The Edhegard Missionaries
An 1889 artist's idealized rendering of the future Luebo Missionary Station. Luebo was the first Congo mission station founded by the American Presbyterian Congo Mission in 1891.
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The stories of our grandparents and parents can be very interesting. Their first introductions to their spouses, engagements, and weddings are stories we love to hear. Especially if we find pictures of them together before they were married. So what should we think when we find a picture of a grandparent with a different fiancée, photographed before they met their future spouse?
Swedish Photo Album which Sixten Edhegard took to Africa.
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Front cover of Swedish photo album.
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Back cover of Swedish photo album with open metal clasp.
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Nils Sixten Edhegard assembled a photo album in Sweden before he left for Africa. The outside of the album had a thick padded cover with a metal clasp to keep it securely closed. The cardboard backed "cabinet card" photographs, that were popular around 1900, filled the album with family and friends photographed in professional studios. It held a keepsake of memories of a person who never expected to return to his homeland.
Swedish Photo Album which Sixten Edhegard took to Africa.
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Swedish photo album open.
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Swedish photo album open.
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Each page of the album had cardboard sleeves, which framed each photo. The photos appear to have been removed and replaced several times giving the sleeves a worn look. Children and grandchildren have written their own captions under some of the photos. Two of the photos depict Sixten seated and a young woman standing beside him.
Engagement Photos
Sixten Edhegard and Elsa Lundberg about 1914
Photos copied from Sixten's Swedish photo album.
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Photo taken by K Edrén in Smedjebacken, possibly Elsa's hometown. Both photos seem to have been marked by ink pens on the faces and hair.
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Sixten and Elsa are posing with their left hands displaying their rings. According to tradition in Sweden, both the man and the woman wear the engagement ring on the left-hand ring finger from the engagement to the wedding. In the past, these rings were smooth without any embellishments.
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Of the many grandchildren who had spent quality time with their grandmother Grace Edhegard, Phil Owen was one who had countless conversations with her during his time living at her house. She told him that the young woman in the photograph was Elsa, Sixten's Swedish fiancée. She became a missionary who traveled to Africa ahead of Sixten while he completed his training. When Sixten finally arrived in the Congo, Elsa had different plans and ended their engagement.
A mystery and many questions remain. Who was Elsa? What happened to her? Why did Grace know who was in the photo? Had she met Elsa? How was it possible that a Swedish and American missionary met and married?
British and American churches were already sending missionaries to Africa when European churches became interested in doing the same. The Swedish churches decided to work with the American mission stations. They sent their missionaries to the American mission stations to learn how to establish and organize their new stations without making costly mistakes.
Nils Sixten Edhegard about 1911.
Photo copied from Sixten's Swedish photo album.
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Nils Sixten Edhegard studied at the seminary in Örebro, Sweden, 1911-1914. After this, he attended language studies in England. French was the official language of the Congo and English was the language of the missionaries, so we can assume he studied these. He would have studied the local native language, Tshiluba, after arriving in the Congo. Europe was involved in wartime activities, so the Örebromission initially only sent five trained missionaries to the Congo. The mission stations at Djoko Punda and Kalamba, founded in 1912 by the Mennonite's Congo Inland Mission of America, the first for this society, were the chosen sites.
The first of the five Swedish missionaries to arrive was Mr. Oskar Andersson on August 14, 1914, at Djoko Punda, Congo. The next two missionaries who had completed their education in evangelism, medical training, and languages were Mr. Henning Karlsson and Miss Elsa Lundberg, Sixten's fiancée. Elsa and Henning left Sweden in November 1914 via England and Portugal and arrived after a four months' journey at Djoko Punda in March 1915.
At the age of 24, Sixten left Sweden on April 29, 1915. He was traveling with Miss Sofia Karlsson, the last of the five missionaries. While in England, waiting for their steamer, a Norwegian missionary Mr. Gunnerius Tollefsen joined the two for the trip to Africa.
