Forsman Family

Written by: Dixie Forsman Dickinson White

Forsman Family in Kansas 1903. Front Row seated is O.P. Olof Petrus Forsman holding Elma Almina Carolina Forsman. Woman seated is O.P.'s wife Anna Erika Bolin Forsman. Leonard John Forsman is standing at the left with his hand on the chair of O.P. The small boy in the center is David Nathaniel Forsman next to Walter Alfred Forsman wearing the white ruffled collar. The young girl behind him is Hulda Erica Forsman. The back row from the left is Ellen Marie Forsman, Anna Esther Forsman, Ernest Peter Forsman, and Lydia Margaret Forsman. The boy at the right is Bror Arthur Forsman. Click to Enlarge.

My grandfather Bror Arthur Forsman came to Baldwin County at the age of ten. Bror's father O.P. Forsman, mother Erika Forsman, and nine siblings moved to Silverhill a Swedish community on Christmas Eve 1903.

Bror Arthur Forsman 1903, age of 10.

     My grandmother, Erika Lindstrom Forsman came to the United States from Sweden in 1903 when she was seventeen years old. Erika went to Nebraska where she worked for a family as a housekeeper. When the family moved in 1910 to Silverhill she also came. Erika met my Grandfather and they were married in April of 1915.

Erika and Arthur Forsman.	Arthur and Erika Forsman.

     Arthur and Erika were farmers. They produced two sons Earl and Joy O. "Ted". Grandpa was a 'horse trader' sometimes for the need of it and sometimes for the fun of it.

     During the depression Grandma made angel food cakes and cinnamon rolls. Grandpa peddled them to the summer residents in Point Clear. They also butchered cattle and hogs peddling to whomever needed fresh meat. In later years he became a homebuilder.

     Earl went to Chicago to find work. There he met and married Katherine Turnquist. They lived there with their three children until the early 1960's when they moved to Fairhope. Their family is still there.

My Dad, Joy O., or "Ted" as everyone knows him stayed on the farm to help his parents. After graduating from Robertsdale High School he met my mom Margaret Seaquist from Sister Bay, Wisconsin. Margaret was visiting relatives. They were married in June 1940. He took a job delivering feed, eggs, and poultry for the Edhegard's store.

Ted Forsman

     As time went by our parents were able to buy a farm. I (Dixie) was born in 1941 and my brother Creighton "Peco" was born in 1943. Our Dad served in WW II in Europe. After the war was over and he came home, he turned the farm into a dairy.

     Mom was always teaching us, whether we realized it or not. Learning was fun to her and she instilled in us that desire for knowledge.

     The farm was sold in the mid 1950's and Dad worked as a carpenter and eventually opened his own cabinet shop. He was in the cabinet business for over 30 years. Today at 80 he can still be found in his shop working on odd jobs for people in the community.

     Mom worked in the Silverhill School Cafeteria for many years. Our mother was a talented lady, she sewed, rock hounded and made jewelry, most of all loved to paint. She played piano for 60 years in church.

     In 1959 I married James Dickinson and we had four children, Diana, Jimmy, Craig, and Brent. In 1970 I married Kenneth White and we had a daughter Jennifer. I have lived and worked all my life in Baldwin County.

     My brother "Peco" married Irene Haddock in 1965. They have two sons Eric and Patrick and a granddaughter, Tiffany. Peco served in the Vietnam War and has been in the Insurance business for years.