PETER ADOLPH & BRITA CATHRINA WALLSTROM

"MARRIAGE:" To Britta Cathrina Wallstrom.

     Peter and Britta were not married. They had a son together whom they named Pehr Johan that Peter legally recognized. (See Gavle, Sweden Clerical Survey 1851-1855, SL film # 130,168).
     When Peter joined the LDS Church Britta was angry and refused to join or come to the U.S. with him. She took their son and returned to her home in Soderhamn where she later married Jonas Perrson (19 Aug 1857 and had other children. She was sealed to Jonas Perrson 18 Mar 1987 in the Jordan River Temple.
She is also sealed to Peter Adolph Forsgren.   [LDS guidelines in 2003 state that if a man and woman are unmarried but live together and have children together they can be sealed as husband and wife, thus it is not incorrect for the 1995 sealing to Peter Adolph to have taken place that appears in the IGI].
     Pehr Johan was originally sealed to Britta and to Jonas Persson as dictated by early church sealing guidelines that a child "goes with the mother."

In a letter from Elias Peter Forsgren (son of Peter Adolph who did extensive genealogy and temple work for Forsgren names) to "Vera" [probably Vera Palmer Symes Nelson] dated 20 Apr. 1965 the following is stated:
      "Yes - father (Peter A. Forsgren) did have a wife & child "Pehr Johan" - but when father joined the LDS Church the mother left him and would have nothing to do with him. Later he offered to send for them, but the mother refused. She married another man by whom she had children. . .
      In January 1906, father received a letter from Pehr Johan, written in Swedish, in which he stated that he was glad that he, father, had married your grandmother and they had lived a very happy life. 1913 is the last time we heard from Milda (Pehr Johan's daughter.) She could possibly still be living."

[Another blog post explores more information about Pehr John and his daughter Milda]