Name John Evjen Role Author | Died 1942 Education Leipzig University | |
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Books Scandinavian immigrants in New York, 1630-1674 | ||
John Oluf Evjen (December 13, 1874 – January 4, 1942) was an American author, Lutheran church historian and professor of theology.
Biography
John Evjen was born in Ishpeming, Michigan. He was educated at Augsburg Seminary (class of 1895) and the Theological Institute of Augsberg Seminary (1898). He earned his doctorate in Germany at the University of Leipzig (Ph.D., 1903). Evjen was an ordained minister in the Lutheran Free Church. He served as a Lutheran minister in Muskegon and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He was acting professor of church history at the United Church Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota from 1903 until 1905. He was a professor of biblical History in Pennsylvania College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania from 1905 until 1909. Starting in 1909, he became a professor of theology at Augsburg Seminary in Minneapolis, MN.
Evjen was also the author of numerous books frequently addressing issues of Lutheran church theology and providing biographies of church theologians. Evjen is most frequently associated with his 1916 volume Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674. This epic work is a reference book frequently used by historians tracing the early immigration of German and Scandinavians to North America. It contains a collection of biographies based on ship passenger lists, parish records, church records, court records, and legal documents. Included is information such as dates of birth, places of origin, marriages, names of children, types of occupation, and references to sources.