SWEDES: TheWayTheyWere
  • Home
    • The Bethany Artist & the Bethany Scientist: Lydia & Emil >
      • ​"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 "Bethany Lutheran Church" 1869 >
        • Their "Augustana Lutheran Synod," 1860 - 1962 >
          • The Augustana Heritage Association, 2000 - 2016
        • Their "Augustana Women's Missionary Society," 1892
      • 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 1920s Coronado Heights Photographs and their Smoky Valley Historical Association (SVHA)
      • Their 1936 1873 Swedish Homestead, "The Old Deere Farm," The Peter J. Larson Farm, etc. >
        • Their 1873 Swede House
        • A Smoky Valley Swedish Virtual Memorial - ​"Dedicated to the Memory of the Smoky Valley Swedish Settlements" >
          • 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 & Audiences, Press and Broadcasts
    • 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, Emory Lindquist, and his 1953, "Smoky Valley People, A History of Lindsborg, Kansas"
    • 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 Her Handwritten 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 Travels with Deere 1916 - 1930s >
          • Lydia's California Photographs for Painting
          • Lydia's Palm Springs Pictorial Magazine, 1938-1939
          • Lydia's California Pressed Wild Flowers, c1930
      • "LYDIA'S WORLD" Photography Exhibitions in Lindsborg, 2005 - 2011
    • 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 Artist Birger Sandzén through His Students' Paintings
    • 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 N.Y.C, 1984 "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, 1880-1894-1993
  • 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 Rev. Dr. Carl A. Swensson (On YouTube) >
      • Rev. Dr. 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 ... >
          • Thure Olof Jaderborg
        • Swensson's Swedish Artists of the 1890s
        • Swensson's "Bethany College Museum," 1882 - 1966
      • In Memorium**Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, 1904
    • Deere's Rev. Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, 1873-1943 >
      • In Memoriam**Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, 1943
      • Rev. Dr. 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 & Degrees
  • "The Other Swedes"
    • Honoring them and their works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \\\\/ >
      • Mrs. Alma Christina Lind Swensson ~ Remembering her as Mrs. Rev. Dr. Swensson, the First Lady of Lindsborg
      • Photographer B.G. Gröndal ~ Remembering him for visually documenting Lindsborg and Bethany College in their earliest days
      • Miss Alma Luise Olson ~ Remembering her as "First Honored American Woman by Sweden" by Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg >
        • Remembering Miss Alma Luise Olson and her most extraordinary life at home and abroad by Ms. Karen A. Humphrey
      • Artist Birger Sandzén ~ Remembering him for "sharing his art with the world," starting "first" at Lindsborg's Bethany College >
        • Dr. & Dr. Mrs. Charles Greenough III ~ Remembering them for their gift of the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery
      • Artist Lester Raymer ~ Remembering him as the renown virtuoso artist and "behind the scenes" community supporter
      • Dr. Arvin W. Hahn ​​~ Remembering him for saving Bethany College from going under!​ >
        • Dr. Arvin W. Hahn (1923-2017) ~ Remembering him handing me my Bethany College Diploma on Sunday, May 26,1968
      • Dr. ​Elmer Copley ~ Remembering Bethany College's Oratorio Society Conductor who carried on "that" "Messiah" traditional excellence for 26 years, taking it to new levels >
        • Dr. Elmer Copley ~ Remembering him as the “Messiah” conductor for the Bethany College "Swedish King’s" performance, 1976 >
          • Dr. Elmer Copley ~ Remembering him as the "Messiah" conductor for the Bethany College "Centennial Celebration” performance, 1981
      • Dr. William Holwerda ( MD) ~ Remembering him at the founder of "Svensk Hyllningsfest"
      • Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg ~ Remembering her as the founder of the "Lindsborg Swedish Folk Dancers"
