Peter Carlson

Peter Carlson (1822-1909) was a Swedish immigrant missionary who helped found the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Synod and served as president of the Minnesota Conference for six years.[1]

Biography

Carlson was born December 7, 1822 to Carl Andersson and Anna Isaksdotter of Kronobergslän, Småland, Sweden.[1] His life in Sweden was marked by poverty and lack of education. At 15 he became a carpenter to support his parents and four younger siblings. In May 1854 at the age of 32 he immigrated to the United States with his family and settled in St. Charles, Illinois before moving to Geneva. He was mentored by Pastor Erland Carlsson and began his ministry that November. He later met Dr. Eric Norelius at a synod meeting in Waverly, IL in 1855 and became close friends with Rev. Andrew Jackson.

In November 1857 he moved to Carver County, Minnesota, where he organized the East and West Union congregations.[2] Carlson was ordained in Chicago on September 13, 1859 and helped found the Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod on June 5, 1860.[1]

Carlson left the Carver congregation in August 1879 to serve as a missionary on the West Coast. That December he organized the first Augustana Synod church west of the Rocky Mountains, the Immanuel Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon. The following year he moved to Idaho with his family, where he established the Cordelia Swedish Lutheran Church, the first Lutheran church in the state.

Carlson returned to work in Portland from 1882 to 1883 and organized his fifth church in the West, the First Lutheran Church of Tacoma. Following his work on the West Coast, he returned to Moscow, Idaho, where he served the Cordelia and Zion congregations from 1886-1892 while continuing his missionary work. Over his lifetime he established 18 Lutheran churches throughout the Midwest and West.[1]

Peter Carlson and his wife, Stina Kajsa Andersdotter, had three children: John, Andrew, and Anna. He died from a stroke in Omaha, Nebraska on August 13, 1909.

Church Organization

East Union Lutheran Church - Carver, Minnesota (1858)

West Union Lutheran Church - Carver, Minnesota (1858)

Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Götaholm Congregation (now Trinity Lutheran Church) - Watertown, Minnesota (1858)[3]

Immanuel Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church - Portland, Oregon (1879)

First Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church of Astoria - Astoria, Oregon (1880)

Cordelia Swedish Lutheran Church - Lenville, Idaho (1880)

Bethsaida Church - LaConner, Washington (1881)

First Lutheran Church of Tacoma - Tacoma, Washington (1882)

Coos Bay Church - Oregon (1884)

Zion Swedish Evangelical Church - Moscow, Idaho (1884)

Gethsemane Lutheran Church - Seattle, Washington (1885)

Bethlehem Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church – Nehalim Valley, Oregon (1886)

Salem Lutheran Church – Spokane, Washington (1888)

First Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church – Bellingham, Washington (1901)

External links

The Biographical File for Peter Carlson is available for research use at the Gustavus Adolphus College and Lutheran Church Archives.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Bingea, Marian L. “Immigration in the Pacific Northwest.” University of Washington, Seattle. December 15, 1981. Print.
  2. ↑ The Beginnings and Progress of Minnesota Conference of the Lutheran Augustana Synod of America. Minneapolis, Minn.: The Lund Press, Inc., 1929.
  3. ↑ Johnson, Emeroy. A Church is Planted. Minneapolis, Minn. : Lutheran Minnesota Conference, 1948. Print.