The founding of the Mission church in Wausa did not occur in a vacuum. Its founding reflects patterns that were happening across the immigrant community but complicated by the fact that these very patterns were still in a state of flux. Some light might be shed on this situation by examining the very names that were being adopted by these new Mission churches. There was a group of the earliest congregations who chose the name, "Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Congregation." Then another cluster of later churches called themselves "Swedish Mission Congregation." A final few opted for "Swedish Christian Congregation," including Wausa.

Svenska Kristliga Församlingen around 1898
"Swedish Christian Congregation" of Wausa

By the time Wausa was founded, P.P. Waldenström was the established head and spokesman of the Mission movement in Sweden. In America his following had been no less than banished from the Augustana Lutheran Synod, though his leading advocates had begun their ministerial careers there. So there could have been little doubt that the Wausa immigrants of this persuasion would form their own congregation. This was nothing new. What was somewhat newer, and confusing, was the state of flux among the Waldenströmians.

Back in Illinois and along the Mississippi, two competing Synods had been formed: the Mission and Ansgar. Then came a movement to cast aside all Synods in favor of Free and independent Mission congregations. In the 1880's, the influence of Fredrik Franson, a Swedish Baptist from Estina (near Mead) was strongly felt out in Phelps County Nebraska, where the largest number of Mission Friends were organized in three congregations, some of whom came from the Moses Hill Mission church. They followed Franson's notions that denominational differences were hurtful, and his constitutional title for them was "The Church of God", open to all believers whether formerly Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist...or Mission. True to this concept, none of these Franson churches became Covenant, although at least one, Westmark, made a practice of alternating Covenant and Free ministers.

Names in the Mission news in the 1890's: Waldenström, Franson and Princell

The ideas of Franson and his friend, publisher John Martenson, were found in many Swedish homes in Nebraska through the pages of Chicago-Bladet newspaper. Joining them was the central voice of anti-denominationalism, J.G. Princell. These combined to influence the congregations in the second and third group of churches above to chose "non-denominational" sounding titles. No other explanation seems adequate to account for the phenomenon.

It is probable that in Wausa, as elsewhere, there were members who did not object to the old Lutheran Mission Synod concept. But undeniably, the new ideas of independence were irresistable. "Chicago-Bladet" polity left its mark not only on the formally "Free" congregations in Nebraska, but on Covenant churches as well. By the 3rd and 4th generations these distinctions were largely erased, but the evidence borne by the constitutional language of these congregations remains. To read more about these twists and turns, click here: Mission Polity

There was a strong relationship between Wausa and Oakland, one of the earliest Swedish communities in Nebraska. That relationship extended up the Logan Creek valley, through Wakefield, and on up into Boyd county. Oakland Swedes were reported to have exclaimed to one another, "Peterson's coming!" when they learned that this colorful mission preacher had accepted their call to be their pastor.

"Peterson kommer!"

John Peterson had been part of the mission community in Chicago for a time. In fact, all of his meager earthly possessions were destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871, and by the generosity of D.L. Moody he had received a replacement preacher's robe. It was obvious to the mission friends in Des Moines who just then had called him to serve there, that this was a Catholic robe, so they promptly replaced it with one more acceptable. This is just one of many John Peterson stories.

Some of Peterson's descendants lived in Wausa, and knew him as "farbror" or "uncle" Peterson. One more story; when a solicitor for a school came to Peterson's farm while he was working with one of his hogs, the visitor introduced himself: "I am professor so-and-so." Peterson replied, "I'll be right with you as soon as I finish with THIS professor."

John Peterson spoke the language of the people, but he was also in the inner circle of Mission Synod leadership. His visits to Wausa could only have served to inspire confidence in the mission people to form a church, and ultimately be part of the Covenant.

But rather than parse Swedish theology, the Gazette editor and his source, C.J. Anderson, turn to a more generic theme: (note that C.J. Anderson, father of Vielus, Reuben, C.Edwin etc. is distinct from C.A. Anderson of the Gazette)

(Some historical memories and quotations from the organization of the Mission church and its progress in Wausa, Nebraska. Written by C. J. Anderson.)

