Jonas Swensson | |
|---|---|
 Reverend Jonas Swensson | |
| Born | August 16, 1828 |
| Died | December 20, 1873 (aged 45) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Uppsala |
| Occupation | Clergyman |
| Religion | Lutheran |
| Church | Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church |
Jonas Swensson (August 16, 1828 - December 20, 1873) was a noted minister of the Lutheran Church and president of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church. [1]
Swensson was born at the Snollsbo Östregård farm in Våthult parish, Jönköping County in Sweden. He was the son of church-warden Sven Månsson and his wife Katharina Jonasdotter. He attended high school at Växjö and studied theology at the University of Uppsala. He was ordained at Växjö Cathedral on October 8, 1851. His Swedish pastoral service was at Unnaryd, situated in Hylte Municipality, Halland County, Sweden (1851–1856). In 1856, he married Maria Blixt (1831-1874) and together they emigrated the same year to begin his work at Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania and later at Jamestown, New York. [2]
The organizing meeting of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church was held at the Jefferson Prairie Settlement, near Clinton, Wisconsin from June 5–8, 1860. Jonas Swensson was part of the quartet of pastors, together with Lars Paul Esbjörn, Tuve Hasselquist, and Erland Carlsson who pioneered the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church also known as the Augustana Synod. After serving as secretary of the church for several years, he was president of the Augustana Synod from 1870 to his death in 1873. His wife, Maria, died the following year. Both Jonas and Maria Swensson were buried in the churchyard of Jenny Lind Chapel at Andover in Henry County, Illinois. [3] [4] [5]
Andover is a village in Henry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 578 at the 2010 census, down from 594 in 2000.
Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and undertook an extraordinarily popular concert tour of the United States beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.
The Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, commonly called the Norwegian Synod, was founded in 1853. It included churches in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Eric Norelius was a Swedish-American Lutheran minister, church leader, and author.
Swedish Americans are Americans of at least partial Swedish ancestry. They primarily include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1885–1915 and their descendants. They formed tight-knit communities, primarily in the American Midwest, and typically intermarried with other Swedish-Americans. Most were Lutheran Christians with origins in the state Church of Sweden who were affiliated with predecessor bodies of what are now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) from the mergers of 1988 or the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (1847), or the recent North American Lutheran Church (NALC) of 2010; some were Methodists following Wesleyan doctrine.
The Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church was a Lutheran church body in the United States that was one of the churches that merged into the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1962. It had its roots among the Swedish immigrants in the 19th century.
Tuve Nilsson Hasselquist was a Swedish American Lutheran minister and church leader. He was the second president of Augustana College, serving from 1863 until his death in 1891.
Elling Eielsen was a Norwegian-American minister and Lutheran Church leader. He was the first Norwegian Lutheran minister in the United States.
Lars Paul Esbjörn was a Swedish-American Lutheran clergyman, academic and church leader. Esbjörn was a founder of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church and of Augustana College. He served as the first president of Augustana College from 1860 until his resignation in 1863.
The Norwegian Lutheran Church in the United States is a general term to describe the Lutheran church tradition developed within the United States by immigrants from Norway.
Jefferson Prairie Settlement was a pioneer colony of Norwegian-Americans located in the Town of Clinton, in Rock County, Wisconsin. This site and the nearby Rock Prairie settlement outside Orfordville, Wisconsin served as centers for both Norwegian immigration and developments within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The unincorporated community of Bergen, Rock County, Wisconsin is in the vicinity of Jefferson Prairie Settlement.
Carl Aaron Swensson was an American Lutheran minister and founder and President of Bethany College.
Erland Carlsson was a Swedish-American Lutheran Minister. He was one of the founders and served as President of the Augustana Lutheran Synod.
August Weenaas (1835–1924) was a Norwegian American Lutheran minister and educator. August Weenaas was the founding President of Augsburg University.
John Erlander was a Swedish born, American businessman and founder of Rockford Union Furniture Company.
Nils Gustaf Nicolaus Bergensköld (1838–1907) was a Swedish-American Lutheran clergyman and an early leader of the revivalist movement within Swedish immigrant settlements of the Midwestern United States during the later part of the 19th century.
Peter Carlson was a Swedish-American Lutheran Minister who helped found the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Synod and served as president of the Minnesota Conference for six years.
The Jenny Lind Chapel is a historic church located at the southwest corner of 6th and Oak Streets in Andover, Illinois. Completed in 1851 for a congregation founded the previous year, the church was the first built by the Augustana Synod, the main Swedish Lutheran church in America. Pastor Lars Paul Ebsjorn founded the church for local Swedes who still wished to worship with the Church of Sweden; many were former members of the nearby Bishop Hill Colony who had lost faith in Eric Jansson's teachings, while the others were Swedes who had immigrated to the area due to the colony's fame. The church was named in honor of Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind, who donated $1,500 for its construction. The building has a simple design with Greek Revival features, a common form for small rural churches of the era.
New Sweden Chapel is a historic Lutheran Church building located east of Fairfield, Iowa, United States in rural Jefferson County. The Swedish immigrant community that settled here was organized in 1845 under the leadership of Peter Cassel, a native of Kisa, Östergötland, Sweden. This was the first Swedish settlement in Iowa, as well as the first west of the Mississippi River. They established a Lutheran congregation in 1848, and built a log church in 1851. This church replaced it in 1860. Local builder Henri Jagle was responsible for building the 50-by-30-foot frame structure. It is four bays in length and features a 16-foot (4.9 m) tower with a spire over the main entrance. The interior features a painting by Olaf Grafström, who was an art instructor at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. In 1948 the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church named the New Sweden Chapel as a National Synodial Shrine in recognition of its being the oldest congregation in the synod. Prince Bertil of Sweden and the Archbishop of Uppsala participated in a ceremony that drew 3,000 people. The chapel no longer houses a regular congregation, but is used for special occasions. A cemetery is located on the church grounds. The chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
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