Djoko Punda, Congo
Mennonite Congo Inland Mission of America
Photos copied from Grace and Sixten's Congo photo album.
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Seated left to right, Gunnerius Tollefsen and Nils Sixten Edhegard. Standing, Sofia Karlsson. Seated in front of the missionaries is an unnamed villager.
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Seated left to right, Sofia Karlsson and Nils Sixten Edhegard. Standing, Gunnerius Tollefsen. Seated in front of the missionaries is an unnamed villager.
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During this time of war in Europe, traveling through mined waters, war zones, and the fear of submarines, the group of three missionaries arrived at Djoko Punda sometime during the summer of 1915. They all had heard the news of the Titanic sinking in April of 1912, and the Lusitania in May of 1915 by a German U-boat. Each person was relieved to reach their destination, willing to face new and unknown dangers.
Sarah Kroeker and Oskar Andersson in Djoko Punda.
Photo copied from Grace and Sixten's Congo photo album.
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On September 14, 1915, the first Swedish missionary, Oskar Andersson and American Mennonite nurse Sarah Kroeker were married in Luebo, Congo. Stationed at Djoko Punda, they were required to travel about forty miles to Luebo for an official wedding. The other missionaries were not able to attend the wedding, but they held a wedding banquet for the couple and the entire village about two weeks later in Djoko Punda. We know this because Sixten made photos of not only his mission station at Djoko Punda, but also the wedding couple. These photos are in his paper backed Congo photo album.
Congo photo album.
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Look inside the Congo Photo Album.
Was Grace Miller in Africa to see the wedding in Luebo? In September of 1915, at the age of 26, Grace was still in America finishing her nurse's training at General Hospital, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Grace had her own romance with a medical student who had plans to become a doctor. However, on the advice of her friend who had seen him out with another women, Grace discontinued their relationship.
Registered Nurse Certificate for Grace E. Miller, 1916.
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With her life plan altered, Grace completed nursing school and accepted a call as a medical missionary to the Congo from the American Presbyterian Congo Mission. On February 20, 1916, Grace left Rantoul, Kansas to begin her long journey to Africa. From her childhood home, she went to Kansas City then to Winston Salem, North Carolina, to meet the society that was sending the missionaries. From there she went to New York.
A letter printed September 15, 1916 in "The Miami Republican" of Paola, Kansas by Miss Grace E. Miller.
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Threatening war conditions in Europe delayed her voyage until March 10 when she finally sailed out of New York's harbor. After stops along the route including Spain and the Canary Islands, she arrived on the African coast and traveled inland to see Luebo for the first time on May 12, 1916. Luebo was the first mission station founded by the American Presbyterian Congo Mission in 1891. The newly built hospital would be her post.
Luebo, Congo
American Presbyterian Congo Mission Hospital
Photos copied from Grace and Sixten's Congo photo album.
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The newly constructed hospital in Luebo, 1917.
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Living quarters left, hospital in the center, Luebo, January 1917.
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Was Sixten in Luebo when Grace arrived? Sixten was still working at the Djoko Punda station, a three to four day journey through the jungle from Luebo, about 40 miles away. The work at Djoko Punda was grueling. The station was so new, the missionaries were putting more effort into building than teaching and evangelizing. They spent too much time on brick making, building and carpentry. Mosquitoes were a constant and unending nuisance. Each person eventually contracted malaria slowing the building progress.
Miss Elsa Lundberg and Mr. Henning Karlsson began their work in Djoko Punda then later about 155 miles southeast of Djoko Punda, along the Kasai River in the Kalamba mission station, where Sixten also later worked for a while. The married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Andersson left for their furlough back to their homes.
Missionaries meeting at the Luebo Missionary Station during the summer of 1916. The two women seated on the grass are from left, Grace Miller and Sofia Karlsson. Mrs. Carroll R. Stegall is standing in the center holding a baby. This photo is taken from the Image Collection of Mr. Carroll R. Stegall.
