BIOGRAPHY - Gustaf Hemdahl
GUSTAF
EMIL HEMDAHL was born Jan. 8, 1866, in Skede, Sweden. He came to America in
1880 from his home in Smaland, where his father, Anders Peterson, had been
superintending an orphans' home. He located at Swede Home, Neb., hired out
as a farm hand and then rented a farm, The years 1886-89 he tried farming in
eastern Colorado but the land proving valueless on account of lack of rain
he abandoned it. In 1890 he was matriculated as a student at Luther Academy,
Wahoo, Neb., and graduated in the spring of 1893. The next fall he entered
the freshman class of Augustana College and graduated with the college class
of 1897, having spent the school year of 1895-96 at the state University of
Nebraska.
At the opening of the school year of 1897-98 he was admitted to Augustana Theological Seminary and graduated from that institution in the spring of 1900, with the degree of B. D. Having received a call from the Swedish Lutheran Church of Princeton, he was ordained at the annual meeting of the Augustana Synod at Burlington, Iowa, June 17, 1900. During his pastorate at Princeton, the congregation paid off a $2, 700 church debt, raised $4,000 for improvements and increased its list of communicant members by one hundred and fifty.
In July, 1903, he was married to Miss Selma Anderson of Moline, Ill. Miss Anderson was a graduate of Moline High School and Moline Normal School and for six years a teacher in the Moline city schools, also for several years a member of Augustana College Chorus. The family is blessed with a son, Gustaf Reuel.
In 1906 Rev. Hemdahl removed to Paxton, pursuant to a call from the Swedish Lutheran Church of that city. This congregation is now erecting a $30,000 church building.
Extracted 28 Jan 2017 by Norma Hass from History of Swedes of Illinois, published in 1908, Volume 2, pages 187-188.