      • Mr. & Mrs. Hilding Jaderborg ~ Remembering them and their “Swedish Crafts Shop” – 65 years and 50 trips to Sweden
      • The Swedish Lindsborg Builders ~ Remembering them for the lovely homes they built
      • Dr. Greta Swenson and Mr. & Mrs. Mark Esping ~ Honoring them for founding Lindsborg's “first” "Swedish-American Folklife Institute of Central Kansas." 1986 >
        • Recognizing their Folklife Institute's "Swedish-American Heritage Center," 1996
      • Ms. Rebecca Copley ~ Honoring her as Bethany College's “first” graduate to become an International Opera Singer
      • Mr. Bruce Karstadt ~ Honoring him as a Bethany College graduate for heading up a major national Swedish American institution
      • Mrs. Becky Larson-Anderson ~ Honoring her as Bethany College's “first” woman graduate to become mayor of "Little Sweden" USA
      • Dr. Mark Lucas ~ Messiah conductor bringing the Lindsborg “Oberammergau of the Plains" to a "new" world stage
    • The Smoky Valley Writers on "The Other Swedes" ​ ~ Their Swedish American Legacy Collection >
      • Mr. Bror Carlsson and Mr. Alf Brorson from Sweden ~ Chronicling Founder Pastor Olof Olsson's missionary journey to Lindsborg from Värmland, Sweden
      • Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson ~ An author of countless Swedish & English publications, newspapers, articles and books ...
      • Mrs. Margaret Dahlquist Eddy ~ Providing the only known history on Lindsborg and Bethany College's earliest Swedish photographer, B.G. Gröndal
      • Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin ​~ Compiling foundational Swedish Smoky Valley Augustana Lutheran settlements' histories and more
      • Dr. Emory Lindquist ~ Chronicling Swedish Augustana Lutheran Lindsborg and Bethany College
      • Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg [Selma Lind] ​ ~ Chronicling the Lindsborg of her day, its early histories, and more
      • Dr. Leon Lungstrom ~ Chronicling college professors and providing the "only known written" account on the Bethany College Museum
      • Ms. Karen A. Humphrey ~ Chronicling highlights of Swedish Augustana Lutheran Lindsborg and Bethany College society and culture in the earliest years
      • Mr. A. John Pearson & Mr. Kenneth Sjogren ~ Chronicling the Bethany College Presidents
      • Mr. Bill Carlson ~ Chronicling Lindsborg's earliest and later histories with a personal connection
      • Mr. Chris Abercrombie ~ Remembering him as the "historian," the SVHA president and his body of work
      • Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist ~ Chronicling key Swedish Augustana Lutheran Smoky Valley settlements other than Lindsborg
      • Rev. Eugene K. Nelson and the Bethany Home Writers ~ Chronicling the "only known written" story on the beginnings of Bethany Home
      • Smoky Valley Historical Association Members ~ Researchers, compilers and writers of " Where Did They Live? "
    • ​Smoky Valley History Research Writers Website Designers ~ Their Swedish American Legacy Websites
    • Bethany College Swedish Knights and Honored Ladies ~ Their Royal Swedish Legacy Listings
    • His Majesty, Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden ~ Honoring him in Lindsborg and at Bethany College, 1976 >
      • Mr. Bill Carlson's Lindsborg's Bethany Home & the Swedish King's Visit
  • Contacts
    • For Lindsborg, 1869, CONTACT Today >
      • 2020 Christmas in Lindsborg ~ 'Welcome to Annandag Jul Worship from Sunnemo & Lindsborg"
      • 2020 Christmas in LIndsborg ~ the Ljuskröna and Apple Tree Exhibit" online presentation
    • ​For Bethany College, 1881, CONTACT Today
    • Closing Remarks & Traveling through SWEDES >
      • The Swedish American Legacy Photographs >
        • ​Lydia's Lindsborg's Photography​, ​1900 - 1925
        • Lydia's Bethany's Photography, ​1906 - 1925
Home
Their "Bethany Lutheran Church," 1869
Lydia is recorded to have been the Bethany Lutheran Church secretary for a time when Bethany College founder and president Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson was pastor and Rev. Ernst Pihlblad was the assistant pastor, a time of which would have had to be before Swensson death in 1904.  

