At its annual convention in 1896, the United Church claimed to have elected a Board of Trustees for Augsburg Seminary (the “Competing Trustees”), and the Competing Trustees commenced litigation against the Oftedal Trustees for a declaration in a quo warranto proceeding that the Competing Trustees were in control of Augsburg Seminary.[1]
A quo warranto legal proceeding is a common law action which either makes inquiry into the authority by which a person holds a particular office, or seeks to determine which of two competing persons has a right to a particular office.[2]
Quo warranto—Medieval Latin for “by what warrant?”—is a common law action requiring the person to whom it is directed to show by what authority they are exercising some right or power they claim to hold.[3]
The Oftedal Trustees claimed to be the duly elected trustees of the Augsburg Seminary corporation.
However, the five Competing Trustees of the Augsburg Seminary corporation elected by the United Church also claimed the right to control the Augsburg Seminary corporation, and commenced various proceedings in order to have a legal determination made that they were properly in charge of the Augsburg Seminary corporation.[4]
Nils C. Brun was one of the Competing Trustees of Augsburg Seminary elected by the United Church in 1896, and was named as the lead applicant/plaintiff in the legal controversies between Augsburg Seminary and the United Church.
Rev. M. F. Gjertsen, the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, and a supporter of the Oftedal Trustees, identified the relationship between Nils C. Brun, Augsburg Seminary, and the United Church, in the following manner:
Of the applicants, Nils C. Brun, though for twenty years a member of the Conference, was never during all of that time elected or appointed to any office or position of trust therein . . . . Though a graduate from the school at Marshall then called Augsburg Seminary, he was never prior to the formation of the United Church, at least, elected or appointed to any office or position of trust in Augsburg Seminary and was never made a member of any committee charged with any duty respecting the same. The reason for this lies in the fact that Mr. Brun belonged to the minority in the Conference, which minority has in the new organization by combination with those who never belonged to the Conference organized a majority opposed to those who in the Conference constituted a majority thereof. Said applicant, Nils C. Brun, resides at Lake Mills, Iowa, and now has charge of three congregations, located at or near that place, which have . . . a combined membership numbering 544 persons. All these congregations are located within the district of St. Ansgar and two of them were never members of the Conference; . . . . [5]
Rev. N. G. Nilson, a resident of Moose Lake, Minnesota and a pastor having charge of five Norwegian-Lutheran congregations located in that region, identified the relationship between Augsburg Seminary, the United Church, Nils C. Brun and Nels E. Boe—supporters of the Competing Trustees of Augsburg Seminary elected by the United Church in 1896:
I know Nils C. Brun, who now claims to be one of the Board of Trustees of Augsburg Seminary, and have been intimately acquainted with him since and including the year 1882.
During the same period I have been well acquainted with Nels E. Boe, in charge of certain Norwegian Lutheran churches located in Freeborn County, Minnesota, and in Worth County, Iowa. In the year 1882, and before my ordination, I assisted said Brun in his pastoral work at Chicago, Illinois, and resided with him and his family during the summer of 1882 at that place, and from that year and until the year 1892, I frequently met both said Nils C. Brun and Nels E. Boe at their homes and elsewhere.
And I know from many conversations had by me with said Brun and Boe during the years last named that they were during all of said period inimical to Augsburg Seminary as the same was then being conducted and carried on by Sven Oftedal and Georg Sverdrup.
That at said city of Chicago at the home of said Nils C. Brun and, according to the best of my recollection and belief, in the summer or fall of the year 1888, said Nils C. Brun and Nels E. Boe stated in my presence, in substance, that if they had the power they would crush both Oftedal and Sverdrup and drive them from the school.
And on another occasion at the same place and about the same time, it was stated in my presence by either said Brun or said Boe, and acquiesced in by the other, that they must work for the proposed union of the Conference with the other church organizations so that those opposed to Oftedal and Sverdrup would be in the majority and drive them from the school, and that so long as the Conference remained by itself, the friends of these professors would constitute a majority and nothing could be done against them.
I am certain that statements substantially as above were made, in my presence, by said Brun and Boe, and acquiesced in by both, before the formation of the United Church, and on several occasions prior thereto the statement that they must work for the Union so as to obtain a majority who should be opposed to Professors Oftedal and Sverdrup was made in my presence, and acquiesced in by each of them.
And I know that both said Brun and Boe during the entire time of my acquaintance with them prior to said union were bitterly opposed to both of said Professors above named.[6]
Rev. Elias Aas
Rev. Elias Aas, an 1886 graduate of the theological program at Augsburg Seminary and a supporter of the Oftedal Trustees, described in his autobiography the attitude of Nils C. Brun towards Augsburg Seminary in the following manner:
A paper called “Samfundet,” edited by Pastor Nils Brun, was full of bitterness and shameless attacks on Augsburg and its professors.[7]
Dr. Bernhard Christensen, the president of Augsburg Seminary and College from 1938 to 1962, provided the following general testimonial with respect to the autobiography of Rev. Elias Aas, as translated from Norwegian into English by his son, Leif H. Awes:
Leif H. Awes, son of the author, is the translator.
