The whole letter that Nicolaus Swenson’s wrote to Andrew’s relatives in Sweden when Andrew Peterson’s had passed away – together with excerpts from Andrew Peterson’s last letter home when his brother Johannes Rydell had died – served as a model for Wilhelm Moberg’s version of ”The Last Letter home”.
Excerpt from Andrew Peterson’s last letter home to Sweden:
“I must apologise for my writ since it is incoherent, – because I’m old my hands Tremble So it is Difficult for me to write, I, the eldest of eight Siblings, is the only one left now, 3 of them rest in Sweden’s earth, and 4, of them in america’s earth and I the eldest, of the eight siblings is still Alive, and I don’t know when the Lord will be pleased to call me home to him, may it be in a blessed moment, I will be 79 years old the 20th of this month if the lord will let me live ’til then”
Excerpt from ”The Last Letter to Sweden” by Vilhelm Moberg
”I must apologise for Writing Badly and incoherently. I’m old and crippled and my hands Tremble so it is Difficult for me to Write. I’m the Eldest of 10 Siblings. My brothers and sisters have all crossed over Jordan’s River. 3 of them rest in Sweden’s earth and 6 of them in America’s earth. I was the eldest and now I am the last left. I will be 80 years old next Month of March, if the Lord will let me live ’til then. I am ready whenever the good Lord will be pleased to call me home to him”.
Copyright Andrew Petersonsällskapet