John Safstrom came to the United States in the 1890s on a scholarship to study Lutheran religion at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, where he graduated in 1904. The school and community has strong ties to Swedish Lutheranism, and indeed it's athletic team nickname is the "Terrible Swedes". He also later studied at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and Stanford in California.
John started work as a minister at the Independent Swedish Lutheran Church in Forsby, one mile southwest of Gwinner, where he stayed from 1904 to 1908. This church later became Gustaf Adolf Lutheran Church in Gwinner. After 1908 John worked at the Congregational Church. In Susan Kudelka's History of Sergeant County — Volume 2, she writes that the Congregational Church "had quite a large membership and a majority of the people living in Gwinner attended this church at one time. According to one story, a Jardine evangelist (of the 2x2 religion) came through town and was so eloquent that quite a few of the congregation left…and joined the Jardines." With it's parishioners dispersing to other churches, the Congregational Church faded away and was torn down in 1934.
Slight in build with blue eyes and light hair, John Safstrom usually appeared frail in the few photographs of him that survive. In the fall of 1918 he came down with influenza and was sick through the winter. He was in bad shape and lived with his parents, bedridden for the most part. His sisters Amanda and Hulda took care of him until his death in the Spring of 1919. John's brother Hilding was given a furlough from WWI service in France to come home for the funeral, but missed it by six hours. Brother Robert was still recuperating from his injuries in the war and could not make it back. Family records say that John suffered most of his adult life with 'rheumatism', a colloquial term that covered a wide variety of rheumatic and autoimmune diseases, and that may have made him more susceptible to influenza. He never married. Reverend John Safstrom is buried in Gwinner Cemetery.
Chad Justesen 2014
John started work as a minister at the Independent Swedish Lutheran Church in Forsby, one mile southwest of Gwinner, where he stayed from 1904 to 1908. This church later became Gustaf Adolf Lutheran Church in Gwinner. After 1908 John worked at the Congregational Church. In Susan Kudelka's History of Sergeant County — Volume 2, she writes that the Congregational Church "had quite a large membership and a majority of the people living in Gwinner attended this church at one time. According to one story, a Jardine evangelist (of the 2x2 religion) came through town and was so eloquent that quite a few of the congregation left…and joined the Jardines." With it's parishioners dispersing to other churches, the Congregational Church faded away and was torn down in 1934.
Slight in build with blue eyes and light hair, John Safstrom usually appeared frail in the few photographs of him that survive. In the fall of 1918 he came down with influenza and was sick through the winter. He was in bad shape and lived with his parents, bedridden for the most part. His sisters Amanda and Hulda took care of him until his death in the Spring of 1919. John's brother Hilding was given a furlough from WWI service in France to come home for the funeral, but missed it by six hours. Brother Robert was still recuperating from his injuries in the war and could not make it back. Family records say that John suffered most of his adult life with 'rheumatism', a colloquial term that covered a wide variety of rheumatic and autoimmune diseases, and that may have made him more susceptible to influenza. He never married. Reverend John Safstrom is buried in Gwinner Cemetery.
Chad Justesen 2014
John Safstrom came to the United States in the 1890s on a scholarship to study Lutheran religion at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, where he graduated in 1904. The school and community has strong ties to Swedish Lutheranism, and indeed it's athletic team nickname is the "Terrible Swedes". He also later studied at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and Stanford in California.
John started work as a minister at the Independent Swedish Lutheran Church in Forsby, one mile southwest of Gwinner, where he stayed from 1904 to 1908. This church later became Gustaf Adolf Lutheran Church in Gwinner. After 1908 John worked at the Congregational Church. In Susan Kudelka's History of Sergeant County — Volume 2, she writes that the Congregational Church "had quite a large membership and a majority of the people living in Gwinner attended this church at one time. According to one story, a Jardine evangelist (of the 2x2 religion) came through town and was so eloquent that quite a few of the congregation left…and joined the Jardines." With it's parishioners dispersing to other churches, the Congregational Church faded away and was torn down in 1934.
Slight in build with blue eyes and light hair, John Safstrom usually appeared frail in the few photographs of him that survive. In the fall of 1918 he came down with influenza and was sick through the winter. He was in bad shape and lived with his parents, bedridden for the most part. His sisters Amanda and Hulda took care of him until his death in the Spring of 1919. John's brother Hilding was given a furlough from WWI service in France to come home for the funeral, but missed it by six hours. Brother Robert was still recuperating from his injuries in the war and could not make it back. Family records say that John suffered most of his adult life with 'rheumatism', a colloquial term that covered a wide variety of rheumatic and autoimmune diseases, and that may have made him more susceptible to influenza. He never married. Reverend John Safstrom is buried in Gwinner Cemetery.
Chad Justesen 2014
John started work as a minister at the Independent Swedish Lutheran Church in Forsby, one mile southwest of Gwinner, where he stayed from 1904 to 1908. This church later became Gustaf Adolf Lutheran Church in Gwinner. After 1908 John worked at the Congregational Church. In Susan Kudelka's History of Sergeant County — Volume 2, she writes that the Congregational Church "had quite a large membership and a majority of the people living in Gwinner attended this church at one time. According to one story, a Jardine evangelist (of the 2x2 religion) came through town and was so eloquent that quite a few of the congregation left…and joined the Jardines." With it's parishioners dispersing to other churches, the Congregational Church faded away and was torn down in 1934.
Slight in build with blue eyes and light hair, John Safstrom usually appeared frail in the few photographs of him that survive. In the fall of 1918 he came down with influenza and was sick through the winter. He was in bad shape and lived with his parents, bedridden for the most part. His sisters Amanda and Hulda took care of him until his death in the Spring of 1919. John's brother Hilding was given a furlough from WWI service in France to come home for the funeral, but missed it by six hours. Brother Robert was still recuperating from his injuries in the war and could not make it back. Family records say that John suffered most of his adult life with 'rheumatism', a colloquial term that covered a wide variety of rheumatic and autoimmune diseases, and that may have made him more susceptible to influenza. He never married. Reverend John Safstrom is buried in Gwinner Cemetery.
Chad Justesen 2014
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