A SOD CHURCH - THE THADENS' FIRST CHURCH IN MINNESOTA

The Thaden family church had been a mystery, since what records we had said they went to a German Church in the Luverne, MN area. We finally found the church they attended on a trip to Luverne some years ago. It was located four miles south and four miles west of Luverne in the Southwest section of Luverne Township and was called the Ebenezer Evangelical Church.

     Soon after the Thadens moved to their homestead, the Rev. P. Bott became the minister. When the Thadens celebrated their 50th anniversary, an article appeared in the “Christliche Botsschafter” which said they were converted under the labors of the Rev. Wm. Oehler 35 years previously (1873) at
which time they united with the church.

     The first church was called the Sod Church and was replaced in 1884. The Thaden family is mentioned in their church history books. It later was known as the Pleasant View Church which was started as a German Church of the Evangelical Denomination. In 1946, this denomination united with the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) and in 1968 the EUBs joined with the Methodists to become the United Methodist Church. In 1954 the congregation of this country church was moved to Luverne, MN and it is now the Methodist Church in that community. The building located at the Pleasant View site was moved to Kanaranzi, MN where it is still used as the sanctuary for the United Methodist Church there. In America, the Thadens were for all practical purposes, Methodists – and continued to be a part of the Evangelical Denomination when they moved to Washington.

     The church records say there were “many successful revival meetings with large numbers finding the Savior. They held yearly camp meetings in the summer in a grove of trees 1.5 miles east of the church. In already known history, after Martin purchased the portable organ for his mother, she often played for church outings away from the church and no doubt played for these yearly revivals held at the grove east of the church. The church was located a mile north and a mile east of the Thaden homestead. They undoubtedly became a part of this denomination because it was a ministry to German people and it was close to their homestead.

     Next to the church was the cemetery where we found the grave marker of Hannah Thaden who died at the age of 13 years and 8 months (her death was attributed to consumption of the lungs). It is a beautiful cemetery, with only a few markers on it, and hers is still very readable. No one knew for sure where she was buried until we saw the records of the cemeteries in Luverne and drove out to check it out. Poor girl! But those were pioneer days. No doctor down the street, no hospital up the road, no antibiotics to fight disease. In the two letters found written by my Great Grandmother Thaden, she remembers that she “lost my second child Hannah too, and she was 14 years old and I could (not) let her go either! But God gives us strength that we can overcome it, and obey His will meekly without murmur! God be with you is the prayer of your Grandma. And in a follow-up letter of June 2, 1924, she ended her letter with, “My dear children, trust in God. He will help you overcome your sorrow.”

     When they moved to Washington, they helped organize an Evangelical Church in Tacoma and were members there for many years, perhaps until they died.