained a bishop later in 1851 box elder was then a branch of the weber stake which was presided over by lorin farr the trip of the first pioneer company of saints that arrived in fix the salt lake valley july 24 1847 has so often been told this company was followed by many others the next few years brigham young the twelve and other leading men were busy getting the saints comfortably located in fit different parts of the territory the crickets and grasshoppers the indians and other hardships and trials of 0 these early settlers are things near to be forgotten at the general conference held at salt lake city in october 1849 a little army of elders were called to go and preach tile llie gospel to the different nations of the earth tile the ploll pioneers had barely had biad time to erect for themselves and families primitive huts for shelter sli eller the elders all accepted the call and trusted in ill the e lord to protect them and their loved ones in ill their absence the saints had shown their loya lity to their country had hoisted the stars anil and stripes when they arrived in the valley now they were equally loyal to their god and had a desire to have the gospel to every nation tongue and people apostle franklin D rich ards and others were sent to england apostle john taylor to france apostle lorenzo snow to italy apostle erastus snow and peter 0 hansen to denmark and john E forsgren Pors gren to sweden in the spring of the year an inventory of the breadstuff in the valley had been taken it was reported that there was little more than three fourths of a pound per day for each soul until harvest the price ot of corn since harvest was between two and three dollars wheat had ranged from four to five dollars per bushel this th Is may gle gie an idea of the temporal condition of the alie saints in utah at the time the scandinavian mission was founded the missionaries had been called llou and set apart they made all th the e preparations for leaving that their r limited means would allow on oil tile the of october 1849 they gathered at the mouth of emigration canyon where they were organized into a traveling company by president brigham young there were 33 35 men in the party with twelve wagons and 42 horses shadrach roundy was appointed captain of tile company the party parly set out on oil their journey and arrived at fort kearney dec 7 1849 and a few days later at katies kanes ville where they were received by the saints with tokens ot of love and joy front from kanesville Kanes ville tile the missionaries took different routes to the coast and across tile the atlantic peter 0 hansen landed in liverpool april 8 1850 i rastus snow came there on the idith and john F forsgren on the of tile the same month at this time there were ere about saints in great britain and those set apart for the pdro huro mission were aided financially by them elder P 0 hansen proceeded to scotland where lie he was liberally ab provided for by tile the saints from there lie ha went to denmark arriving in copenhagen may alay it 11 1850 erastus snow spent several weeks among the saints in england and scotland lie left london on oil the eth ot of june accompanied by elder geo P dykes who had performed missionary work among the norwegians Norwegia ns of lasalle county ill III in ill 1842 in ill hull these two elders were joined by elder john 11 forsgren Fors grell the three arri arrived v ed in ill copenhagen on the of june tine isio 1850 and were met at the landin landing g by elder P 0 hansen who conducted them to a hotel where their first act was to offer up thanksgiving thanks givin 9 to god tor for his protecting care over them dedicating themselves to his service in ill tills this foreign land and imploring ilis his blessings and protection on their labors the scandinavian countries at this time were being specially prepared to receive the true gospel in denmark tile the ancient spirit of liberty so long held captive in the narrow formalism of the state commenced to break the chains the eloquent plea for religious liberty by dr A G dud elbach albach and the preaching and writing ot of dr soren kirkeb ud were not without effect they prepared the masses for tile the light to conne come and their voices were heard far beyond tile the boundaries of denmark religious liberty and an liberty of the press became two of the characteristics of tile the constitution I 1 framed for the kingdom of denmark 1 in ill 1849 the year the scandinavian mission was decided upon in sweden it was the same P C monster atolls and F 0 nelson lnelson having embraced the doctrine of 0 the baptists baptist were promptly banished for preaching their doctrine in 1849 a young Lu therian clergyman pastor A viberg w wrote proclaiming 0 against tile the state church chi prig and was suspended from service for six months ite never returned to the lutheran fold but joined the baptists in norway the work of preparing the way for the gospel may be said to have rested upon that famous preacher of repentance hans nielsen llauge apostle erastus snow elders P 0 hansen and george P dykes began at once their great work ot of preaching prea lhing and teaching the gospel in denmark rider elder john F forsgren took an affectionate farewell of these brethren at copenhagen june 19 1850 and proceeded P tied to his native town geale geveden ce sweden lie ile took leave of us says erastus snow with our ble blessings isings lp up continued on page three thred historical SKETCH 0 F J E F continued from page two on his head and full of the holy gaast tho his eyes were full of tears and his heart ready to burst when elder forsgren arrived in ili his native town he learned that his sister christina erika forsgren a short time previous ious had the following remarkable vis vision lion which made a deep imbres impression i on her as well as on her brother peter A forsgren she was sitting in the church one sunday morning having previously engaged in devotional exercises and as a hymn was sung she saw clearly a personage standing before her who said on the ath day of july a man will come to you with three books and all those that believe in the things written in those books shall be saved she did not for a moment think that that man would be her long lost brother jolin john who went to sea when a young boy but when elder forsgren came having with him the bible the book of mormon and the doctrine and covenants both peter and erika believed the gos pel message which their brother presented to them peter was at that time afflicted with consumption the file doctors being agreed that he could not live but lie he was completely healed thru the ordinances of the gospel together with faith and prayer on the of july 1851 elder john 13 forsgren baptized his brother peter adolph forsgren this was the first baptism by divine authority performed in scandinavia in this dispensation that was ag years ago today and we as relatives and friends have met together in this reunion of the forsgren family in ili commemoration of that event and also to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of john erick forsgren who was born nov 16 1816 elder john E forsgren baptized his sister christina erika forsgren aug 1 1850 she being the first woman baptized as a member of the Alor mormon nion church in scandinavia As soon as the work of elder forsgren became generally known a storm of persecution arose against him ile he was arrested and ill treated many times and finally banished |
