SWEDES: TheWayTheyWere
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    • The Bethany Artist & the Bethany Scientist: Lydia & Emil >
      • Their "Bethany Lutheran Church" 1869 >
        • ​"First Swedish Agricultural Company" Lindsborg Founders, 1868
        • Swedish Pastor Olof Olsson Immigrating to Lindsborg 1869, June 27th Arrival
        • Church and Lindsborg Founder Pastor Olsson, 1869 - 1876 >
          • ​"He Gave God Glory" The Story of Olof Olsson, ​1841 - 1900
      • Their Augustana Lutheran Synod, 1860 - 1962 >
        • The Augustana Heritage Association, 2000 - 2016
      • Their "Bethany Lutheran Home" Since 1907
      • Their Lindsborg's "First" Swedish Smoky Valley Community Chronicle 1909 and Their "Second" 1919 >
        • "Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas," 1965 >
          • "The Smoky Valley in The After Years," 1969
        • Their friend, Emory Lindquist, and his 1953, "Smoky Valley People, A History of Lindsborg, Kansas"
      • Their 1920s Coronado Heights Photographs and their Smoky Valley Historical Association (SVHA)
      • Their 1936 1873 Swedish Homestead, "The Old Deere Farm" >
        • Their 1873 Swede House
        • A Smoky Valley Swedish Virtual Memorial >
          • Recognizing & Thanking >
            • - Claude Koehn -- The Before and After
      • Their 1940 Deere Home >
        • Emil's and Nina's 1961 Thunderbird
      • 1943, After Lydia--The Building of the Lindsborg Hospital
    • Their Bethany College Handel's "Messiah" Performances, 1882 on... >
      • "Messiah" Performers, Venues, Press, Broadcasts & Audiences
    • Their Bethany College 1899 Swedish Artists' Midwest Art Exhibition
    • Their Bethany College 1902 "Terrible Swedes," Coach Bennie Owen, Their 1903 "Rockar Stockar"
    • Their Bethany College 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Swedish Pavilion
    • Their Bethany College Anniversary Celebrations: 15, 20, 25, 100 years >
      • Their Celebrating 15 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1896. The First Bethany Annual, 1895-96
      • Their Celebrating 20 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1901. The "Forget-Me-Not," 1902 >
        • The King of Sweden's Emissary, 1901
        • Yale University's Bethany Club
      • Their Celebrating 25 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1906, "Souvenir of Lindsborg and Bethany College"
      • Their Celebrating 100 Years of Bethany College, 1881-1981, "The Centennial of Bethany College"
    • Their "I WAS THERE" Coin ~ Bethany College Celebration, 1902
    • Their Bethany College's 1937 Introduction to New Sweden, founded in 1638 >
      • Deere's Introduction to New Sweden
    • Their friend, Emory Lindquist, and his 1975 "Bethany in Kansas, the history of a college"
    • Their friend, Leon Lungstrom, and his 1990 "History of Natural Science and Mathematics at Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas"
  • Swedish Immigration Story, 1854
    • "The Story of the Old Spoon" by Ingrid Anderson Sohlberg & daughter Lydia Sohlberg Deere, 1937
    • Who They Left Behind
    • From Sweden with Love Collections >
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Kosta Portraits, 1867 >
        • The Swedish Sohlberg Kosta Glass
        • The Swedish Sohlberg Letters
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Royal Gold Thread Embroidery Sampler (c1890s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Post Cards (c1890s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Magazines, (c1940s)
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Books, 1819/1886 to 1899
      • The Swedish Sohlberg Albums, late 19th early 20th centuries
      • The Swedish Deere Coins -- 1801-1929
    • Lydia Sohlberg Deere's 1927 "Lindsborg Swedish Club's" Handwork >
      • Lydia's Signatured Black Book of Handwork Sewing Instructions >
        • Nina Sohlberg's Child's Sewing "Little Dots" PICTURE BOOK >
          • The Lindsborg Swedish Club's "Allers Monster-Tidnings" magazine, 1940
  • Artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere
    • Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900-1925 >
      • The Hats
      • The Smoky River
      • The Smoky Hill Bluffs
      • Coronado Heights -- One Winter's Day
      • In and Around Lindsborg
      • Sohlberg House with Parents >
        • Our Sohlberg Home and Neighbor Alma Luise Olson
      • Sohlberg House with Emil 1916 to 1920
    • Lydia's Art, 1919-1938 >
      • Lydia's Art: The Kansas Collection >
        • The Sketches
      • Lydia's Art: The Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico Collection >
        • The Sketches
      • Lydia's Art: The California Collection >
        • The Sketches
    • Lydia's Art Professor Sven Birger Sandzén, 1871-1954 >
      • Lydia's Assignments for Professor Sandzén >
        • Students of Sandzén 2019 Exhibition
        • Bethany Home ~ Celebrating Art and Artist Birger Sandzén through His Students ​and the ​"Bethany Home Hall Gallery"
