Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Vibelius, Rev John, A B 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com October 3, 2007, 1:53 am

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County

REV. JOHN VIBELIUS, A. B., pastor of the Bethlehem Swedish Lutheran Church of 
Joliet, is one of the earnest and efficient ministers of his denomination. 
While he has not been long connected with his present charge (having accepted 
the call in December, 1897), he has already made many valuable improvements in 
the church, and has greatly promoted the welfare of the congregation. This 
church was organized in 1882, and now numbers three hundred and seventy-five 
members, being the largest Swedish congregation in the city. Under his 
supervision the church on Benton street has been remodeled, and a lot was 
bought and a parsonage built on the corner of Benton street and Cassiday 
avenue. In connection with the church are various societies, including three 
ladies' sewing societies, and a young people's organization.

During the two summer months, when the public schools are not in session, a 
parochial school is conducted, at which there is an average attendance of one 
hundred  and fifty-five children. Besides his other duties he is secretary of 
the board of trustees of the Swedish orphan home and industrial school at 
Joliet, conducted under the auspices of the Illinois conference of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Augustana synod, and incorporated March 14, 1891. This 
school has fifty pupils, and the  three-story building is equipped with modern 
improvements. The work that is accomplished is of a most beneficial nature, 
the children being fitted for responsible positions in life.

In the town of Hedemora, Sweden, Mr. Vibelius was born February 1, 1856, the 
oldest child of Andrew and Christine (Garell) Vibelius. His father, who was a 
farmer on the family homestead, was a son of John Vibelius, also a farmer; 
while the mother was a daughter of Lars Garell, who was born in 1796, and for 
years was superintendent of steel works in his native land. All of the family 
were of good old Lutheran stock. Our subject is one of three children, of whom 
himself and a sister are in the United States, while his brother remains in 
Sweden. He was reared on the home farm, and after his confirmation, at 
fourteen years of age, he entered Falun College, where he remained until his 
graduation in 1880, with the degree of A. B. Next he entered the University of 
Upsala,in Upsala, forty-five miles northwest of Stockholm. This institution, 
which was founded in 1473, had seventeen hundred students at the time he was 
there, and it has since maintained its high place among old world 
universities. With its library of one hundred and fifty thousand volumes, it 
numerous ancient manuscripts, its botanic garden, observatory and museums, it 
offers exceptional advantages to its students, and the year's study in 
philosophy and theology which Mr. Vibelius had there proved of the greatest 
intellectual aid to him.

After a year as tutor in a private family, in 1882, Mr. Vibelius came to the 
United States and entered Augustana Theological Seminary, at Rock Island, 
Ill., from which he graduated in 1884. He was ordained a few days after 
examination, June 24, 1884, in Andover, Henry County, Ill., and was appointed 
pastor of Bethany Swedish Lutheran Church in South Chicago, Ill., where he 
remained in charge until 1887. During the latter year he resigned to accept a 
position as editor of the Vort Land and Folk (Our Country and People), a 
weekly paper published in Chicago. At the same time he had charge of Bethlehem 
Swedish Lutheran Church in Englewood. In 1888 he accepted a call to the 
Swedish Lutheran Church of South Bend, and in that pastorate he continued 
until the latter part of 1897, when he resigned in order to come to Joliet. 
Several times he has been chosen secretary of the Chicago district of the 
Illinois conference, in which capacity his work has been commented upon with, 
praise. He is also the editor of Budbararen (The Messenger), a Swedish 
monthly, which he has made a success. In national politics he favors 
Republican principles.

In South Chicago, in 1885, Mr. Vibelius married Miss Hulda Nordlund, whose 
father was a sea captain and a member of a prominent old family in the city of 
Gefle, on the Baltic, in Sweden. The three children born of their union are 
Emanuel, Lillie and Sigfreid.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900


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