Not only we, who read with so many personal associations are his debtors, but also all those who in future years, for either scholarly or spiritual reasons, may try to recapture the spirit and history of the Norwegian American immigrant churches.[8]
Rev. C. F. Clausen had been one of the founding members of the Norwegian-Danish Conference, but was a fierce opponent of Sven Oftedal and George Sverdrup.
Lauritz F. Clausen was one of the Competing Trustees of Augsburg Seminary elected by the United Church in 1896, and was named as one of the applicants/plaintiffs in the legal controversies between Augsburg Seminary and the United Church.
Rev. M. F. Gjertsen described Lauritz F. Clausen as follows:
Applicant, Lauritz F. Clausen, was never a member of the Conference and was never a member of or affiliated with any congregation that adopted its constitution or became a member thereof.
Lars Swenson was the former treasurer of the Conference, one of the Competing Trustees of Augsburg Seminary elected by the United Church in 1896, and named as one of the applicants/plaintiffs in the legal controversies between Augsburg Seminary and the United Church. Rev. M. F. Gjertsen described Lars Swenson in the following manner:
Applicant Lars Swenson was never a member of the Conference and is not now a member of any congregation that ever belonged thereto.
He belongs to the only congregation in Minneapolis that is unfriendly to Augsburg Corporation and its present management.
This congregation was organized in the year 1893, from those who had seceded from other congregations in Minneapolis because of the fact that they contributed to the support of Augsburg Seminary and were friendly thereto.[10]
Orson A. Veblen was one of the Competing Trustees of Augsburg Seminary elected by the United Church in 1896, and was named as one of the applicants/plaintiffs in the legal controversies between Augsburg Seminary and the United Church.
Rev. M. F. Gjertsen described Orson A. Veblen as follows:
Orson A. Veblen, one of the applicants, was never a member of the Conference, but is now a member of a congregation located at Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, which, though a member of the Conference, never contributed to the Endowment Fund of Augsburg Seminary until the year 1890, when it was understood that the United Church was about to be formed.[11]
Ole O. Aanstad was one of the Competing Trustees of Augsburg Seminary elected by the United Church in 1896, and was named as one of the applicants/plaintiffs in the legal controversies between Augsburg Seminary and the United Church. Rev. M. F. Gjertsen described Ole O. Aanstad in the following manner:
Ole O. Aanstad alone of these applicants is a member of a congregation which contributed to the Endowment Fund of Augsburg Seminary prior to the year 1890, and prior to the time when it became known or understood that the United Church was about to be organized and formed.[12]
Notes
[1]State Ex Rel. Brun, et al v. Oftedal, et al, 72 Minn. 498, 512 75 N.W. 692, 697, (1898). Minnesota Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 72 Minn. 590, page 66, April 1898; Brief for Appellant – Appellant’s Statement of Facts. Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church, 1928, Affidavit of Sven Oftedal, Paragraph 68, citing Minutes of the 1896 annual meeting of the United Church, page 183.
[2] See Black’s Law Dictionary, 7th Edition, page 1264.
[4] Chrislock, From Fjord to Freeway, page 79. Minneapolis Tribune, July 24, 1896, page 5, November 8, 1896, page 7, December 5, 1896, page 9.
[5]Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church, Affidavit of M. F. Gjertsen, Page 3. (Minneapolis, Minn. 1928). Aff. M. F. Gjertsen March 2, 1897, ¶ 12, pages 144-145.
[6]Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church, Affidavit of N. G. Nilson, Pages 1-2. (Minneapolis, Minn. 1928). Aff. N. G. Nilson, March 1, 1897, ¶ 2, page 148.
[7]The Pioneer Pastor – Highlights From the Life and Work of Rev. Elias Aas, an Autobiography of the life and work of Rev. Elias Aas 1885 – 1941, Translation From the Norwegian by Leif H. Awes, page 188, circa 1970.
[8]An Appreciation by Dr. Bernhard Christensen, personal notes attached to the front cover of the volume on file in the Lindell library at Augsburg University, of The Pioneer Pastor – Highlights From the Life and Work of Rev. Elias Aas, an Autobiography of the life and work of Rev. Elias Aas 1885 – 1941, Translation From the Norwegian by Leif H. Awes, circa 1970.
[9]Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church, Affidavit of M. F. Gjertsen, Page 3. (Minneapolis, Minn. 1928). Aff. M. F. Gjertsen March 2, 1897, ¶ 13, page 145.
[10]Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church, Affidavit of M. F. Gjertsen, Pages 3-4. (Minneapolis, Minn. 1928). Aff. M. F. Gjertsen March 2, 1897, ¶ 13, page 145.
[11]Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church, Affidavit of M. F. Gjertsen, Page 4. (Minneapolis, Minn. 1928). Aff. M. F. Gjertsen March 2, 1897, ¶ 13, page 145.
[12] Augsburg Seminary and the Lutheran Free Church, Affidavit of M. F. Gjertsen, Page 4. (Minneapolis, Minn. 1928). Aff. M. F. Gjertsen March 2, 1897, ¶ 13, page 145.
Copyright to the text 2019, Gary C. Dahle. All rights reserved.
