Introduction

Biography

Olof was the son of Ol­af Ols­son and Brit­ta Jons­dot­tor, and hus­band of An­na Li­sa John­son.

He stu­died or­gan in Väs­tergöt­land, and at­tend­ed Fjell­stedt’s Mis­sion Ins­ti­tute in Upp­sa­la; the Mis­sion In­sti­tute in Leipz­ig, Ger­ma­ny; and Upp­sa­la Uni­ver­si­ty.

Ordained at the Uppp­sa­la Ca­thed­ra, De­cem­ber 15, 1863, he served in as an as­sis­tant pas­tor in the bi­shop­ric of Karl­stad.

Later, he was su­per­in­tend­ent of large com­mon school, and at the same time served as a pas­tor in one of Swe­den’s larg­est min­ing dis­tricts.

The Au­gus­ta­na synod is­sued a call to him in 1869, which he accept­ed, and emi­grat­ed to Am­eri­ca with com­pa­ny of a group of pio­neers.

He lived in the Smok­ey Hill Ri­ver val­ley of Mc­Pher­son Coun­ty, Kansas, pas­tored in Linds­borg, and served in the Kan­sas state le­gis­la­ture (1871–72)

In 1877, he went to Au­gus­ta­na Col­lege, Rock Is­land, Il­li­nois, as a pro­fess­or of theo­lo­gy. Re­sign­ing in 1888 due to ill health and his wife’s death, he tra­veled for a while in Am­eri­ca and abroad.

He then served a pas­tor­ate in Wood­hull, Il­li­nois (1889), then be­came pre­si­dent of Au­gus­ta­na Col­lege and Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry (1891–1900).

He al­so helped ed­it the an­nu­al year­book Kors­ba­ner­et, and the 1901 Hym­nal, the Au­gus­ta­na Syn­od’s first hym­nal in Eng­lish.