Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/422

 O X 54 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY Every summer, during May and June, seven teachers are em- ployed in different parts of the congregation for the instruction of the children, the main branches of study being the elements of the Christian religion, according to the doctrine of the Lu- theran church, and also the Swedish language and literature. Now, considering the whole history of the Vasa church, it certainly has been a great source of much good, spiritual and material, not only to this community and Goodhue county, but also to the great commonwealth of Minnesota, which most of the Swedish people seem to prefer to any other state in the Union. Rev. Bernhard Modin, the present pastor of the Yasa church, was born near Stockholm, Sweden. August 20. 1863. He arrived in this country when nineteen years of age, is a graduate of Augustana College, Rock Island, 111., and also of the Theological Seminary at the same place. He was ordained minister in the Lutheran church in 1895. As pastor he has served the Swedish Lutheran Church of America, first at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, (1895- 1896), and then the Swedish Lutheran church. Bethesda church, of Page county, Iowa 1 1896-1906). He took charge of the Lu- theran church, of Yasa. in March, 1906. During these years as pastor he lias also held several important positions of trust. Thus he was a member of the executive committee of the Iowa conference for several years, and secretary of the same con- ference about six years. At present he is president of the board of directors of the Yasa Orphan Home, a charitable institution, supported by the Swedish Lutheran Minnesota Conference. Rev. Eric Norelius, D. D., president of the Augustana Synod of the Swedisli Lutheran church, was born in Helsingland, S.weden. in 1833. He came to America in 1850, graduated from the Capitol University of Columbus, Ohio, in 1855 ; entered the ministry and was ordained in 1856, and then came to Minnesota, where he has since continued to labor, with short interims. The complete story of his early labors is told in an article by himself, which appears in this volume. The dozen congregations he organized in log huts in the fifties have become a conference numbering about 400 congregations and 75,000 members. In 1857 he established the first Swedish newspaper in Minnesota, which led the way to the number published today. In 1862 he founded a high school for the conference at Red Wing, which he nursed and tended with much care. It was moved to Carver and then to St. Peter and is today the Gustavus Adolphus College, known far and wide. In 1865 he founded the Yasa Orphan's Home. Dr. Norelius is author of several very important works of the Swedish- Americans of America and the development of the Swe- dish church, also biographies of several of the leading Swedish- Americans. In January, 1903, Dr. Norelius was knighted by King