    • Lydia's Art Professor Birger Sandzén's "Art Exhibitions" ... 1893-1940 >
      • Lydia's Art Professor Sandzén's Exhibition at the Babcock Gallery in New York, 1922
    • Lydia's Sandzén's Body of Work Reviewed by ... "American Impressionism," author William H. Gerdts
    • Lydia's and Sandzén's Swedish Artist Friend Charles Edward Hallberg, 1855-1940
    • Lydia's and Sandzén's Swedish Artist Friend Oscar Brousse Jacobson, 1882-1966
    • Lydia’s Sohlberg Family Connection to Sandzén
    • Lydia's Travels with Deere 1916 - 1930s >
      • Lydia's California Photographs for Painting >
        • Lydia's California Pressed Wild Flowers, c1930
        • Lydia's Palm Springs Pictorial Magazine, 1938-1939
    • "LYDIA'S WORLD" Exhibitions in Lindsborg, 2005 - 2011
  • Scientist Emil O. Deere
    • Deere's & Lydia's Bethany -- Lydia's Photography, 1906-1925 >
      • Bethany College "Campus from Above"
      • Bethany College "The Gateway" 1917 and "Bethany Campus Association" 1912
      • Bethany College "College Street," today's "North First Street"
      • Bethany College "Campus Life"
      • "Bethany College's Earliest Buildings" >
        • Bethany College "​Ladies Dormitory" / "Lane Hart Hall" 1883 - 1899 - 1983
        • Bethany College "Old Main" 1887-1968 >
          • Lydia's and Emil's Old Main Apartments, 1920 to 1940
          • Deere's Bethany College Classes in Old Main
        • Bethany College "Messiah Auditorium" / "Ling Auditorium" / "Ling Gymnasium" 1895 - 1946
        • Bethany College "Swedish Pavilion" 1904
        • Bethany College "​Carnegie Library" / "Bethany Library" 1908 - 1980
        • Bethany College "​Bethany Academy" 1882 -- Swensson's Bethany's Beginnings
    • Deere's 1959 Interview on Dr. Rev. Carl A. Swensson (On YouTube) >
      • Dr. Rev. Carl Aaron Swensson, 1857-1904 >
        • Swensson's "Bethany Lutheran Church" and the "Augustana Lutheran Synod"
        • Swensson's Bethany's Beginnings: "The Bethany Academy of 1882"
        • Swensson's Musicians' and Singers' "Messiah", 1882 on ...
        • Swensson's Swedish Artists of the 1890s
        • Swensson's "Bethany College Museum," 1882 - 1966
      • In Memorium**Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, 1904
    • Deere's Dr. Rev. Ernst F. Pihlblad, 1873-1941 >
      • In Memoriam**Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, 1943
      • Pihlblad on Bethany College, 1904 - 1941
    • Deere's Swensson's "Bethany College Museum" 1882 - 1966 >
      • Bethany College Museum Collections' New Location,1966 >
        • Articles on the Bethany College Museum Collections Move of 1966
    • Deere's Bethany College Field Trips -- Lydia's Photography, 1906-1925 >
      • Deere's Swensson's Bethany College Museum Collections >
        • Cliff Dwellers' Pottery Collection
        • Fossils Collection, "The Find"
        • Taxidermy Collection
    • Deere's Dr. Leon Lungstrom on the "Bethany College Museum"
    • Deere's Dr. Leon Lungstrom on "Three Pioneer Scientists of Swedish Descent"
    • Deere's Smithsonian Institution's Souvenir, 1904
    • Deere's 1940 Presidential Address to the Kansas Academy of Science
    • Deere's 1955 Letter to President Eisenhower re Tuttle Creek
    • Deere's Service, 1901-1966 >
      • Deere's Education
  • Contact
    • NAVIGATING -- Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
  • "The Other Swedes"
    • "The Other Swedes:" A Continuation >
      • Smoky Valley Writers on "The Other Swedes" >
        • Bror Carlsson & Alf Brorson, Värmland, Sweden
      • Bethany College Swedish Knights and Honored Ladies
      • Chris Abercrombie ~ Remembering Him as "The Historian," SVHA President & His Body of Work
      • Elmer Copley, PhD ~ Remembering Him as "the 'Messiah' conductor" and the ... Easter 'Centennial' Performance, 1981 >
        • Elmer Copley, PhD ~ Remembering Him as "the 'Messiah' conductor" ... for the King of Sweden, ...1976 >
          • Elmer Copley, PhD ~ Celebrating Him -- Bethany Magazine, Spring 1988
      • Arvin W. Hahn, PhD ~ Remembering Him, and “Applauding Him” for saving Bethany College from Bankruptcy! >
        • Arvin W. Hahn ~ Remembering Him, and Displaying the Bethany College Diploma He Handed Me, 1968
      • William Holwerda, MD ~ Remembering Him and His "Svensk Hyllningsfest" begun in 1941
      • The Jaderborgs ~ Remembering Them and Their Swedish Crafts Shop (1946-2011) >
        • The Lars Olaf Jaderborg Home ~ Thure, Hilding & Ester, Einar & Elizabeth Jaderborg
      • The Swedish Lindsborg Builders, where "the other Swedes" lived
Home
"Sweden held its greatest place in history when respect for the scriptures was shown by the monarch,
namely under Gustaf Adolf  [1611-1632]  whose whole life was directed by the word of God."
​                                                                                                                                                      -- Pastor Olsson
​"He Gave God Glory "
The Story of Olof Olsson
(
1841 - 1900)
by
Bror Carlsson

