| Information | Emigrating as a candidate of theology, he became the first minister ordained in Norway to serve in America. He organized several congregations across Illinois and Wisconsin, arriving in West Koshkonong, Dane County, Wisconsin, on September 2, 1844, to administer communion. Since there was no church building at the time, religious gatherings were held under an oak tree. In 1845, Pastor J. W. C. Dietrichsen established a small Norwegian congregation in Stephenson County, Illinois. He went on to organize a congregation in the Spring Prairie area of Columbia County, Wisconsin, in 1847, followed by the first Norwegian congregation in Willow Creek Township, Lee County, Illinois, in 1858. |
