Sara Holmsten (1713–1795) was a Swedish memoirist and member of the

Moravian Church The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...

also known as the Evangelical Brotherhood.

Life and work

Sara Holmsten was the daughter of a farmer living on the Baltic island of

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

, (then Sweden but now Finland), but the devastation wrought by the Russian Army during the

Great Nordic War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter ...

(1700–1721) reduced her to beggary. By becoming a domestic worker and factory employee in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, she was able to take care of herself sufficiently. In the 1750s, she became a member of the Moravian church in Stockholm. In that capacity, she eventually took employment with leading members of the congregation. When she was 68, again destitute, she took up residence at Johannes’s poorhouse in Stockholm. At 72, she began dictating and writing her autobiography describing her experiences as a Swede as was the custom of the Moravian Church at the time. According to Haettner Aurelius, ''"''All members of the congregation in the Moravian Church were therefore obliged to write their 'life stories', which were then read out at the member’s funeral." Holmsten's autobiography was among 35 similar ones that have been preserved from women who survived the second half of the 1700s. Her autobiography published in 1787 is now regarded as being among the most historically interesting of contemporary Swedish works of that kind. She has been cited as a notably reliable source for information about life at that time, including the Russian torching of a forest where she was hiding with other refugees. "Then we went further, to seek out other people who had hidden in the forest, but before we knew it, we were surrounded by forest fires that the Russians lit; when I knew (had) perished in the morass, if the Savior had not so directed that a wife came to my aid and at great risk of life brought me to my mother." She died in Stockholm on 29 July 1795 at 82.

Life and work

References

Further reading