An American Pilgram

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, several European countries were in fierce competition for settlements in the New World. Jamestown, Virginia is widely regarded as the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States of America, established in May, 1607. The location of the settlement was primarily determined for its defensible positions along the James River at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and was named for the current English monarch, King James I. The area was swampy and infested with mosquitoes and disease and the settlers soon found that tidal cycles made the river water undrinkable. There were little opportunities for hunting or farming. Despite leadership from John Smith, Robert Hunt and others, the colony was destined for failure until one of the colonists, John Rolfe successfully introduced a breed of tobacco that was profitably exported in 1612.

Changes to the Virginia Company in 1619, who sponsored the new colony from London, brought increased investments that allowed further development of Jamestown. One of the developments was the establishment of the House of Burgesses, the first representative legislative body in the New World, and one of the first seeds of democracy in America. One year later, Thomas Lassiter (also recorded as Leister) arrived in Jamestown aboard the vessel Abigail at the age of 33 with his wife Lillie and son William. His brother, Edward would arrive in America in the same year, however at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Thomas is listed as one of 1,033 persons living in Virginia in 1624 and one of 224 in Jamestown. It is likely he was one of the first 1,000 Europeans to survive after arriving permanently in the New World.

The Lassiter family would stay in the Jamestown/Nanesmond area for four generations before moving to North Carolina where they would stay for another four generations. It would be Hardy Lassiter who would move to Tennessee and his son, Cannon who would live in Arkansas in the mid 1800’s. Cannon’s son, and Allan’s grandfather, Leander Lee Lasater would join the church in 1907 and located to the Salt Lake Valley.

Lessons Learned

John Valfread Kjelstrom, Allan’s grandfather, lived with Lorenzo Pettit from the age of seven until just before his sixteenth birthday. It was around this time that Lorenzo’s wife passed away and he remarried. John didn’t get along with the newest member of the family and asked permission to go live with his mother who had emigrated a few years prior and was residing in Logan City, Utah. As John describes it, Lorenzo had sent money for four to emigrate from Denmark, Catharina, John’s brothers, Charles and Axel, and sister Augusta. However, Charles had already found a way to America when the money reached John’s family and as a result they used it to pay for Catharina’s new husband, John Peter Lundberg to emigrate with them.

John’s describes this move from Lorenzo Pettit’s home to his mothers “the worst step I ever made.” He didn’t get along with John Lundberg, calling him a “cross and overbearing” husband to his mother, later admitting however that he did get better as he got older. John would soon go live with his brother Charles, who was also housing their younger brother Axel. Charles had married young and was making a good living. Eventually, John would find himself in Vernal, Utah, just west of the Colorado border. It was here that he met Allan’s grandmother, Emily Hill. They were married in Wellington, a small town just south of Provo, where Emily was from. Three children were born to the young couple while they resided in Vernal, James, Elmer and Sylvester. They spent some time in Frisco, Utah on the other side of the state and near the Nevada border before deciding to take their residence in Rexburg, Idaho. Five more children were born to Emily and John between 1899 and 1910, including Axel Gabriel, Allan’s father. According to John, Emily was unhappy in Rexburg and insisted on moving back to Utah. Unfortunately, it was this that spurned a divorce between John and Emily. Emily would take the children back to Utah and John would go on his own way.

Shortly after the divorce, John met and married Ruth Morgan, the mother of “two families of children.” But this relationship too would not last and John and Ruth would also divorce. John would bounce from job to job, taking him from Salt Lake City to Laramie and then to Sioux Falls, Iowa. Here, he married Coria Jackson, only to be separated and divorced a short time later. John’s travels would then take him to Illinois, California, Kansas, Missouri and then back to Kansas. His jobs would include picking chickens, washing dishes, milking cows and other odd jobs. In 1920, John made his final move to Los Angeles California and lived there until his death in 1955.

In 1937, John put together his book of remembrance which brought to light many, many stories and historical family information. In his writings, he alludes to his mother’s last request of him before she died; to do the families work in the temple. This became his life’s mission in his later years, becoming active in the church and making relatively frequent trips to Salt Lake City to visit the temple. He would admit that his happiest times were with his young family in Vernal, when he was active in the church and living the gospel. His final statement “I hope and pray that my record will be pleasing with the Lord when he sees fit to call me home with my mother and give an account of my life while he trusted me.” It is clear from the last page or two of his self-written life’s story that his days of traveling and quick relationships were a hard lesson leading to stability and a lasting testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is hard to say how much of an influence John was on his posterity simply because he wasn't a significant part of most of his childrens lives. And perhaps it is a lesson to his decedents the importance of family and perseverance and how much of an effect one decision can make in the lives of generations.

Trials and Perseverance - Part I

Some 84 kilometers directly west of Stockholm and across Lake Mälaren, the third largest lake in Sweden, lies a small parish called Ytterselö. It was here that generations of Allan’s ancestors raised families and labored as horse handlers, shoreman, and rangers. Eric Gustaf Ericksson, born in 1808 in Ytterselö was one of the first in the long line of descendants to leave the parish as a Corporal in the Swedish army. It is likely he was married to Anna Cajer Larsson Hellstrom in Ytterselö attested by the birth place of their first child, Eric August. At some point however between Eric’s birth in 1830 and the birth of their second child, Catharina Charlotte in 1833, they located to Stockholm.