By kind permission, on December 8, 2017, Mr. Alf Brorson has granted that this book be shown in its entirety to share this enlightening story, especially to Lindsborg readers.  This is the very condensed version created by Mr. Brorson of his father's 350 page manuscript which was copyrighted in 1984. 

​It was first translated from Swedish to English by Pastor Martin Ringstrom of Lindsborg and was titled originally as
Jag Sökte Icke Mitt, i.e. I Did Not Seek My Own.  It is about the Augustana Lutheran Synod from 1860 to 1900, and his dear friend "in history," Swedish Värmland Pastor Olof Olsson (1841-1900).  Lindsborg's A. John Pearson was the editor and it was published with the translated title as shown by the Smoky Valley Historical Association of Lindsborg in 2001.

Mr. Brorson's father was Rev. Bror
Carlsson's, a former pastor of the Church of Sweden, and he dedicated this his manuscript/book to "the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church with Gratitude and Respect."

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​As a former Värmland  Church of Sweden pastor, Olof Olsson was destined to found
Lindsborg's Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church on August 19, 1869.
Here is the story!
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INTRODUCTION Pages i - x
-- Contents, Translator's Foreword by Pastor Martin Ringstrom, Forward by Alf Brorson

he_gave_god_glory_i_-_x.pdf
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Foreword by Alf Brorson
page ix

My father, Bror Carlsson, was a pastor of the Church of Sweden.  At the time of his death he left a manuscript dedicated to "the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church with Gradtitude and Respect."  The manuscript entitled
I Did Not See My Own
contains 350 pages of typewritten material and deals with "The Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church in the U.S. A. during the years 1860-1900 with particular attention to a Värmland native, the pioneer pastor, Olof Olsson."

My father had the opportunity to trace Olof Olsson's life both in Sweden and abroad.  He had become interested, as a pastorial colleague expressed it with astonished reservations, in "the career of Pr. Olof Olsson, the remarkable pastor from Värmland."

My father finished his work on the manuscript on November 4, 1955, at the J
össe Ny parsonage, Värmland.  After that, various circumstances prevented its final editing and publication.  I have tried many years later to complete my father's work.  I have retained the original design of the manuscript as nearly as possible but have condensed its contents.

As a result, I Did Not Seek My Own (In English as He Gave God Glory) has become the portrait of a genuine human being, Pr. Olof Olsson.

He could have been my father.


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FOUR CHAPTERS TOTAL

First Two Chapters

Page 1
A HUMBLE SERVANT OF THE LORD

Pages 2-19
"GOD HAS SO CREATED A HUMAN BEING THAT NO TIES ARE STRONGER IN HIS HEART THAN THE TIES OF HOME"

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From page 16:  On God's Word and Swedish Kings Gösta and Gustaf Adolf:

Olof Olsson gave credit to the former kings of Sweden for an important role in the battle for God's word:  "The Swedes must have God's word, otherwise they are lost."

