Unidentified Group #1

A recent acquisition.


(Click on images to enlarge)

All I know about this group is that it was photographed by A. Haase of Hobart, Ind.



So that would date it between December 1902 and roughly 1912.

A couple of things I can guess by the clothing on the man in front: this is a church group, and the church is Swedish.

The young woman at the far left in the second row from the front looks to me a bit like Elna Hazelgreen of Lake Station. (I have some photos of her, which we will get to eventually.)

Other than that, this group is unidentified.


12/26/2015 UPDATE: Thanks to Paula Isolampi, we can identify the clergyman as the Rev. Magnus Johansson Lonner. From an undated manuscript entitled "Biographies of Pastors Related to the History of Augustana Lutheran Church of Hobart, Indiana" (no author identified), comes this short biographical sketch:

Magnus Johansson Lonner was born on April 21, 1858 at Odeberg, Dalsland, Sweden, the son of Johannes and Anna L., nee Larsdotter, Jonasson.

He emigrated to the United States in 1881. He studied at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota in 1884 and 1885. He then continued his studies at Augustana College and Seminary from 1886 to 1892. He was ordained in June 5, 1892 in Lindsborg, Kansas.

He served pastorates in the following communities: Manistique, Michigan, 1892 – 1896; Bessemer, Michigan, 1896 – 1899; Porter, Indiana, 1899 – 1906; Greeley, Nebraska, 1906 – 1910; Cleburne, Kansas, 1910 – 1922.

He was married to Alma Skogberg of Ishpeming, Michigan on August 25, 1897. They were the parents of one child. After the death of Alma in 1902, Pastor Lonner married Hedvig Nelson of Hobart, Indiana and they were the parents of one child.

Pastor Lonner died on August 22, 1931.

The late Alvar Lonner, a long-time leader in Augustana Church of Hobart, was a son of Pastor Lonner.

Assuming the photo above is a confirmation photo, then the young woman who looks like Elna Hazelgreen is not Elna (who was confirmed in 1909, when the Rev. Gustav Lundahl was pastor). But it might be a case of family resemblance. The church has records of the confirmation of four of Elna's siblings at varying ages between about 14 and 16; one I haven't found in the records is Elna's sister, Esther, born circa 1886, who could conceivably have been in Pastor Lonner's confirmation class and been photographed by August Haase.

In another church publication, Esther Hazelgreen Babcock is named as one of the church's organists — exactly when isn't clear, but it seems to have been in the first decade of the 20th century.