"Put a church in a town and all real estate values increase. Put a church in a town and it at once becomes a center of inspiration for better schools, better politics and general community improvement. Put a church in a a town and you insure a community where law and order reign, where personal and property rights of men and women are respected; where children grow up trained in the ideals that make America great.

. . "Kill the church; and you will kill the voice that is constantly calling man to more unselfish living. Kill the church and you cut the nerve of your hospitals, your colleges, your civic organizations and even respect for government itself."
-Theodore Roosevelt.

In the spring of 1890 the village of Wausa began to take form as the Bloomfield branch of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad was nearing completion. Thus Swan Brothers moved their stock of general merchandise from Wakefield to Wausa. In a short time, Messrs. N. P. Swan and G. E. Lundgren organized a Sunday school with both American and Swedish classes which prospered until the Methodists organized and began work. The American classes were then cared for by them, while the Swedish classes remained and became the foundation of the Mission church.

It is possible to see in this early initiative an echo of the mission movement in Sweden. There, the church proper was the prerogative of the state. The mission movement limited itself to local associations for..."missions", whether of such concerns as temperance, the spreading of devotional literature, or the ministries of mercy to the poor or orphans. In America, the "Sunday School" initiative would have fit this model well. What is often forgotten is that there was no "Sunday school" as such in Sweden, and Swedish churches in America actually resisted this idea at first. It was a "niche" that the mission friends could fill at Wausa.

In a brief aside in one of the sources, we read that future Wausa pastor, K.F. Larson, was working with a group "north of Red Oak". We had no more light on this subject till encountering Elaine Artlip and her book "Rural Churches of Montgomery County". There we learned the story of the Rosenlund Swedish Evangelical Mission church. Quoting from the 1912 memoirs of Rev. A. Noren, she tells of C.M. Peterson of this neighborhood who invited Red Oak Mission pastor Peters to preach in the local schoolhouse.

"From 1878 through 1880 John Hultman and J. Wenstrand also preached the Word, as did K.F. Larson and a number of others..." "Brother Peterson of Oakland, Nebraska, also visited." The writer, Noren, was one who later served the group along with Rev. Youngberg. Now the Rose Hill church of another denomination became available, was dismantled and reassembled on the location shown in the picture in 1912. Noren preached at the dedication. The cost of the project was $950. In 1937 the structure was again recycled and the property reverted to the Covenant. How long it had been dormant is unknown.

Rural Red Oak Rosenlund Swedish Mission church

What can be gleaned from the little information existing about K.F. Larson only makes us wish for more. The 1912 Nebraska Mission Association book reports that he was from Dalarna in Sweden, a fact still important then to those who kept the records. A more permanent location for Larson is discovered at Wakefield, where he is described in 1912 as having been a farmer and preacher to the congregation there. Whether his time at Rosenlund in Iowa was longer or a brief visit like that of his neighboring pastor John Peterson of Oakland is unknown.

This is the time of transition from farmer-preachers to the more "full-time" ministry we are familiar with. When called to Wausa, Larson is in St. Joseph, Missouri, where a congregation formed in 1887 had formed and built a church. Possibly this group had assistance from Rev. C. Anderson's Ansgar Synod group as had others in Missouri. The Kansas history reports that it later received considerable assistance from them and earlier the Congregationalists, but like most Missouri outposts, it did not survive.

Larson intends to duplicate his Wakefield mode of operations, purchasing a farm just north of Wausa and engaging carpenters to build on the unimproved site. At this time, N.P. Swan is on the Wausa board. He and his brother came to Wausa from Wakefield and would have been familiar with Larson.

Early Wakefield: we presume the modest home was K.F. Larson's

Should the Swedish Christians be only an association, or a real "church?" It was a genuine question, but one that began to be answered in the affirmative.

