The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-08-05
Ain Historical Sketch of the Swedish
Evangelical Lutheran Church and
the Swedisk Colony of Belgrade
Township, Mcollet County

st"A sS 80 &S~@' 81 SAS SA S
Swedish Sermon by Rev. DR.. J. A.
Kranrz. Text, Luke !: $3.50. Sub
ject; the writing table OF the church
and what has been written thereon
during these fifty years. Luke 1853.
English Sermon by Rev. G. Sigfrid
Swenson. Text Luke 1886. Sub
3ect: Be you yourselves like unto
men that wait for their Lord.
Two songs by the choir.
High mass liturgy by Rev. G. Sig
trid Swenson.
At the school house on the lawn in
the afternoon.
Dinner from one to two o'clock.
Program:
Song by the choir.
Bible reading and prayers Ps. las,
Vocal solo. Miss Maud Peterson.
History Of church, Mr.. Carl L.
Duet, Emilia Johnson and Maud
Peterson.
Address, Judge Harry Johnson OF
Mankato.
Song, Choir.
Addresses: DR.. Krantz. Rev. O. ].
Arthur. Judge ovsld I Rosler' Senator
Song-Choir.
Announcements and remarks by
Rev. G. Sigfrid Swenson.
Song, The Star Spangled Banner,
by all.
Supper.
This our Belgrade township Of
Nicollet county looked quite different
from what it does today sixty. SIX
years ago when our first Swedish inn
migrants came to settle here. There
were the woods, the swamps, the
marshes, the buffalo, the reindeer,
and-the Indians. No houses, no
roads, no golden grain fields; it was
the wild West. The communica-
lions to this place were bad, a reason
no doubt, that many of our country
men went to other parts of this ,coun-
colonies. st. Peter and Mankato
were towns only in name. 1t was a
hard task to get to st. Peter, and to
Mankato often not much better,
though 1t was nearer. Soon however,
the boats on the Minnesota River
brought new immigrants who settled
on both sides of the river, and with
in a few years we find here and there
a log house at the edge of the woods
settled the south part of Belgrade
Township, and on the north side the
Germans, leaving thus the center
part of it for the Swedes. Unknowing:
". and without previously arranged
plan, they came and availed them
selves of this opportunity. Although
We do not have the names OF our
countrymen who came here from the
years 1855 to 1860 yet we know that
in 1861 at the beginning of the Civil
war fourteen families had taken
homestead here. These families had
just started in good and earnest to
struggle for their meager existence.
But when the rumors Of war came,
the old love Of fatherland and old un-
selfish patriotism revived and was
practiced with the same loyalty in
where they now were establishing
their homes. Life and property for
their country has been the unwritten
law of Swedish people in all CEN
turtles gone by. They have never
been slaves or subjects to any foreign
power or potentate.
To the Civil war some went as vol
close of the war our little colony was
reduced from fourteen to six men,
some killed, some wounded, some
prisoners. When the six returned to
their So called home and to their liv-
ed and their own there was a scene
Of Joy beyond my ability to describe
in words. During the few years be-
fore the war they had merely dug
themselves in. but now after the war
again, and the hard times that fol-
lowed the war made it still harder.
There was no chance of earning a
dollar, no one had any money to loan,
and there was little to eat The
colony had a meeting for consulta-
ton. The main question was, What
shall we do?" Some counseled to go
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and some to remain and take up the
fight for existence anew. The result
was this. Three families went to
Illinois, two went farther west, and
only one had the courage and deter
mination to stay and with a child
like faith in God to begin once more.
This man was John Torngren, a man
a soldier once more in hard work for
A little of his life may not be out
of place here. John Torngren was
born October 10, 1882, In Carlshamn,
Sweden. He emigrated to u. s. A.,
in 1854, stayed in Illinois one year,
then he went farther west and came
here in the Spring of 1866. He Sc
lected for himself the land where we
Anniversary. The land on which this
Public School house was built to-
gether with the playground, was
given for school, purposes by Mr..
Torngrnn The farm near by here,
now owned by Carl Landgren, was
from the first, Mr.. Torngren's. When
he had built his loghouse, with sod
for roof, he took to his farming i'm
plements, the only ones he had and
could afford-his hoe and the spade.
Better farming machinery could be
had at st. Paul, but they were ex-
pensive and a trip with an oxcart to
go and get them was not an easy
matter for a poor pioneer who did
not have the oxen, neither the cart,
nor the money. However, he learned
how to get along with few things,
and how to persevere in the realities
Of a self sacrificing life. In the year
1855 and Sc four families came from
the well known Bishop Hill Colony
in Illinois and q few others from
other parts Of Illinois, and took
homesteads in sections 1-2-11- 23- 20
"a and 35, but they could not endure
the hardships; no work no money, no
bread to eat, SO in 1858 almost all of
them forsook everything and went
away. John Torngren had also to
look for his daily bread somewhere
else. He went South, worked on the
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