John Alexis Edgren

{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = John Alexis Edgren | honorific_suffix = | image = Alexis Edgren.jpg  | caption = Photographed portrait image from ''Svenskt konstnärslexikon''. | birth_name = Johan Alexander Edgren | birth_date = {{Birth date|1839|2|20}} | birth_place = Östanås, Värmland, Sweden | death_date = {{Death date and age|1908|1|26|1839|2|20}} | death_place = Oakland, California | death_cause = | body_discovered = | resting_place = Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California | resting_place_coordinates =  | monuments = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Baptist minister | years_active = 1871–1887 | employer = | organization = | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | spouse = | children = | parents = Axel Edgren<br/>Mathilda Berger | relatives = August Hjalmar Edgren (brother) | module = {{Infobox military person | embed=yes |allegiance = {{flag|United States of America|1861}} |branch ={{Flagicon image|US Naval Jack 34 stars.svg}} United States Navy |service_years = 1862–1865 |rank = 35px Ensign<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/books/callahan/reg-usn-e.htm |title=US Navy Officers: 1775–1900 (E) |work=Naval Historical Center |year=2006 |accessdate=4 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205163749/http://www.history.navy.mil/books/callahan/reg-usn-e.htm |archivedate= 5 December 2010 }}</ref> |service_number = |unit = |commands = |battles = American Civil War |battles_label = |awards = }} {{Infobox Christian leader | embed=yes |ordination = 1866 }} }} '''John Alexis Edgren''' (February 20, 1839 – January 26, 1908) was a Swedish-American Baptist minister. Edgren began what eventually evolved into Bethel University and the Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

==Background== Johan Alexis Edgren was born at Östanås, in Älvsbacka, Värmland, Sweden. He was the son of Axel Edgren and Mathilda Berger and the brother of noted Swedish-American linguist August Hjalmar Edgren. He attended and completed elementary school in Karlstad. He qualified for the rank of captain in the navigation school of Stockholm. He went to America in 1862, and received a commission in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. He subsequently trained at Princeton Theological Seminary and the Baptist Theological Seminary in Hamilton, New York.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bethel.edu/bgc-archives/leaders/seminary/john-edgren |title=John Alexis Edgren (1871–1887) |work=Bethel University |year=2013 |accessdate=4 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.temple-baptist.com/history/history_of_bethel.htm |title=An Extraordinary Heritage |work=Bethel Theological Seminary |year=2009 |accessdate=4 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421103819/http://www.temple-baptist.com/history/history_of_bethel.htm |archivedate=21 April 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=On Whose Shoulders Do We Stand? |first=Virgil |last=Olson |publisher=Bethel University |date=2006 |url=http://www.bethel.edu/publications/trail-markers/past-issues/2006/march/ }}</ref>

Edgren was also a skilled artist. He produced many large oil paintings and drawings now located at Bethel University. Subjects include the Stockholm Palace, landscapes, seascapes, harbor scenes, and eyewitness scenes of the Civil War.

==Career== Edgren was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1866 at the Mariners' Baptist Church in New York. He then spent some time as a missionary in Sweden, sent by the American Baptist Missionary Union.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Westin |first=Gunnar |title=Johan Alexander Edgren |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=16614 |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon |language=sv}}</ref> A soldier, author, and journalist, Edgren served at First Swedish Baptist Church in Chicago starting in 1871. The same year, he founded the periodical {{Lang|sv|Zions Vakt}}, later becoming the ''Standard'', a Baptist newspaper.''<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.7312/leon12702-005 |title=Baptists in America |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780231127035 |location=New York Chichester, West Sussex |pages=112 |chapter=5. Baptist Groups: Denominations, Subdenominations, and Churches|doi=10.7312/leon12702-005 }}</ref>'' Edgren opened a department for Scandinavian theological students in the fall of 1871 in the basement of his church for ministerial students. The Baptist Theological Union of the University of Chicago invited Edgren to house a seminary at their location. The seminary was housed with the Baptist Theological Union from 1871 until 1884 when Edgren resigned. Subsequently, the seminary moved to the facilities of First Swedish Baptist Church in St. Paul, Minnesota where it became a seminary of the Baptist General Conference.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.bethel.edu/publications/heartmind/2009-spring/features/legacy-of-leadership |title=A Legacy of Leadership |journal=Heart & Mind |volume=22 |issue=2 |date=Spring 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100802013218/http://www.bethel.edu/publications/heartmind/2009-spring/features/legacy-of-leadership |archivedate=2010-08-02 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Cousins: Betelseminariet Sweden & Bethel Seminary St. Paul |work=Baptist General Conference History Center |url=http://www.bethel.edu/publications/trail-markers/past-issues/2007/december/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bethel.edu/bgc-archives/tour/illinois |title=Illinois Historic Sites |work=Bethel University |year=2013 |accessdate=4 August 2013}}</ref>

== See also ==

* Oscar Broady – contemporaneous Swedish Baptist missionary * Gustaf Palmquist – contemporaneous Swedish Baptist missionary * Anders Wiberg – contemporaneous Swedish Baptist missionary

==References== {{reflist}}

==Sources== * {{Cite book |last=Ahlstrom |first=Louis John |title=John Alexis Edgren, soldier, educator, author, journalist: A biography |publisher=Conference Press |date=1938 }}

==External links== *[http://cas.bethel.edu/dept/biology/edgren Edgren Scholars Award at Bethel University] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20081120032449/http://cas.bethel.edu/student-development/reslife/reslife/edgren/index Edgren Hall at Bethel University] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20081119154111/http://www.temple-baptist.com/history/baptist_general_conference_ex.htm John Edgren's Home in Morgan Park, Chicago, Illinois]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edgren, John Alexis}} Category:1839 births Category:1908 deaths Category:Swedish emigrants to the United States Category:Swedish military officers Category:Union navy officers Category:People from Karlstad Municipality Category:Princeton Theological Seminary alumni Category:19th-century Baptist ministers from the United States