GREETINGS TO ALL DESCENDANTS OF PETER ADOLPH FORSGREN

Please know that this blog is very much a work in progress. I will be adding information to each blog post as I have time and as new information or photos are acquired....so, please, come back often to see if anything new for your particular ancestor has been updated. I welcome your participation in fleshing out each post. There are some descendants about whom I have a great deal of information and some about whom I know very little.

I have served as the Secretary/Archivist for the Forsgren Family Association for many years and have acquired a lot of material. It is my desire to make it all available through this blog so that all may benefit. But I am only one person and there are thousands of Peter A descendants. Please contact me and help by notifying me of errors or clarifications or to submit information and photos you might have.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, all the descendants of Peter Adolph Forsgren have been very prolific....so the task of uploading all the photos, data and documents for this branch of the Forsgren siblings will be a very time-consuming process.... so...

Thank you so much for your patience!! ENJOY!!!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

PETER AND THE BRIGHAM CITY DRAMATIC ASSOCIATION

     And I thought I knew everything there was to know about Peter Forsgren!!  Tonight I was reading  the recently reprinted edition of the History of Box Elder County: 1851-1937 published by Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Box Elder South Company (the bulk of which was researched & written by Lydia Walker Forsgren, 3rd wife of John Heber Forsgren). 

     In 1863, the Brigham City Dramatic Association was organized under the direction of Peter and Alexander Baird.  Most of the presentations were staged in the basement floor of the County Courthouse.  Originally the actors called were also called as missionaries so no play was staged that did not teach a moral truth as well as entertain.

      Quoting from the book:  " This dramatic company was active for over twenty-five years, during  most of which time Peter A. Forsgren was stage manager and invented, among other conveniences, a system of footlights by which, from his position backstage, he could darken the stage by putting a tin shade between the stage and the lights."

     Price of admission was 50 cents.  It was the custom generally to rehearse four nights a week and perform every Saturday.  Later on the Mutuals of each ward in the county were in charge of dramatic presentations.  Touring groups also went to Malad and Bear River City.

     It was the council of President Brigham Young that, "suitable amusements be furnished for the people."

     I remember coming across several articles in the Ogden Standard Examiner and Box Elder News which reported that Victor E. Madsen was very active in this company.  He married Cleofa Forsgren, the daughter of John Heber Forsgren (thru his wife Ann Jane Evans) who also appeared in many of the presentations.

1 comment:

  1. This is so great! Both Alexander Baird and Peter Forsgren are my husband's 3rd Great Grandparents. How fun to know that they worked together on the dramatic association. And that their great-grandchildren (Seth Forsgren and Marco Keller) married each other!

    We really appreciate all the work you are doing! We took a trip up to Brigham City, Preston, Riverdale, and Mink Creek last weekend, and it was so neat.

    Love,
    Sally Forsgren
    (wife of Brad Forsgren)

    ReplyDelete