Rev. Carl E. Cesander Biography


	This biography appears on pages 151-152 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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			REV. CARL E. CESANDER.  

	Rev. Carl E. Cesander, pastor of the Swedish Lutheran church of 
Sioux Falls, is a man of wide influence among the people of his 
locality and his efforts for moral progress have been far-reaching and 
beneficial. A native of Sweden, he was born on the 27th of October, 
1858, and is a son of Jonas P. and Lena Stina (Johnson) Peterson, who 
came with their family of eight children to the United States in 1869, 
when their son Carl was a lad of eleven years. They settled at 
Rockford, Illinois, where both the father and mother remained until 
called to their final rest.  

	Rev. Cesander of this review was reared under the parental roof. 
He attended the public schools of his native country and of Illinois 
and also became a student in Augustana College and in the Theological 
Seminary at Rock Island, Illinois. In the meantime he had determined to 
devote his life to the ministry and was ordained by the Augustana synod 
in Rockford, Illinois, in June, 1885. Having thus qualified for 
pastoral work, he was given charge of the church at Marshalltown, Iowa, 
and subsequently was placed in charge of the congregations at St. 
Charles and Geneva, Illinois, presiding over the two churches, which 
are situated about two miles apart. At a later period Mr. Cesander was 
made city missionary in Chicago and while serving in that capacity he 
organized two churches of his denomination, one in Moreland and one in 
Maywood — two of the suburbs of the city.  

	In 1898 Mr. Cesander was called to the pastorate of the churches 
at Wausau and Merrill, Wisconsin. In addition to presiding over those 
two churches he had under his direction several mission churches and in 
one year he traveled over ten thousand miles in covering the field of 
his duties. It was during that period that he organized a church at 
Madison, Wisconsin. On retiring from the Wisconsin field he removed in 
January, 1900, to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he had charge of a 
church for five years. He thence went to Buffalo, Minnesota, where he 
was given charge of the two churches in this field, one being situated 
at Buffalo and the other at Waverly. He continued in those pastorates 
for almost five years and in the fall of 1909 removed to Sioux Falls, 
where he has since been in charge of the Swedish Lutheran church and 
also of a district church in Benton township of the same county. The 
country church was destroyed by an electrical storm in October, 1913, 
but is now rebuilt and is a handsome edifice, which has a seating 
capacity of four hundred and cost about twelve thousand dollars. Since 
coming to Sioux Falls Mr. Cesander has made several trips in the 
interest of the church to the Black Hills, that being in the Sioux 
Falls district. Since his arrival in this state he has also organized 
three churches in North Dakota and has done much to further religious 
work and extend moral influence among not only the people of his own 
denomination but the general public at large. He is an earnest, 
thoughtful, logical speaker and clear reasoner and can at will employ 
the powers of eloquence in oratory.  

	On the 31st of May, 1888, Rev. Cesander was married to Miss 
Eleanor L. Kugler, of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and to them have been born 
five children: Paul, who is now a professor in the high school at 
Akely, Minnesota; Ruth, a kindergarten teacher at Mountain Lake, 
Minnesota; Frederick, professor of music and the organist of the 
Swedish Lutheran church at Dawson, Minnesota; Anna, who is attending 
Gustavus Adolphus College at St. Peter, Minnesota; and Amy, who is now 
a junior in the high school at Sioux Falls.  

	Rev. Cesander is a republican in his political views and keeps 
well informed on the vital questions and issues of the day but 
concentrates his efforts upon his ministerial duties. He is an earnest 
and forceful speaker, whose words carry conviction to the minds of his 
hearers, and in his work he has not been denied the full harvest nor 
the aftermath of his labors, for his influence has been a potent 
element for good.