Eielsen, Elling

Eielsen, Elling āēlˈsən [key], 1804–83, Norwegian-American preacher. After itinerant missionary work in Scandinavia he came to the United States in 1839, preached in Chicago the first Norwegian sermon heard in America, and for many years exercised strong religious influence among Norwegian pioneers in the Middle West. In 1846 he organized the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

See J. M. Rohne, Norwegian American Lutheranism (1926).

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