Rev. O. O. Sando Biography


	This biography appears on pages 512-515 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				REV. O. O. SANDO. 

	Rev. O. O. Sando occupies a place in the history of South Dakota 
as the pioneer minister of the Lutheran faith in Minnehaha county and 
the surrounding district. In the early days he preached at many widely 
scattered points and much of his time was spent in the saddle. Not only 
did he proclaim the gospel by spoken word, but he preached it with the 
eloquence of a life devoted to the service of mankind. 

	His birth occurred in Rock county, Wisconsin, on the 4th of May, 
1849. He was a man of broad education, attending Luther College at 
Decorah, Iowa, and also taking a theological course in Concordia 
Seminary at St. Louis, Missouri, where he was graduated with the class 
of 1873. In October of that year he came to Minnehaha county, South 
Dakota, having accepted a call from the Nedaros Evangelical Lutheran 
congregation in Sverdrup township and three other congregations, one 
located at Brandon, Minnehaha county, one in Brookings, South Dakota, 
and one in Rock county, Minnesota. At that time he was the only 
Lutheran minister in that section of the state and an enormous amount 
of missionary work devolved upon him. Many a man would have grown faint 
hearted at the mere thought of the work, but Rev. Sando never faltered 
and threw himself into the task before him with all the enthusiasm and 
energy of his youth. Before the expiration of the first year he had 
organized six congregations in addition to the four he came to take 
charge of. Not only was he the organizing pastor, but he also preached 
to them, one of the congregations being in Yellow Medicine county, 
Minnesota. The others were in many cases miles apart, so that it was 
necessary for him to spend much of his time in the saddle in going from 
one charge to another. As the immigration of Lutherans into that 
section of the state increased, his missionary duties were added to and 
his field of labor was broadened. At one time he preached to not fewer 
than seventeen congregations and he held service in whatever building 
was available, sod house, frame residence and later schoolhouse. The 
congregations which were organized by him ill those pioneer days are 
now in charge of twelve pastors and many fine church edifices have been 
erected. In 1874 Rev. Sando organized the first Norwegian Lutheran 
church in Sioux Falls, after having preached regularly to a few 
Lutherans at that place since 1873. In the latter years of his life he 
had charge of two congregations, one ill Sverdrup township and one in 
Taopi township, Minnehaha county, and continued to give his 
parishioners the same whole-hearted service as when he first came to 
South Dakota a young minister just from the seminary. 

	The Lutheran church in South Dakota can never repay the debt of 
gratitude which it owes to such men as Rev. Sando, who came to the 
state when it was a pioneer region and gave the best years of their 
lives to arduous duty upon the frontier, organizing small bands of 
devout men and women into churches, holding services wherever possible 
and laying the foundation for that splendid growth and development 
which has made the Lutheran church one of the strongest in the state. 
Rev. Sando was known as an excellent preacher, but the great hold which 
he had upon his parishioners was due in large measure to his work among 
them as a man of sympathy, kindness, good judgment and godly life. He 
passed away on the 24th of December, 1903, mourned by those whom he had 
served as pastor and also by the community at large.