Frykman, Nils

Born: October 20, 1842, Sunne, Värmland, Sweden (birth name: Nils Larsson). Died: March 30, 1911, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Buried: Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Nils took the name Frykman after the region where he grew up, Fryksdalen. In 1868, he graduated from teachers’ college in Karlstad, and went on to teach in Grums, Norrköping, and Sunne. He preached in the church in Sunne, and around that time began to write hymns. Eventually, his texts were printed in the magazine Sanningsvittnet. However, Frykman’s work was not sanctioned by Sweden’s state church, and almost led to the loss of his job as a teacher. Eventually he did resign his position over a controversy about his children’s baptism by an independent preacher. In 1888, he was called to serve as pastor in the Tabernacle Church in Chicago, Illinois, and later in Salem, Minnesota. After 18 years, he retired to Minneapolis. He also served in the Northwest Mission Association of the Covenant Church, as denominational vice-chairman, Ministerial Board chairman, the Northwest Ministerial Association chairman, and as chairman of the committee to publish the Swedish-American Covenant church’s first hymnal in 1906.