ERIKA THE SPINNER AND WEAVER

     In the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum in Salt Lake City you can view the spinning wheel that Erika brought from Sweden (located in the Room housing artifacts of Utah's Silk Industry).  A commentary on the wheel can be found in an article about Utah's Textile Industry: ". . . here is a small red spinning wheel with a foot pedal, brought from Sweden in 1852 by Christine Forsgren. One of her relatives used it in the exhibition in Chicago to demonstrate the industry of pioneer women of Utah. It is really a flax machine, but it was also used for wool. It is a real relic and would grace our Memorial Building.-Emily P. Smith."  [Note:  The relative who used the wheel at the Chicago Exhibition would have been her sister-in-law, Elise Thomassen Forsgren, 2nd wife of her brother Peter Adolph]

     There is also a quilt on the bottom row of the 2nd showcase from the door on the 3rd floor. The card resting on it reads: "#22 Quilt: made from home made woolen dresses. Wool was completely prepared and woven by Christina E. Forsgren Davis. Plaids were used as dresses, then quilts in 1850's. Cloth spun on Swedish Pedal wheel."  [NOTE:  This information about the quilt's location was correct as of 1998 when I visted the museum and took the photos shown below.  The DUP museum has since been remodeled, opening its doors again in Oct. 2010.   I have not as yet been back to see if the displays have changed.]     A reference to this same quilt was found on Ancestry.com's "Our Pioneer Heritage". The description (with picture) is as follows:

Erika's Quilt on display at the DUP Museum

     "#22. Entirely handmade by Christina Ericka Forsgren Davis, in the early 1850's, this woolen quilt is made of old homespun checked and plaid dresses. The wool was first put through various processes of washing to remove the grease, then carded, spun and woven into fabric from which the dresses were made. From these old dresses, the quilt was put together with seven strips of material about eight inches wide, sewed together at the sides, the length of the strips being the length of the quilt. The center strip is beige and brown checks; on each side of it are strips of green and brown checks; then on either side of these are black and beige or white strips; and the outside strips are of the same green and brown check. The complete lining is of pale blue and light brown plaid, pieced in several places and turned over at the sides for the binding. It is likely 100% wool with a thin batting and the pattern of the quilting is diagonal lines two inches apart. Quite possibly this quilt was made in Sweden. It can be seen on the third floor of the DUP Museum in Salt Lake City. Christina Ericka Forsgren was born in Sweden April 26, 1820, and came to Utah in 1853; she claimed to be the first Scandinavian woman to accept the gospel. Christina was married to William Davis, settling in Box Elder County where she raised her three sons. From her history we quote: 'She was reared in a city of many thousands of inhabitants, Gefle, Sweden, and it was hard at first to accustom herself to the rough crude life, the scanty famine rations and the poverty stricken hut she live in.'   Emma R. Olsen"

Erika's spinning wheel on display at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, Salt Lake City, Utah

     Additional information about the Utah Silk Industry and other Forsgren silk production artifacts can be found on the Peter Adolph Forsgren blog here.