Emilie Petersen

Background

Emilie Petersen was the daughter of the councilor Christian Eckert and married the wealthy merchant Johan Philip Petersen in 1800 in Hamburg.

Career

She was a pioneer within the sewing society in Sweden, as well as an internationally known philanthropist. The couple emigrated to Sweden when Hamburg was taken by Napoleon in 1806, and in 1813, they bought the manor Herrestad. Emilie Petersen supported the Swedish Missionary Society from 1835, and from 1838, she regularly arranged religious sewing meetings, which are regarded to have introduced the sewing society in Sweden.

During the hunger periods in the 1830s when the crops failed, Emilie Petersen arranged, in collaboration with the authorities, the Fruntimmersföreningen i Kärda (The Kärda Women"s Society), a society which provided work for poor women within the parish with her estate in the center of the organisation.

The principle of the society was economical funds given to the poor upon religious humanitarian grounds in exchange for workforce. She also held an orphanage for poor orphans, which gave her the name Mormor på Herrestad (The Herrestad Grandmother).

Achievements

• The society gradually expanded to surrounding parishes: it became famous and received economic support both nationally and internationally.