The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-10-28

Special to The Journal.
mission field in the Transvaal to, quiet
rural pastorate in Nicollet county is
the change that has been made by Rev.
b, M, Rafftesaeth, who has just &C.
copied a call rendered him by the Nor
wegian Lutheran congregation at
Norseland He succeeds Rev. Thomas
johnson, who founded the Norseland
church, and who died last spring after
serving as its pastor for. more than
forty years.
MI. Rafftesaeth has had picturesque
and interesting career as minister of
the gospel. Born in Nero, Norway,
Feb. S, 1860, he attended the public
schools until he was l6, and then
entered the teachers seminary at VoE
den, where he studied two years. In
1881 his father, who was man OF some
Importance in his community, sold his
home and, with his family, started Tor
South Africa to join an elder son, l.: e..
Rafftesaeth, who had established him
self in business at Durham, Natal. y -
Tragedy at Sea. n -. :. r. q
They embarked on the Union Line
steamship Teuton Of London, and
reached Cape Town Aug. 81. On the
following day the Teuton resumed her
voyage, and in passing Queens point,
a, promontory on the eastern coast of
the Cape of Good Hope, struck an I'M
charted reef, and lay stranded for sey-
eral hours When she was finally
floated, her captain determined to put
back to Cape Town to drydock his yes
sci, but. had gone but short distance
when she filed and sank, carrying down
her 800 passengers, her officers and
crew. Only thirteen Of the passeen-
gers were saved. T. -. ~. :,
Z :. While the ship was sinking Mr.. Raft
4 tesaeth, his parents and two younger
sisters stood together on the quarter
deck. Then the doomed craft gave a
sudden #lurch, throwing them into the
water, and the minister never saw the
other members of the family again. He
himself was caught by the wreckage
and carried down with the ship, but at
a. great depth was miraculously freed
and rose to the surface, where he sue
f floating plank. Three of the vessel s
boats had been lowered, and Mr.. Raft
tesaeth was the last of thirty-two sur
vivors to be picked up.
Ordained by Numbering.
After this appalling disaster the
i Town, where he waited a week for {
mail steamer from England, and ther
went to his brothers. home in Durham
The ensuing four years were spent II
k the British colony of Natal, Mr.. Rattle
saeth devoting most Of his time tt
travelling inland among the natives
Kaffirs Of the Zulu tribe, to- gail
knowledge Of their. language and Gus
toms.
From his earliest boyhood he wa
ambitious to become a minister of tn
gospel, and after the untimely death
4 Of his parents that desire was increased
Accordingly, in 1885, he sailed for Ger
many to be educated as a missionary
y The Moravian church, whose doctrine
nearly identical with that Of the Nor
wegian Lutheran, and which is re
noWned for it's world missio
work, had, attracted the young ma
greatly, and he entered it's mission col
1ege at Wiesky, in the province Q
Silesia. Germany. There he studied fo
four years, and on Oct. 20, 1899, wa
regularly ordained as minister by tn
celebrated prelate, Bishop Wandering
10 Years Pastor In Natal.
AS he was familiar with the nativ
language, he was, at his own reques
sent out to the Moravian mission feel
in South Africa, and placed in charg
Of one of their oldest stations, at Shilt
In Kaffirland. He was only sho1
distance, from Qq ~ G in II
Rafftesaeth assumed charge in jun
1890, but remained at the mission onl
six months, when he took up minist
rial work among his countrymen nes
Port Shepstone, Natal. In addition I
his duties as pastor, he conducted I'll
Il English-aided government school !;
that place, his passionate continuing fl
thirteen years. In 1908, { howeve
overwork caused his health to brea