The above mentioned persons, and some who had moved in here later, and from other places, who had belonged to the Mission church or been under its influence, felt the need of Christian fellowship within a church. Mr. Claus Johnson corresponded with Rev. K.F. Larson, at St. Joseph, MO, who had been a former minister in the Mission church at Wakefield, NE, asking him to come here and preach the Gospel to us. After a while he arrived, bought a farm adjoining Wausa on the north (now the Emil Nelson farm.) Early in the summer of 1893 Rev. Larson came to Wausa and engaged a carpenter to erect a set of buildings on his farm. Part of the time Rev. Larson held meetings in schoolhouses in and around Wausa and also in private homes. So now we had a minister before we had a congregation.

Claus Johnson, early Wausa Mission leader

Born in 1860 in Smaland, he came to the U.S. in '79, farmed for three years at Gladstone, IL, three more years at Red Oak, IA, seven at Wakefield and twelve at Wausa. At the latter two places he aided in the founding of the mission churches. In 1902 he followed the siren call to California, and was husbandman of 500 acres near Turlock. The following is taken from his obituary verbatim:

"In 1907 Johnson organized the Peoples State Bank and served as its first president... He served as a director and first president of the old Turlock-Rochdale Co., a general merchandise cooperative venture... One of the most successful enterprises organized with Johnson's leadership was the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Co... He was also director of the Tidewater-Southern Railroad Co."

In dramatic fashion, Johnson collapsed and died at an evening service of the Turlock Beulah Tabernacle Mission church in 1936 after singing one verse of Frykman's hymn, "Nu är Jag Nöjd och Glader" ("I sing with joy and gladness.")

(Among his relatives are the Sjoquists, and so his obituary is included in the Engdahl scrapbooks, which mostly preserve Lutheran information.)

At this time, the Mission group meets in the schoolhouse. But by the time the church building is erected, Larson is no longer pastor. The record cryptically goes: Larson's preaching was "fruitful for a while ." What became of the farming enterprise is for now lost in the mists of time. The farmer-pastor is succeeded by the merchant-pastor, N.P. Swan. At this time the church building is constructed, free of debt. N.P. Swan is listed as pastor for the years, 1896-99 . Of N.P. Swan we have these recollections from the Gazette history by J.E. Baggstrom: (1891)

"Nels and John Swan, of Wakefield built the second general merchandise store. It was located on the northwest corner of block 16, where the Anderson 'Golden Rule Store' is now located. In the spring they engaged also in the implement business, building a platform east of their store building and utilizing the old McDevit lunch and drink parlor for implement office." This would be the prime location that it remains today as Wausa's long-enduring grocery store. "Greener pastures" must have beckoned the Swans, because the next year the store was purchased by Frank and Theodore Anderson of Mead; the family that became the "Gazette Andersons."

A meeting was called for August 17, 1893, for the purpose of talking over the advisabiity of organizing a congregation. Those present were K. F. Larson, N. P. Swan, Adolph Anderson, J. O. Lindquist, Claus Johnson, G. E. Lundgren and August Mord. After some arguing, it was decided to elect officers from those to serve until the annual meeting in January 1894. K.F. Larson was elected chairman, G.E. Lundgren, secretary, and Claus Johnson, treasurer.

The trustees were instructed to arrange for a meeting place and get necessary furniture. The name of the congregation should be the "Swedish Christian Congregation of Wausa, Nebraska." It was decided to have Sunday school on Sunday forenoons at 10 o'clock. K. F. Larson to be superintendent. The first annual meeting held on January 6th, 1894. The report of the meeting held on August 17, 1893 was approved. K. F. Larson was elected chairman, G.E. Lundgren, secretary, N. P. Swan trustee one year, C.P. Peterson trustee, two years, and Claus Johnson trustee for three years and treasurer. K.F. Larson was elected Sunday school superintendent for one year.