"All true history must give recognition to old King G
östa, who with true Swedish honesty and sincerity respected the Scriptures and wished to establish and build a free and prosperous kingdom based on the solid and unshakeable foundation of God's word.

"Sweden held its greatest place in history when respect for the scriptures was shown by the monarch, namely under Gustaf Adolf whose whole life was directed by the word of God."


--Lectures and Addresses (The Swedish people's armor for the defence of the Gospel.  Festival address given at Wahoo, Nebraska, February 25, 1893.
From page 16:  On the  Church of Sweden not accepting his resignation forcing Pastor Olsson to appeal to the King:

By December, 1868, Olof had decided to immigrate to America.

But under the leadership of Bishop Sundberg the Karlstad diocese decided not to accept Olof Olsson's resignation.

Olof did not give up.  Just as the Apostle Paul appealed to Caesar, so Olof appealed to the King, who on February 19, 1869, granted his request for release from service within the Church of Sweden.  The Karlstad diocese, therefore, was required to release Olof Olsson from his Eksharad's pastorate and did so on March 23 of the same year.

Olof's emigration was preceded by an exchange of letters to and from America.  In a letter to T.N. Hasselquist, the first president of the Augustana Synod, Olof wrote: "Thank you for the kind letter which I received a long time ago.  The reason I did not answer it sooner is that I was advised and warned on all sides not to journey to America.


It is not difficult to understand that I became indecisive as a result of these persistent warnings.  I have, nevertheless, decided to come to you in the name of the Lord.  I have recently sent my resignation from service in the diocese to the cathedral chapter.
Last Two Chapters

Pages 20-39
THE SONG OF MESSIAH PEARLS FORTH FROM THE PRAIRIE
Pages 40-41
AT THE CROSS

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From page 33: On Pastor Olsson's thoughts on Christian theology:

In his desire to find meaning in all of life's changes Olof researched in many directions.  There is no doubt that he was, from time to time, regarded with mistrust because of his openness to extensive study and research.

Olof professed to be "a Lutheran at heart" and his frequent references to Luther's "clear and consistent theological positons" confirms it.  But he also confessed that "anyone who sincerely believes in Jesus as God's Son and the Savior of sinners is my brother and friend in Jesus Christ."  He was always ready to extend the hand of friendship to a brother in the faith.

Olof was not a typical representative for a single interpretation.  His thinking was not fenced in by "isms."  Throughout his life he constantly sought to deepen his knowledge in relation to the position that "there is only one name and one proclamation and that is Christ."

But he thought on an idealistic level and consequently his thinking could constantly expose him to attack.

From page 37:  On Pastor Olsson's thoughts on science:

God's Word was for Olof the highest and most unshakable of all truth.  But he did not look upon Christianity as an exclusive educational system.  He attempted to keep up with the science of his time insorfar as it was possible for him.  "True faith stands in grateful union with true science and true art."

"No branch of knowledge has been so badly abused by its highest and most famous spoksmen as theology.  In spite of these abuses, we do not reject the knowledge of God or the spirit of man.

"When will we be able to pay our debt of gratitude to natural sciences?  The knowledge has grown and had changed our entire physical earthly life in an unbelievable manner.  If many people abuse this knowledge so that they deny and ridicle the hope which makes human life worth living, we do not, therefor, reject the marvelous science, but we feel pity for its abusers."


-- To Rome and Home Again (1890)

CLOSING Pages 42-46
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These are the graves of Pastor Olsson and his wife Anna's at the Moline, Illinois, Riverside Cemetery near the shore of the Mississippi River looking beyond to Davenport, Iowa.  Their graves are about 4 miles east from Augustana College and Theological Seminary in Rock Island, Illinois, where Pastor Olsson was the College's third president.
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Source: 2010 photograph by Fran Cochran
*     *     * 
Go HERE to ​Their Augustana Lutheran Synod, 1860 - 1962.
"He Gave God Glory" The Story of Olof Olsson:  By Pastor Bror Carlsson, Revision and Layout by Alf Brorson, Translation by Pastor Martin Ringstrom, Illustrations by Petter Brorson, Göran Hagegård and Björn östlund, © 1984 Bror Carlsson, Revised Edition © 2001 by Smoky Valley Historical Publications, A. John Pearson, Editor
*     *     * 
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~

reconnecting past to present
*     *     * 

All color photography throughout Swedes:  The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2019 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org.  All rights reserved.

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