Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/415

 HISTPKY OF GOODHUE COUNTl 341 "June 22. 1856, ci' business meeting of the congregation was held, when a constitution for the church was adopted, the prin- ciples of which are still in force, although considerable altered several times. The question as to the location for a church and graveyard was also brought up. Mr. Willard proposed to donate ten acres of land to the congregation for this purpose, round about the sehoolhouse, a short distance to the southeast from the present brick church, and the offer was thankfully accepted. As Mr. Willard had the misfortune to lose his land, the con- gregation could not secure a deed to the property, and conse- quently could not use his offer. A number of dead were buried there, and the sehoolhouse was occupied as a meeting house up to 1862. "July 6. 1856, a meeting was held for the election of three trustees, and the following named persons were duly elected, viz. : Peter Nilson, for the term of one year ; Carl Carlson, for the term of two years, and Olof Peterson, for a term of three years. A certificate of incorporation of the trustees of the Swe- dish Evangelical Lutheran church, of Vasa. was made out the same day, duly acknowledged on July 13, before Mr. Willard, he being then a justice of the peace, and filed for record July 17, 1856, and recorded in first book, religious societies, pages 9 and 10. by J. M. Hancock, register of deeds. 'From that time the congregation may be said to be fully organized. My object now will be to show something of its development during the subsequent twenty-two years of its exist- ence. My own history is so much interwoven with that of the congregation at Vasa, not to mention that of Red Wing and olher places in the county, that I cannot well relate the one without having to touch the other. And I hope, therefore, that the reference to myself will not be looked upon as too egotistical. After having lived for several weeks at Peter Nilson 's we moved to a place in the neighborhood of White Rock, on Belle creek, where I bought the improvements on a quarter-section from old Mrs. Bockman, for $130, proved up the claim and paid the gov- ernment price the following winter. When I bought the claim there was a small log hut on it, 8x10 feet in size, with flat sod roof and with no floor. This was to be our kitchen department. I got some common lumber at Red Wing, at a high price, and put an addition to the hut, a shanty 12x16 feet, intended for a parlor, sitting room, bedroom, etc., all in one. We moved in when three sides were up, without roof or floor, without doors and windows. Well do I remember the first night in that house, if house it was. We made our bed on the ground on a pile of shavings and hay, with the blue sky above us. I had filled the mattress with new-cut grass, and unintentionally put