Pehr Christiansson was born in Brantevik, Swe-den, on March 16, 1855, the fourth child and fourth son of Christian Pehrsson Rosenquist and Karna Olsdotter Rosenquist. (Rosenquist appears to have been a farm name that would have been used by Christian's family some-what like a surname.) Typically of Swedish immigrants at the time, Pehr dropped the use of that name on entering the United States, and adopted the English form of his patro-nymic as his surname.

Pehr married Maria Jonsdotter Paradise on February 7, 1879, at Nebbelof Church, Skivara, Sweden, and within three years they emigrat-ed to the United States. They lived for at least two years in Jersey City, Hudson Co, NJ, where they had two children.

By 1886 they had moved to the Spruce Hill community in Douglas Co, Minnesota. Besides farming, Pehr was a skilled wood carver. He made models of the ship in which they had sailed to America: one for each of his daugh-ters, and a larger model for his son. He also secured a patent for a corn planting device (which according to his son did not work as planned).

His masterpiece was a beautifully carved pulpit for the Spruce Hill Lutheran Church. The pulpit can still be seen at the church; it features five carved panels depicting scenes from the Gos-pels. The church rejected Pehr's request of $25.00, and paid him $18.00. (In 1998, a des-cendant attempted to duplicate the panels, and estimated that the carvings had taken him 80 hours, so that Pehr's compensation was likely less than 25 cents per hour.)

Pehr was preceded in death by wife Maria, two infant children, and both parents. He died on March 30, 1928, at Spruce Hill, and was buried at the church. He was survived by daughters Emma Peterson, Anna Hanson, Hulda Johnson, Henrietta Thomas, Jennie Helland, Clara Ahlberg, and Amanda Nelson; son Frans; grand-children, nieces and nephews.