When her parents, A. G. and Ingrid Sohlberg, moved from McPherson, Kansas to Lindsborg in 1904 to retire, they changed their church membership to the Bethany Lutheran Church from their 1881 charter membership at the McPherson Swedish Lutheran Church, today's Trinity Lutheran Church.  Before its establishment, Anders and Ingrid would travel from McPherson 
northeast over 9 miles by horse and buggy or wagon to the Swedish New Gotland Church for services.
 
Emil became a member of Bethany Lutheran Church in 1902 at twenty-five.  During his membership of 64 years, he would become the Council Secretary of the Church for ten (10) years, a delegate to one of the
Augustana Synod Kansas Conferences, a Bethany College representative at the annual Association of Lutheran College Faculties Conference and a representative at the North Central Lutheran Education Conferences.*

The Bethany Lutheran Church that Emil and Lydia attended was built in 1874 with additions made in 1880 or so, such as the Bell Tower in 1881.  
Its location is on Main Street a few blocks north of the center of town.  It continues to hold services and Swedish Christmas services to this day.  It is now referred to as Bethany Church and, having lost its Swedish Augustana Lutheran Synod identity due to several merger of the past, it is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).

​- Lydia's and Emil's Bethany Lutheran Church -
Picture
Source: Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas by Ruth Billdt, 1965
Their longtime pastor Dr. Alfred Bergin was the third pastor to serve Bethany Lutheran Church.  His tenure was for 34 years, from 1904 to 1938.  Dr. Bergin would be responsible for piecing together the early history of the Smoky Valley settlements and its Lutheran churches as well as non-Lutheran churches, and Bethany College.  This history would be found in two (2) volumes produced in 1909 titled "Lindsborg, Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen" (translated in 1965 to "Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas"), and in 1919 titled "Lindsborg Efter Femtio Ӓr" ( translated in 1969 to "The Smoky Valley in The After Years").  ​  The 1909 volume was produced for the celebration of the Church's 40th founding anniversary and the 1919 volume for the Church's 50th founding anniversary.

From these two volumes, fourth Swedish American Bethany College President Emory Lindquist would acquire much of his information for writing his Swedish American books, especially his 1953 book, Smoky Valley People, A History of Lindsborg, Kansas.  Providing the background for Bethany Church's founding, in this book on page 17, Chapter III -"A CHURCH IS FOUNDED,"  he writes the following:

      "THE CENTRAL emphasis in the founding of Lindsborg was religious.  Pastor Olof Olsson and his friends came out of that period in Swedish church history when new forces of freedom were protesting against the institutional pattern of the Church of Sweden.  The promise of America included the opportunity of founding a free church in a free land.  The Bethany Lutheran congregation at Lindsborg, founded in August, 1869, six weeks after the arrival of Pastor Olsson in the Smoky Valley, was the expression of these Swedish immigrants' search for this new freedom.

      "The religious interests of the Swedes in the area furnished the background for the unofficial "call" to Pastor Olsson that had been issued in December, 1868, on the basis of C.R. Carlson's understanding with Olsson and the desire of the pioneers for a pastor and congregation."
​
Also, Lindsborg's Bill Carlson in his 2010 book, Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now, on page 21-22, Chapter 9, "An Early Lindsborg Community Leader," writes the following on the events which brought Rev. Olof Olsson, the founder of the church to Lindsborg:

        "C.R. Carlson was a member of the lä
sar group that had been meeting regularly in Sweden with Rev. Olof Olsson to read and study the Bible.  C.R. was a brother-in-law of Magnus Carlson [Bill Carlson's grandfather] who preceded him here in the Smoky Valley.  C.R. and Magnus had become intimate friends of Rev. Olsson while Pastor Olsson was serving the Fernebo congregation, prior to his call to the Sunnemo Church.  Carlson was serving as the Principal and Teacher in the area.

      "Upon Magnus Carlson's arrival in the Smoky Valley, he soon sent a letter to his brother-in-law C.R. Carlson urging him and his wife Emilia to join them in this new-found country, which they did late in December of 1868."


When founded in 1869 by Pastor Olof Olson, the church was first named the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church and was accepted by the Augustana Lutheran Synod as a member Lutheran church at that time.  It was located a few miles northwest of Lindsborg.   Below is a drawing by businessman and artist G.N. Malm of the church building showing how it appeared in its beginnings.

- The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church -
Built c1869 - 1870
Picture
Source: The Deere Papers: This was an etching of it by artist G. N. Malm who designed it for a Christmas card for Lydia and Emil.

​The First Three Pastors of Bethany Lutheran Church
Rev. Dr. Olof Olsson, the Church and Lindsborg's Founder
Rev. Dr. Car Aaron Swensson, Bethany College Founder
Rev. Dr. Alfred Bergin, First Smoky Valley Swedish Historian Writer 
Picture
Source: "The Smoky Valley in the After Years" by Ruth Billdt and Elizabeth Jaderborg, 1969

To learn more on the Augustana Lutheran Synod go HERE.
* Source:  The Deere Papers
*     *     * 
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~

reconnecting past to present
*     *     * 

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