December 2020

Thank You for your support during the pandemic.  Thank You for your financial support and patience during these last ten months.

We decide to postpone the Annual Meeting of Dalesburg Scandinavian Association and to cancel the Lucia Celebration in December. 

Midsummer 2021 is scheduled for Friday, June 25 and Sunday, June 27, 2021, but stay tuned for more information. 

Midsummer 2021 received a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation’s Scandinavian Folk Arts & Cultural Traditions:  Public Programs.  The band Jaerv (www.jaerv.com) from Gothenburg, Sweden has penciled Midsummer 2021 into their 2021 United States tour.  But… we will have to watch the course of the pandemic.  Again… stay tuned. 

You can follow up on Midsummer 2021 and other things, by contacting me at ron@dalesburg.org or 605-253-2575.  You can also visit:  www.dalesburg.org 

Pandemic or not, we are still in the midst of celebrating the 100^th or 150^th Anniversary of a number of things.  2018 saw the 150^th Anniversary of the coming of the Swedes to Clay County, Dakota Territory.  In 2019 we celebrated the 150^th Anniversary of celebrating Midsummer in Dalesburg.  This year Dalesburg Lutheran celebrates the 100^th Anniversary of its basement and two towers.  Next year Dalesburg Lutheran Church and Dalesburg Baptist Church celebrate the 150^th Anniversary of their founding.  In the coming years, many former country schools in Clay County will also see the 150^th Anniversaries of their founding.  The pandemic cannot stop us from observing these anniversaries in some way!

These years also mark the 100^th Anniversary of the Spanish Flu in our community, state, nation and world.  The effect of the Spanish Flu is found in the records of Dalesburg Lutheran Church and is found in the stories of those affected by the disease – stories passed on to future generations.  Just recently I learned how the flu of that period may affected my own family.

We have purchased a sign for the Clay Point Cemetery and a sign for the unmarked graves in the churchyard of Dalesburg Lutheran Church.  The signs were purchases with funds given by Karin & Winfield Arneson and Virginia Hoglund of Michigan in memory of C.R. Hoglund.  

Thank You for donations to Dalesburg Scandinavian Association and Thank You for donations to the Friends of Midsummer last winter or spring.

Have A Good Holiday Season however you celebrate it!  Think… and Stay Well!

God Jul och Gott Nytt År!  / Good Yuletid and Good New Year!

Ron Johnson, Dalesburg Heritage

Books for Sale!

HISTORY OF THE SWEDES WHO SETTLED IN CLAY COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA AND THEIR BIOGRAPHIES by August Peterson (1947) $25.00 / book plus postage, handling etc.    Available from Ron Johnson (ron@dalesburg.org or 605-253-2575) 

Here’s something to do during the pandemic!  Check out these websites!

Dalesburg Heritage Website:  www.dalesburg.org

(and www.angelfire.com/sd/dalesburg99/ is still in cyperspace).

Dalesburg Midsummer Festival on Facebook:                                                                      www.facebook.com/Dalesburgmidsommar 

“Welcome to Peterson Farm:”  www.petersonfarmsd.com/

Clay County Historical Society:  www.cchssd.org/

Clay County Historic Preservation Commission:  www.cchpc.org

Clay County Country Schools Project Website:                                www.flickr.com/photos/46877599@N08  

Dalesburg Lutheran Church Website:  www.dalesburglutheran.org

Komstad Covenant Church Website:  www.komstadchurch.org

Dalesburg Baptist Church Website:  www.dalesburgbaptist.org

Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center:                                                                                                                www.augustana.edu/swenson/

Swedish-American Historical Society:  www.swedishamericanhist.org

American-Swedish Institute:  www.americanswedishinst.org

National Music Museum:  www.usd.edu/smm/‎

The image on the back page is used with permission from Jana Johnson Schnoor, Scandinavian Greetings, Iowa City IA.  Please visit:  www.janajohnsonschnoor.com/index.html

The Annual Meeting of Dalesburg Scandinavian Association has been postponed

The Lucia Celebration has been canceled.

It was Sunday, October 17, 1920. It was Confirmation at Dalesburg Lutheran Church. The new towers and new basement had just been finished. The bell had been returned to its lofty perch. In April of that year, the previous single tower had been removed and Mr. Crane from Centerville had raised the remaining structure so that a basement could be added under the building. Gottfrid Anderson, a local carpenter was hired to lead the construction of the basement and to build two towers of different height in the front of the church. Volunteers – men and women – helped with the project throughout the year. Sunday Services were held at the Garfield Township Hall. Gottfrid Anderson left the project in September to go to Sweden. Herman Zetterlund and Nils Johnson were the leaders who finished the project.

On October 26-27, 1920 the congregation hosted a gathering of the Sioux Falls District.* At this gathering a new altar, a new pulpit, new altar chairs and electric lights supported by an electric generating plant were blessed.

The beginning of 1920 had seen the Pastor and his wife affected with influenza.

*Sioux Falls District of the Minnesota Conference of the Augustana Synod.

Epilogue

Gottfrid and Nils (Nels) now rest from their labors at the Dalesburg Baptist Church Cemetery.  Herman now rests from his labors at the Dalesburg Lutheran Cemetery.  The volunteers also rest from their labors, and… the Confirmation students also rest from the labor of their Confirmation recitation. 

Thank Be To God. 

Ron

Read Anna’s Lilies: A Legacy of Hope at http://www.fyi-dakota.com/index.php/anna-s-lilies

Celebrate Midsommar on June 20 with a virtual weekend hosted by the American Swedish Institute!  ASI is offering an online Midsommar Celebration with activities and resources that you can enjoy at home, in the park or wherever you are. 

Visit the event page at https://www.asimn.org/midsommar2020

The 2020 Midsummer at Dalesburg has been cancelled. 

See Dalesburg’s Midsommar Smorgasbord Featured in Recipes of our Grandmothers 

dakotalife