Johan Petter Hagvall

Johan Petter was born in Follingbo, Gotland, in 1828. After trying several different professions he decided to become a brewer and and went to Germany to get his education.

After returning to Sweden he married Emilia Fredrika Wiman on August 21 in 1864 and they had six children; Hilma, Dika, Pehr, Emil, Carl, and Arthur. Johan Petter also had a son, by the name of John, before his marriage to Emilia Fredrika.

It was on his way to his mothers funeral, in the summer of 1871, that he passed the small town Västervik in Småland. He noticed that there were lots of military recruits and he also noticed that they had lousy beer. Hee knew that he could make it better, so he decided to stay in Västervik, bought an old brewery and founded Hagvalls Bryggeri (The Hagvall Brewery). He was very successful and made a good living.

Johan Petter himself died rather young, at the age of 50, on October 26 in 1878. Emilia Fredrika died shortly after her husband on the 28th of June 1879 in Stockholm. Johan Petter and Emilia Fredrika were very rich at the time of their death and they left a lot of money to their children. Out of this money, all of the children seems to have been able to get a good education, but it is also said that a lot ended up in the pockets of the trustees. Here is what happend to Arthur, my great grandfather.