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Sofia Karlsson, Sixten's Swedish travel partner, had transferred to Luebo in February of 1916. Near the beginning of November 1916, Sixten and Mr. Tollefsen of Norway also moved to Luebo. This would place Sixten and Grace in Luebo at the same time, possibly for the first time.
An 1889 map plan of the future Luebo Missionary Station. Luebo was the first Congo mission station founded by the American Presbyterian Congo Mission in 1891.
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By January 1, 1917, Grace and Sixten had already met, courted and announced their engagement in Luebo. Phil relates another story about Sixten who lost his temper when Grace refused to accept a ring originally purchased for Elsa. Sixten threw the ring into the nearby river. He later offered a silver dollar to anyone who would dive in and retrieve the ring, creating a frenzy of excitement in the village. One lucky native found the ring. Their wedding took place in Luebo on May 1, 1917.
Rings of Grace and Nils Sixten Edhegard.
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Ring inscribed Grace.
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The goldsmith's hallmarks. The makers's mark is WWLo on far left.
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Ring inscribed Nils Sixten, mostly worn away.
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The goldsmith's hallmarks. The makers's mark is WWLo on far left.
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So, what ever happened to Elsa, and did she meet Grace? Grace was working in Luebo, a Presbyterian station. Elsa was working with the Mennonites at their two stations in Djoko Punda and Kalamba. A Presbyterian missionary would have no reason to visit a Mennonite station, but the Swedes were willing to visit and study all of the missions available, especially the oldest station established in the area, Luebo. It is most likely they had met.
Henning Karlsson (1882–1964) and Elsa Lundberg (1889-1978).
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Nearly a year after Sixten and Grace's wedding, the Swedish traveling partners Elsa Lundberg and Henning Karlsson were married in April 1918. They traveled back to Sweden in September 1919 during their furlough. They returned to the Congo in July 1921 where they established a new station named Matélé, the first for the Örebro Missionary Society of Sweden. Elsa worked on translating the New Testament into the native language Bungili. They had at least one child, a daughter and left the Matélé station in May 1934. In 1935 Henning Karlsson became the first principal of the new Bible School in Gamboula, Congo with Elsa as one of the teachers.
Luebo, Congo, May 1, 1917, Wedding Day Photos
copied from Grace and Sixten's Congo photo album.
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Sixten Edhegard and Grace Miller.
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Sixten Edhegard and Grace Miller.
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Sixten and Grace Edhegard travel in hammock rides after their marriage, to the village of Ibanche, Congo to visit that missionary station.
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Through all this, an American missionary and a Swedish missionary ended up together and eventually moved to Silverhill, Alabama. As Sixten was running from Sweden to his fiancée in Africa, Grace was running away to Africa from her fiancé in America.
Written May 2020
by Debbie Owen
Resources
"Den andra omvändelsen" (The second repentance) a book written in 2008 by Swedish author Göran Janzon. The book's subtitle is: "From Swedish mission to African communities in the Örebromission's field of work in Central Africa 1914-1962". The book has information on the first missionaries that the church school of Örebro, Sweden sent to the Congo.
"Oskar & Sarah, A Congo Love Story" a book written in 2005 by American author Helen Neufeld Coon who was the great niece of Sarah Kroeker an American nurse missionary to the Congo. Sarah met and married Swedish missionary Oskar Andersson while in the Congo. Books available to purchase from
https://www.aimmint.org/books.html
Carroll R. Stegall Papers, the website of the Presbyterian Historical Society, The National Archives of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Image Collection.
"The Missionary Survey" 1916-1919, a monthly publication by the Presbyterian Committee of Richmond, VA. Various missionaries in the field of missions would write articles promoting their work.
"The Miami Republican" 1917-1919, a newspaper from Paola, Kansas. Grace Miller Edhegard wrote letters about her experiences in the Congo, which the paper would print. The newspaper editor wrote that these articles received a great response from the subscribers of the paper.
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