Augusta Carolina Johnson

Biography

Augusta Carolina Johnson was born on July 1, 1852 in Alingsås, Älvsborg, Sweden. Her mother was Anna Brita Ericsdotter and her father was August Johansson, who had recently left for America to look for gold. Augusta was named after him. When August never came back, Anna Brita eventually married Charles Johnson in 1859. In 1860, Augusta's mother joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Augusta was baptized a year later, on January 2, 1861.
In 1863, Augusta, her mother, her stepfather, her aunt, and her cousin left Sweden to join other Saints in Utah. They sailed on the "B. S. Kimball", leaving Liverpool on May 8, just two months before Augusta's eleventh birthday. They crossed the plains with the John F. Sanders Company, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on September 5, 1863. Augusta settled in Grantsville with her family.
Three years after their arrival in Utah, when she was just fourteen, Augusta married Andreas Pontus Soderborg in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. He was thirty-five years old. They settled in Salt Lake City and had eleven children together, seven daughters and four sons. Six of their children lived to adulthood.
In 1890, Andreas died, leaving Augusta a widow at the age of thirty-eight. In order to support her six children still at home, Augusta became a nurse. She worked in the Salt Lake City area for many years, mostly specializing in maternity cases. Anna Brita lived with her for many years and watched her children while Augusta worked. Augusta passed away on March 2, 1919 in Salt Lake City. She was sixty-six years old. Augusta was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.