On January 3, 1895, the annual meeting was held in the school house, which had been rented for a place in which our meetings could be held. The secretary's report was read and approved. The report of the treasurer showed there had been an income of $138.67 and expenses of $154.00, leaving a deficit of $16.35. Subscription circulated by Adolph Anderson for Pastor Larson, $175.00 for salary of which $50.00 was outstanding. The Ladies Aid had an income of $22.50. Pastor Larson asked if we thought we would be ready to join together and become members, so that all could feel responsible and united. After a lively but peaceful discussion, it was decided to adjourn the meeting until on January 12th, 1895. (That meeting was held on January 19, 1895.)

The 1904 view from the Lutheran steeple shows the
Methodist church and the Mission church

At that meeting, the membership question was again taken up for discussion ,and now as well as at the previous time, everyone was in favor of joining together into a congregation, for the purpose of working together for the unity, edification, discipline and admonition of one another and all Christians in general, and also to work for the salvation of souls and for the Christian mission in general. It was then decided to receive members in the church on March 17, 1895. At that time thirty-four were accepted and on Sunday, March 24, thirty-six more joined with the church. By the close of the year there was a membership of nearly eighty souls.

Those joining the church on March 17, 1895 were: Mesdamies and Messrs. N. P. Swan, Victor Swanson, August Johnson, C. E. Johnson, J. A. E. Carlson, Axel Johnson, C. P. Peterson, P. J. Johnson, N. P. Hult, Charles Johnson, Charles Nelson, Otto Nelson, A. R. Hult, C. J. Andersen, Joseph Hall and Olof Broline. Members accepted on the following Sunday, March 24, 1895 were: Mesdames and Messrs. August Mord; Andrew Anderson, Adolph Anderson, J. A. Lungren, J. A. Skalberg, J. P. A. Peterson; Mr. Fritz Nyman, Mr. C. P. Johnson, Mr. Andrew Anderson; Mr. Olof Broline; Mr. Elias Broline; Miss Anna Larson; Miss Sophie Larson; Miss Augusta Hult; Miss Tina Broline; Miss Nettie Mord; Miss Ida Mord; Mr. August Anderson; Mr. Anthon Andersen; Mr. Leonard Blomquist; Mr. Gust Shalander; Mr. Fred Nelson; Mr. Magnus Peterson; Mr. Nels Bjork; Mr. Nels Bondeson; Mr. Charley Hult; Mr. Swan Hult; Mr. Otto Hult; Mr. Charley Linder. We would consider that although these folks were accepted on two separate occasions they could and would be considered as Charter Members of the Mission Congregation.)

Note that N.P. Hult, in whose home the Thabor congregation was organized, is among the charter members.

The first Wausa Mission parsonage

Pastor Larson was a forceful speaker, a good singer and his ministry in the church was fruitful for a while. As Wausa had several real estate dealers advertising the community, freely, the immigration to Wausa and community was very lively for a time, and our church was also benefitted by that movement, as Mission folks from other communities moved in and were glad to find a church home of their liking. A number of ministers from different denominations came here and preached at various times.

At the annual meeting on January 3, 1896, the treasurer reported that the income for the year had been $222.00 and the expenses $221.39, leaving a balance of 61 cents cash on hand. Income for foreign missions was $17.59. The trustees were instructed to find a suitable location for the erection of a church building. At a special meeting on January 30, 1897 a committee was appointed to have articles of incorporation drawn according to the laws of Nebraska,and to proceed to have the organisation incorporated. Messrs. Claus Johnson, Joe Hall and John Carlson were appointed as such committee.

On January 10, 1898 at a meeting presided over by the chairman , J. P. A. Peterson, Claus Johnson , John A. E. Carlson and J. Hall were asked to solicit funds and secure plans for the building of a church building. It was decided to meet again on January 22, 1898. At that meeting the committee reported pledges to the amount of $1400. It was also decided at this meeting to proceed with the building of a church buiding, and that the size be 36x56x14 feet. A committee of five was appointed to have charge of the erection of the building. The committee previously appointed to draw up articles of incorporation reported and their report was accepted.