Stockholm would be the setting for Catharina’s childhood and where she would eventually marry her sweetheart, Carl Johan Lindberg, when she was 25. The passing of her father very soon prior to the wedding must have made the time bitter sweet for Catharina. But this would be only the beginning of what would become a life full of heartache and mourning.

Carl was remembered as a good man who made Catharina happy, but the marriage would be cut short with a sudden passing of Carl only three years into their life together. Carl was only 40 when he died and left Catharina widowed with a young child and one on the way. This must have been devastating for her. She would later admit in her old age that Carl was the best friend she ever had. Only months after Carl’s passing, Catharina’s mother also slipped into the next world. Coming from a family of humble circumstances, without a husband, without parents and two very young children, Catharina was surely in dire straits, but she would persevere.

Not two years after Carl’s passing, she met and married a young and talented shoemaker by the name of Johan Gabriel Kjelstrom, the son of Anders Gustaf Kall and Allan’s great grandfather. Johan and Catharina would have three children together, Johan Axel, John Valfread and Axel Gabriel. Young Johan Axel however would only live a few months. Left in the care of her oldest son from her marriage with Carl, Johan would suffocate on a blanket while she was out attending to some errands.

Her new husband’s talent extended beyond his career as it is reported he was also an accomplished singer in his church choir. In fact, it was Johan and Catharina who were taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and joined the Mormon church. Johan was given a calling right away as the leader and chorister of the Mormon Swedish choir. But he would soon succumb to alcohol and debauchery. He was disfellowshiped from the church for what was described as dissention from church leadership. He became bitter toward the church and threatened Catharina that her life would literally depend on her following him and leaving the church. It is unclear the exact details of what transpired next, but it is clear that at some point very soon thereafter, Johan attempted to make good on his threat and slit Catharina’s throat with one of his shoe knives. She had managed however to get her hand in the way, probably saving her life. Johan ran, leaving Catharina for dead. Luckily she was quickly found and taken to a medical facility while the police arrested Johan in a saloon and jailed him. She would stay in the hospital for months while her now 4 children were taken care of. Her life would be spared, but she would be cursed with grotesque scars on her neck and hand for the remainder of her life.

Johan was kept in prison while Catharina recovered and until a trial date could be set where she could testify against her cruel husband. But, being released from the hospital, she fled to Copenhagen, Denmark with her children and began creating a life for herself making holiday ornaments and peddling them from door to door. John Valfread remembers the pain he felt while watching his mother get ridiculed regularly for her poverty and thick scars. But she would persevere.

Johan was released from prison when no one would testify against him. Later he would collapse, drunk in the dead of winter, and freeze to death outside of Stockholm.

Catharina would eventually make enough money to send one of her children to Zion. It’s not clear how she made her decision, perhaps her older children helped her make a living and her younger children were too young, but the decision was made to send John Valfread to Salt Lake City in the care of Orson Pratt. Upon arriving in Utah, John was left in the temporary care of the editor of the LDS Swedish Newspaper and then placed with the family of Lorenzo Pettit, one of the original Mormon pioneers.

Brother Pettit lived on the Jordan River, northwest of Salt Lake City and owned a farm. According to the History of Utah, “Mr. Pettit was childless, and Jere (Jeremiah Langford) and another boy (John Valfread Kjelstrom) were raised by him as his own. He was an excellent, kind hearted man, and having prospered, he generously assisted his foster children and all his other relatives with means.” Brother Pettit would legally adopt John and send money for Catharina and her family to move to Zion.

Jönköping

Jönköping lies at the southern end of Lake Vättern, Sweden’s second largest body of water. The municipality’s history dates as far back as 1284 when King Magnus Ladulas, who at that time ruled Sweden from Lake Vättern’s largest island Visingsö, bestowed rights to the settlement as a City of Sweden and as such, one of the first official communities in the country. The name of the city is derived from “Jön-“, meaning creek, and “-köping”, an old Swedish word meaning trading place or market place.

Jönköping served as a long time natural trading center as it was located at an intersection for the roads following along the rivers Nissan and Lagan. However, the geographical position of the city also left it vulnerable to foreign attacks, mainly from the Danes, coming from the south with the river roads. Consequently, the city was plundered and burned several times until a fortification was built in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Municipality of Jönköping was quite large at approximately 1,500 square kilometers and consisted of a variety of large and small population centers, wide-spread forests, agricultural areas and many lakes and streams. It was in one of these population centers, Stenberga, that one of the principle ancestors of the Kjelstrom line, Gabriell Kjell was born in 1774. Gabriell served as a corporal in the Swedish army and was likely very familiar with the strategic importance of Jönköping and its fortifications. He married Lisa Gustafsson Lunqvist, also born in Stenberga. The family relocated to Nashult, another population center in the southeastern quadrant of the Jönköping municipality and there had six children. The oldest child, Anders Gustaf Kall was born in 1801 and was employed as a master workman in the local salt mines. In 1828, Anders married Gustava Joansson in Nashult and together they had five children, the youngest of which was Johan Gabriel Kjelstrom born in 1842, Allan’s great grandfather. Not very much has been uncovered about these families other than their professions and like most of that age, lived in humble circumstances.