Gustav B. Joergenson Records

File contains brief biography of Gustav Joergenson and photocopies of a program for the celebration of the seventy-third anniversary of the Stillaguamish Settlement, dated September 19, 1937. Gustav Joergenson was born February 22, 1883, one of eleven children of a Norwegian immigrant pastor. He started the first public library in Stanwood, the first literary society, the first Norwegian male chorus, and the first church choir. Gustav Joergenson died in 1963 and is buried in Our Saviours Lutheran Church Cemetery.

Biographical Note

Gustav Joergenson was born February 22, 1883. He was the second of eleven children of Pastor Christian Joergenson, who was born in Land, Norway, in 1847 and came to America in 1868. Christian Joergenson served as pastor on the Pacific Coast for 15 years, and the Joergenson house near Stanwood, Washington, became a meeting place for immigrant settlers. Gustav became an historian of the Stanwood Community. Among his works are: "Early Migrations in the Northwest" and "First Missionaries into These Parts." He was a farmer but was also very active in community affairs. He started the first public library in Stanwood, the first literary society, the first Norwegian male chorus, and the first church choir. Joergenson learned the languages of the Indians of the Pacific Northwest and is said to have traced the Norse element in Indian culture back to the Norsemen who first settled in Greenland and Vinland. He also originated the Pioneer Historical Society. Gustav Joergenson died in 1963 and is buried in Our Saviours Lutheran Church Cemetery.