Swedish settlers establish church
Swedish settlers establish church
Written by compiled by Jim Dawson Wednesday, 07 June 2006
In 1838, a 22 year-old immigrant from Sweden, Swen Magnus Swenson, arrived in Galveston. Making his home in Austin, he became a wealthy landowner and cotton producer. Swenson returned to his native land to try to persuade his relatives and friends to come to Texas. In exchange for one year’s labor, Swenson provided financing for 25 immigrants including the families of Anders Palm and Gustav Palm.
Anders Palm died during his first year in Texas, leaving his wife Anna alone with six sons. In 1853, Anna and five of her sons moved to what is now Palm Valley, north of Brushy Creek. After living in tents the first winter, the family bought 400 acres of land and built a blockhouse.
The Arvid Nelson family, after a four-month sailing journey from Sweden, landed in Port Lavaca in 1854. They spent the first winter on the coast, but found it unsuitable for farming. Nelson with his wife, Anna Lena and their two sons and two daughters bought a yoke of oxen and traveled to Williamson County. Their oldest son Andrew built several wagons, bought oxen and started hauling freight to the Gulf ports.
This growing group of Swedish settlers first worshipped in a log cabin erected in 1861 by Andrew John Nelson. The cabin was also used as a school. The first church at Palm Valley was organized, Nov. 27, 1870.
When Anna Palm’s youngest son Henning died in 1863, she asked that he be buried “under the tallest oak tree there.”
After the Civil War, she wrote Swenson requesting that the land where Henning was buried be designated as a cemetery and also asked that he donate enough land for a church and school. In 1871, just over 21 acres were donated to the Swedish Lutheran Church Association.
A year later, a second church replaced the little log church. In 1882, the frame church was enlarged and a bell tower added.
The cornerstone of the present church was laid June 19, 1894, and constructed of red compressed brick with a cost of $10,000. The original iron cross still stands a top the steeple.
From the 1995 Palm Valley Lutheran Church history book
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