Eric Norelius

Eric Norelius (26 October 1833 – 15 March 1916) was a Swedish-American clergyman and writer.

Norelius was born in Hassela in the province of Hälsingland in Sweden, but migrated in 1850 to the United States, where he was trained to be a clergyman at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. During the years 1855–1905, he was pastor of the Swedish-Lutheran congregation in Vasa, Minnesota (newly founded at his accession). He was granted a doctorate in Theology in 1892.

One of the founders of the Augustana Synod in 1860, he was its president 1874-1881 and 1901-1910. He is regarded as the founder (1862) of Gustavus Adolphus College, which has named the Norelius Hall after him.

The last years of his life were spent researching and writing the history of the synod and the Swedish migration to and settlement in America. He published "Vasa illustrata" (1905) on the history of his congregation in Vasa, "De svenska lutherska församlingarnas och svensk-amerikanernas historia" ("The history of the Swedish Lutheran congregations and the Swedish-Americans", 1890) and the biography "T. N. Hasselquist" (1900). He was 1899-1909 editor or co-editor of "Tidskrift för svensk evangelisk luthersk kyrkohistoria i Amerika", later called "The Augustana Theological Quarterly". Norelius died in Vasa, Minnesota.

External links

* [http://www.augustana.edu/administration/swenson/Archives/Findingaids/MSSP1.htm The Eric Norelius papers, 1851-1916, inventory] , at the Swenson Center of Augustana College (Illinois).