At the annual meeting of December 28th, 1898, a proposed constitution was presented and was adopted by a vote of 22 to 10. From the treasurer's report (not complete) the cost of the church building had come to about $2,500.00. When all the pledges would be paid in the property woud be clear of incumbrance. Mr. Claus Johnson was elected chairman at this meeting, Joe Hall secretary and Gust Shalander trustee for two years.

Rev. Cornelius Andrewson

On May 20, 1899, Pastor Cornelius Andrewson, of Oakland was called to come here to be pastor of the congregation. The salary offered him was $400.00 and free house. Rev. Andrewson accepted the call and remained here nearly two years.

Now Andrewson is one of those mission pastors who moved between free and independent congregations. Elsewhere it is reported that he had the ability to accommodate the range of differing preferences among the mission friends in that regard, and that this was valuable in Wausa. He had studied with Princell in Chicago and served the following congregations: Oakland, Wausa, and Ceresco. He then served Free churches in Chicago, Colo. Springs, Windom, MN, Polk, NE, Rapid City S.D., and in Kimbro and Type, TX. Since his name does not appear on the roster of the Oakland or Ceresco Covenant histories, we assume he was with the Free in Oakland and perhaps the Asplund group near Ceresco.

In Northeast Kansas, a string of Mission churches had formed from north of Manhatten and including the Clebourne, Randolph, Alert, Clay Center congregations and extending up to Brantford. It was from the Clay Center church that Cornelius Andrewson came, as did pastors Severt Andrewson and Andrew Andrewson who we take to be his brothers, also O.Dahlstrom, Ray W. Anderson and Congo missionary, Leland Anderson. At about the time the 1961 Conference history was being compiled, this area suffered the loss of the Clebourne and Randolph to the innundation of the Tuttle Creek reservoir. Through the gifts of these disbanding churches to Clay Center, that congregation was able to retire its debt.

C.J. Anderson has omitted a brief and perhaps unpleasant chapter in the above account, which is treated in the 1912 Nebraska Mission Association book. There it is stated that N.P. Swan, one of the charter members, is called to be pastor following Larson's departure. (his ministry had been fruitful "for a time.") This is only in effect for one year, and it is the year the church building is constructed. Of Andrewson, it says that he, too, "found no abiding city there." Growing pains of this kind seldom find their way into the history books, beyond cryptic comments such as these. Wausa's own records have Swan serving three years.

Rev. G.D. Hall; he also served Stromsburg Mission church

Pastor G. D. Hall, at Moses Hill, Nebraska, was called on December 31, 1900. He accepted the call and arrived here in the spring of 1901. As he was a talented writer he soon received a call from the eastern weekly Mission Tidings, and thus remained less than two years. During this short time he made many friends in the community.

G.D. Hall: 1901-1903. Next we have a call to Rev. G.D. Hall, an aspiring journalist who even makes Wausa the home of a planned "Nebraska Missions Page" newspaper. The opportunity to join the established "Eastern Weekly Page" comes in just a year, and he also departs. (His son, Rev. George Hall, is an Augustana pastor and writer.) But better times are ahead.

Rev. F.O. Hultman from Fremont Iowa also served in Stromsburg

On August 15, 1903, a call was issued to Pastor F. O. Hultman, at Stromsberg, to come to Wausa to become pastor of the congregation. He accepted the call and arrived in Wausa in the late fall of 1903. In 1908, although California and other states had taken many families from our church, more room was needed, and thus it was decided to remodel and enlarge the church building. Architect Olof Broline drew plans and specifications for remodeling. Messrs. Joe Hall and E. P. Ekman bid to furnish the material and do the work for $3,500.00. This offer was accepted and contract was let to these gentlemen to proceed with the work. A furnace was also installed at this time and, the building wired for electric lights. Extra seats were added and, together with the painting, the total cost was about $5,000.00.

