Annie Dorothy Erickson

Biography

Born to Lutherans Sven Erikson and Maria Kristina Bengston, the family converted to Mormonism and was baptized in the summer of 1863. The family boarded Monarch of the Sea and moved to Grantsville, Utah. The family had one pair of shoes, but education was important, so her and her older sister would take turns wearing them to school. She worked for the Eastman family as a child before meeting Charles John Stromberg from Sweden. They married 10 January 1876. Charles was called on a mission to Sweden leaving Annie to care for their four living children. That winter they all contracted diphtheria and the four children died. After this Annie sank into a deep depression and Charles returned home early to care for her. Joseph F Smith was called from Salt Lake to give her a blessing where she was promised “I say unto thee be of good faith and of good cheer… for the Lord has heard thy petition. [...] thou shalt have joy in thine offspring who shalt grow up around thee and bless thee in thine old age.” Their following seven children all outlived her. 

She was a very generous woman with a door always open “for I never know when one of the Three Nephites may come to my door.” Annie would converse with her mother in Swedish since she never learned English.