"The Other Swedes"
​~ Honoring Them and Remembering Them ~ The Smoky Valley Writers ~

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​
​Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin
 ~  Wrote, compiled and printed Swedish foundational history on the 1869 Smoky Valley Augustana Lutherans of Bethany Church and settlement of Lindsborg, for 1909 and 1919

​Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin
​(1866 - 1944)
"Third"
​Bethany Lutheran Church Pastor
1904-1938

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​1909 / 1965

Dr. Bergin was the third Swedish Bethany Evangelical Lutheran pastor in Lindsborg.  

- Third Swedish Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Pastor's work of 1909 in Swedish -
" Lindsborg, Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen "
was renamed in English by his daughter
Ruth Bergin Billdt
(​1897-1976)
​in 1965 to
" Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas "
and translated to English by her,
with editorial assistance by
Elizabeth Jaderborg

>>>>>>>His background

Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin was a very accomplished person who is noted in the HERE.   In this information, you will find this with many typos and misspellings: 

Doctor Bergin married in 1894 Anna Hult, of Skandia, Minnesota. Six children were born to them. Carl, Valdemar and Ada are deceased. Those still living are Adelia, Ruth and Esther.

​ accessgeneology.com biographies

REWORKING THIS 8 7 23
     "Alfred Bergin, B. D., Ph. D.The Bethany Church at Lindsborg ever since it was established on the prairies of Central Kansas nearly fifty years ago had been a powerful influence not only in the religious life of Kansas but to a remarkable degree in the social and intellectual advancement of the people of the state. It is the oldest and the parent church of the Swedish Lutheran people who did so much to colonize and develop these prairles from a wilderness into a smiling landscape of farms and towna. The church had a membership of over two thousand people. It was organized by Dr. Olof Olson on August 19, 1869. After Dr. Olson’s ten years of service Dr. Carl Swensson served as pastor all his ministerial life, or for twenty-five years.

Dr. Swensson will always be gratefully remembered by the church and by hundreds of people outside of the church. During his pastorate the famous Messiah concerts were started, and there is no one artistic movement or enterprise in the state of Kansas which had become so widely known and is more justly entitled to the appreciation of the cultured classes. The direct result of Dr. Swensson’s pastorate was the founding of Bethany College.

     "For the past twelve years Dr. Alfred Bergin had been pastor of Bethany Church. In that time he had continned the great work begun by his predecessors, and at the same time had made himself a factor in the welfare of the community and the state.

     "While most widely known as an author, minister, teacher and religious leader, Dr. Bergin had in his time come into close contact with the practical realities of life and in various roles. 

He was born in Vester Bitterna, Västergötland, Sweden, April 24, 1866 and. Graduated from the public schools of Sweden at the age of twelve and confirmed in 1881, he arrived on June 9, 1883, at Carver, Minnesota.

On the 11th of June he began work at A. Ahline’s brick yard. There he put in every summer at hard labor. until 1889. In 1884 he matriculated in Gustavus Adolphus College at St. Peter, Minnesota, kept at his studies as regularly as his means permitted, though for two years he had to remain out of college altogether,

and was granted his degree, Bachelor of Arts, in 1892. He taught a parochial school in St. Paul in 1890, in Duluth in 1891, and in Skandia in 1892.

     "Entering the Augustana Seminary at Rock Island, Illinois, in 1892, Dr. Bergin was graduated with the degree B. D. and ordained as pastor in the Lutheran Church in 1894.

He served as missionary in several counties of North Dakota in 1893-95, then removed to Warren, Minnesota, and was pastor of ten churches until 1897.

​From there he went to Cambridge, Minnesota, where he lived eight years, and in 1904 accepted the call to succeed the late Dr. Carl Swensson in Lindsborg, Kansas."
​
 accessgeneology.com biographies

Dr. Emory K. Lindquist reports in his book Smoky Valley People, A History of Lindsborg, Kansas" on pages 218-219 the following:

     "An unusual service to Lindsborg was rendered by Dr. Alfred Bergin, pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church from 1904 until his retirement in 1942  ?????, by his comprehensive studies of Lindsborg's history.  His two volumes, Lindsborg. Bidrag Till Svenskarnas Och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen (1909) and Lindsborg Efter Femtio Ar (1919), will always remain the basic source for understanding the pioneer life of the community.  He made extensive use of interviews in compiling his two volumes on Lindsborg and in that manner presented invaluable material.  Bergin was a serious scholar who was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Minnesota for his authoritative study, The Law of the West Goths (1906).  Bergin was a regular and extensive conteibutor to Swedish newspapers and periodicals.  He served as editor of Lindsborgs-Posten for many years.  He wrote extensively on relisious subjects and on his travels.  Many peoms and hymns were produced by him.  Alfred Hergin has made a significan contribtuion to Lindsborg as pastor, professor, historian, writer, and ernest supporter of college and civic causes."
​
>>>>>>>His Books:  "Lindsborg, Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen" & "Lindsborg, Efter Femtio Ӓr" 

Dr. Bergin's tenure at Bethany Lutheran Church was for 34 years, from 1904 to 1938.??????  Among the business of his life as indicated above, he would be responsible for piecing together the early history of the Smoky Valley settlement of Lindsborg and his church that extended on to information about other Smoky Valley Lutheran churches as well as non-Lutheran churches, and Bethany College.  Forty years from the founding of Bethany Lutheran Church in 1869 by Rev. Dr. Olof Olsson, a first book in Swedish was completed in 1909 titled "Lindsborg, Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen" translated to English means "Lindsborg, Contribution to the History of the Swedes and the Lutheran Church in the Smoky Hill River Valley," and 10 years later a second book was completed in 1919, titled ​"Lindsborg, Efter Femtio Ӓr" translated to English means ​"Lindsborg, After Fifty Years."

These books were destined to be translated by Dr. Bergin's daughter, Ruth Billdt.  The 1909 book, she would translate in 1965 and the 1919 book, she would translate in 1969.  

The background on Dr. Bergin and these books is explained​​​ HERE under the Home section, Their 1909 and 1919 Swedish Smoky Valley Community Chronicles ~ Compiled and written by Bethany Lutheran Church Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin, members and others.

​​Go HERE, to learn about this 1965 book, translated from "Lindsborg, Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen"

​1965 Published, 177 Pages

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1919 / 1969
- Third Swedish Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Pastor's work of 1919 Swedish -
"Lindsborg, Efter Femtio Ӓr "
was renamed in English by his daughter
Ruth Bergin Billdt
in 1969 to
" The Smoky Valley in the After Years "
and with editorial assistance through out and
authorship of Part 2 by
Elizabeth Jaderborg

Go HERE, to learn about this 1969 book, "The Smoky Valley in The After Years," (translated from the 1919 ​" Lindsborg Efter Femtio Ӓr.")

1969 Published,  220 Pages​

Source: "The Smoky Valley in the After Years" by Ruth Billdt and Elizabeth Jaderborg, 1969.

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