Wausa Mission church in 1912

When "California" is mentioned as taking families from Wausa, Emil Engdahls and Claus Johnsons come to mind. It may be that G.E. Lundgren also went in that direction, and he had been a major factor in Wausa. His name is associated with the founding of the Mission Hospital in Omaha as benefactor and board member. Of the names mentioned above, perhaps E.P. "Pete" Ekman endured the longest, even to the writer's day.

F.O. Hultman may have been the first of the permanent pastor type. The Swedish Christian Congregation of Wausa surely advanced far beyond the state existing when he began his long ministry there. True, it had been a time of unparalleled growth in numbers of immigrants and in prosperity, but few would deny that Hultman had something to do with it.

The Hultmans had been at the renowned revivals in Fremont County, Iowa in 1878, perhaps even instrumental to them, as their family resided there. Frank's brother J.A. had caught the attention of visiting pastor Andrew Hallner, and been invited to take up work in the Omaha church. There he became no less than an institution among mission friends everywhere...the "Sunshine Singer." No finer nor more durable tribute to J.A. Hultman can be found than that buried in the appendices of Karl Olsson's "By One Spirit":

"He held literally thousands of concerts, rich in humor and sentiment, and until a few years before his death in 1942 was in a real sense the popular interpreter of the Covenant spirit." -791
"THE popular interpreter" That is rare praise from K.O.

Brother Frank was a junior version, at least in my grandmother's eyes, who found his rendition of "Home, Sweet Home" unforgettable. Brother Herman also followed the call to preach, but in such obscure places as Ottumwa. It should not be forgotten that the Hultmans were no latecomers to the mission friends. Swedish Baptist pioneer O. Lindh sojourned with them in the very early Iowa days when their mission house was a cold Des Moines storefront with quarters above.

The simple fact that Hultman was visited by the Presidents of both the American and Swedish Covenant denominations and the President of North Park College demonstrates that Wausa was now "on the map." The 1912 Nebraska Mission Association book reports that the newly-remodeled church could "seat 600." That causes one to smile, for at that number the church would have been as crowded as the storied immigrant ships and railroad cars. But the same book must also report in a curt and brief paragraph: "Formligen tillhör icke församlingen något sällskap eller samfund utan är fristående", that is, "Formally , the congregation does not belong to any society or association, but is freestanding."

Freestanding perhaps, but not permanently "isolated." The patient efforts of the Chicago shepherds and others would finally guarantee that these "ninety and nine" would finally enter the Covenant fold. But it took till 1951 before that would occur, the Chicago-Bladet influence having finally waned.

The Wausa Mission church had provided a respectable parsonage for its ministers, but as Hultman's time was drawing to a close they really outdid themselves in purchasing a parsonage that was one of the most impressive houses in the town. This has now become a victorian restoration project, but not by the congregation, which instead built a new modern parsonage directly across from the church.

The rather impressive Wausa Mission parsonage

Having accommodations such as these could not have hurt Wausa's chances in attracting some well-known names among their subsequent ministers: Albert Johanson, Adam Lidman (interim), and A.T. Frykman.

"In 1912 Pastor Hultman (Mission church) took a vacation trip to California. While visiting in the Turlock-Hilmar district where many Wausa folks had located, a Wausa picnic in honor of Pastor Hultman was held. He reported that at the picnic there was at least 150 former members of the Wausa congregation and their children present. During the years Pastor Hultman served the congregation here, our church was visited by many prominent ministers, delivering inspiring sermons. Among them were such men as C.A. Bjork, Professor D. Nyvall of Chicago, Pastor John Peterson of Oakland, and Dr. Waldenstrom of Sweden."

The reference above is the only one the writer has seen claiming that Waldenström visited Wausa.

The large number of Turlock, California, people from Wausa
Is Claus Johnson on this picture?

Rev. Adam Lidman

Though he only served as interim, Pastor Adam Lidman is surely one of the most colorful and well-known of the mission pastors to come to Wausa. In finishing his time at Princeton, Illinois, the A.E. Palmquist book "The Wit and Wisdom of Our Fathers" quotes Lidman, evidently peeved at his salary:

"'When I came, the porkbarrels were full. But that soon came to an end, and if there are any pieces of meat left out there, it is to Mrs. Lidman's credit and not that of the church.' The church found it hard to forgive him, and it was six years before he was invited back..."

