| Information | Pioneer Preacher, came from Norway to Fox River 1839. He immediately began holding meetings there and a meeting house (Log house) was built that year. This was the first Norwegian meeting house in America. It was later used as a church. The aforementioned was urged by some of his friends to get ordained as a priest. The ordination was conducted by F. A. Hoffman, D.D., a German Lutheran Minster at Duncans Grove (at Chicago) on 3rd October 1843. However, Elling preferred to be seen as a lay preacher, which he was - in the spirit of Hans Nilsen Hauge. He was a zealous and skilled preacher - and was nearly always on the road - with his axe, compass, coffee pot, rain clothes etc. Many a night he slept under the open sky, often surrounded by Indians, to whom he was a good friend. He visited many a lonely Norwegian settler with the Word, and he took part in many a battle (in the clerical sense) and was an example during his long efforts in the Norwegian settlements in America. He was born at Voss September 19th, 1804 and died in Chicago, Illinois 1883. |
