The Forsgren Family

John Erik Forsgren left his home in Sweden at the age of nine and spent much of his life at sea. In 1843, while in port at Boston, Massachusetts, he became acquainted with Latter-day Saints and began attending their worship services. Convinced that he had found the true gospel of Jesus Christ, he accepted baptism and left his life at sea behind to join the Saints in Nauvoo and eventually migrate to Utah. Then in October 1849, Elder Erastus Snow and Peter O. Hansen were called to begin a mission in Scandinavia. Learning of their call, John petitioned President Brigham Young to let him join them and preach the gospel in his native Sweden.

After arriving in Denmark in June 1850, John sailed north to his hometown of Gävle, Sweden. His brother and sister, Peter and Christina, soon embraced the gospel. Peter was sick in bed when John arrived but recovered after receiving a priesthood blessing. On July 26, 1850, Peter accepted baptism, becoming the first Latter-day Saint convert both in Sweden and in all of Scandinavia. A few days later, on August 3, Christina and two others also accepted baptism. John learned that his sister believed his testimony in part because of an experience she had had before his arrival. In church one Sunday, during the singing of a hymn, a person appeared to her and told her that “a man will come to you with three books and all those that believe in the things written in the books shall be saved.”

Forsgren family

John, Peter, and Christina Forsgren.

John’s missionary activities were met with opposition in the local community, and in time he decided to move on. In Stockholm, he encountered a group of migrants from Gävle preparing to leave for the United States. After teaching them in a public meeting on August 6, he baptized 17 of them. However, his preaching in Stockholm again drew opposition. In September, Swedish authorities banished him from the country, forcing him to continue missionary service in Denmark. In 1852, Peter and Christina joined John in Denmark as he led the first group of converts from Scandinavia to Utah.

In the coming decades, the missionary efforts begun by John Forsgren continued in Sweden. Many of the missionaries, like John, were Swedish converts or the children of Swedish converts who were called to return to their native land. Peter Forsgren and his son Elias were among them. Peter served in Stockholm in 1885, and Elias served in the Swedish Mission from 1910 to 1913.