During his ministry in Minneapolis another quotation of Lidman's is remembered which illustrates both his candor and something about the developing Mission church. Writes Palmquist; "On one occasion he castigated the congregation because so many forsook their own services to follow itinerants. When it was answered that it was only natural for them to do this because it was through the ministry of these itinerant evangelists that they had been converted, Lidman responded: 'Peter was converted by the crowing of a cock, but has anyone ever heard that Peter ran after the chickens because of that'?"

What this points out is the tension between established ministry as it was emerging, and the revival preachers who stirred a certain spirit of excitement among the people which seemed to vanish as quickly as it had appeared. But there are also the echoes of old Sweden in this tension, because the mode of the Mission people there had been one of traveling colporteurs, lay ministers who were itinerant. In Wausa, the lay ministries of Larson and Swan were giving way to permanent pastors; "professional" if you will, though they would not have liked this word.

Surely there would be more stories of Lidman's time at Wausa to report had he spent more than a brief interim ministry there.

Rev. Albert Johanson; formal in youth, mellow in age

Rev. Albert Johanson: 1915-18. My Grandma Gustafson spoke of Albert Johanson, and her words indicated that he was one of the old-fashioned Swedish bent. I retrieved a book he wrote from my Grandpa Greenwall's collection which was titled "The Angel of Revelation", in Swedish. I sent this to the Covenant archives to be preserved long ago, as many Covenanters have sent early artifacts, and so feel just a little stake in that collection. Recently I discovered that Johanson's coming to America was in large part at the urging of one E. A. Skogsbergh, who gave his young friend the nickname "The prophet Amos" (Skogsburgh's memoirs).

During Skogsbergh's preaching visit to Sweden, he made the acquaintance of young Johanson and urged him to join the Mission movement in America. It did not seem feasible to the young man at the time, but the ebullient Skogsberg gave him the time and place of his planned departure home in the event he should change his mind. That indeed came to pass, and Johanson emigrated in the best possible company for an aspiring Mission preacher.

When the Mission Covenant undertook the publishing of the hymnal Zions Basun, both Skogsbergh and Johanson were on the committee. Hymns from both appear in it, but did not make it to the next level of familiarity among Mission hymns.

Eventually Johanson would be camped among the "old school" which did not make the transition to the English language as Grandmother's comments suggested and Karl Olsson's report below confirms:

(after 1910) "...Covenant evangelism was still being entrusted almost entirely to men who could not preach in English. E.A. Skogsbergh was reappointed evangelist in 1919, when he was sixty-nine, and F.M. Johnson was engaged as evangelist the same year. He was then sixty-two and was not comfortable in an English sermon. Three years later, Albert Johanson was asked to serve as Covenant evangelist. He was younger than Skogsbergh and (F.M.) Johnson, being fifty-one in 1919, but had even less feeling than they for the English idiom." (BOS, p. 471)

In spite of this, Johanson would have been the first permanent occupant of the stately Hanson house, Wausa's new parsonage, and there must have felt that America had treated him well.

Rev. A.T. Frykman

A.T. Frykman: 1919-21. Several lines of memory and association connect us with Rev. A.T. Frykman. His daughter Dorice married Rev. C. Edwin Anderson, whose father C.J. Anderson wrote the Wausa Mission Church history published in the Wausa Gazette and included in this account. Dorice spent her last years living in Wausa.

