Recently at dinner with another inmate of the OFH, Mervin Thompson, with whom I shared some time at seminary, reported his interest in Lutheran Church history. He was interested in learning about my great-grandfather and my grandfather, both Lutheran pastors. After dinner he looked these men up in his resources, copied out the information about them, and shared it with me.
This morning as Kaia and I returned from our morning exercise we met Merv as we arrived at the OFH. He related a bit of my family’s history that was news to me. Grandpa Bergh, Olai O., was sent to South Dakota in 1884, after graduating from Red Wing Lutheran Seminary, Red Wing, MN. There he served out his ministry and when he retired he moved to Carter Ave., in the St. Anthony Park area of St. Paul, MN. He joined St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, now on Portland Ave., Minneapolis, which was founded by his father, Ole Anderson Bergh. Growing up my mother, Olai’s daughter, often talked about St. Paul’s.
The new information that Merv shared with me this morning is that Grandpa Bergh served as interim pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, 104 Snelling Ave., St. Paul, MN. This congregation, founded in 1871, recently celebrated its 150th anniversary and listed among the pastors was Grandpa Bergh. Do other members of my family know this bit of history? Time to find out.
Takk for alt,
Al
Rev. Olai and Minnie Bergh, and their family. My mother, Edith, is to Grandma's left. Cecelia, the oldest child is not pictured, she had married and lived at Baalaton, MN. and died in childbirth.
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