Though I had already left Wausa by that time, in recent months I have had very interesting correspondence with Dorice's daughter, Jackie Anderson Mampel through the revived "Pietisten" paper. This correspondence confirmed my vague recollection that the mother of Dorice Frykman Anderson was E.A. Skogsbergh's daughter, Ruth. In other words, Rev. A.T. Frykman was Skogsbergh's son-in-law. He also was called upon to act as principal of Skogsbergh's school in Minneapolis, and accompanied Skogsbergh on a trip to Sweden. In "Twice Born Hymns," J. Irving Ericson reports that Frykman served as president of Northwestern College, Minneapolis, from 1901-1904. He started the first radio station in Rockford, Illinois, and was the Covenant director of evangelism from 1934-43.

Some of the most beloved hymns of the immigrant church came from the pen of Nils Frykman, A.T. Frykman's father, and the son was responsible for translating some of them into English. One, which he revised in collaboration with Signe Bennet, is my favorite for the following reason.

Adena Gustafson, the daughter of John G. whose letter is quoted below, sent to me in college a greeting card on which she wrote, in Swedish, the first verse of this hymn. I carried it for many years in my Sunday suit pocket, but unfortunately it "went to the cleaners."

That hymn was "The Highest Joy." Other familiar Nels Frykman hymns are "Why should I be Anxious?", "I Sing with Joy and Gladness", "Joy Bells are Ringing", "Our Mighty God Works Mighty Wonders", and "I Have a Future All Sublime", which is inscribed fittingly on his tombstone.

Frykman's fan: great-grandfather John Gustafson

Our family has preserved a letter from my great-grandfather, John Gustafson, to the "Missions Wannen" paper in which he honors A.T. Frykman: (the complete letter can be read here)

There is also another servant of the Lord who deserves mention. That should not be overlooked. He had a call from the Lord. There was fire in it, proclaimed with total committment, and God's congregation was inspired by it. He was the Covenant's evangelist, and though the Covenant's leaders were silent, I shall say something; I who sat and heard him preach God's word twice every Sunday for three years (when he was at home). He was a good student of the Scriptures, so that the listener took the text home with him. The young people considered him their friend; he was effective in supervision, and could stimulate one's thinking. He had the answers to questions. At a prayer meeting, when the weather was very hot, in order to get things started he said; "This is going to be a real, old-fashioned mission meeting."

Then Frykman got up into the pulpit and with humility and obedience prayed to God that He might speak, and might himself cry out the very words from above. He proclaimed the message with effectiveness through faith in his Savior, with definite and unforgettable purpose. There was another remarkable man who came to the end of his days at the same time as Frykmann. His name was Constantin Olson. He guided the Lord's flock into green pastures, and led them to fresh waters. He was also joyful in his ministry.

We shall now no longer hear their voices. I recall just a bit of what our first Mission president, Björk, said one time: "Now God calls his children to rest, but they are so tired that they cannot sleep. So he comes and watches over them with the care that a mother might give to her infant. So his children find rest in beautiful serenity. No storm can disturb them." And we, who heard Björk, "read between the lines."

-John Gustafson 1945

It is safe to say that the memorable message cited by Great-grandfather was delivered in Swedish. But the Swedish language era was coming to a close in Wausa, and with it our story. But we must include a picture of the church board included in the 1936 conference book.

The Wausa church board

Front row, second from left, is John Greenwall. Second from the right is C.T. Nelson. They were neighbors five miles west of Wausa, and the Nelsons hailed from Oakland, where C.T.'s father Peter was a leader of long standing in the Mission church in town. Two of the Nelson children became Covenant missionaries: Florence Nelson Lundblad, and Quentin Nelson. Quentin later became faculty member and Dean at North Park College, and welcomed the writer to Chicago in those days.

There is one more pastor who, though from a later day, warrants inclusion through special privilege and because he was thoroughly Swedish. Otto Nelson.

One of the last Mission pastors to graduate from the Chicago Theological Seminary "Risberg School" which preceded North Park, Rev. Nelson served an interim at Wausa when the writer was confirmed in 1957. He too, was of the "old school" and left an indelible imprint.

Today the Evangelical Covenant Church, the Mission church of memory, still stands

"Home, Sweet Home"

Read Ralph Youngman's Wausa History

A Sequel to "Wausa: Home Sweet Home"