Skudesness Lutheran Church
Bawlf, Alberta, Canada
"Celebrating 100 Years:  1906 - 2006"

Introduction  |  Front CoverFront Inside Cover |  Bishop Kristenson's Letter |  Pastor Calvin Skriver's Message  
Council President's
Message | Skudesness Lutheran Church History
The People:
Language, MusicLutheran Church WomenSunday School, Luther League, Thanksgiving Service
OrdinationsFirsts |  Skudesness Church Improvements |  Skudesness Lutheran Church Pastors, 1902 - 2006
Skudesness Lutheran Church
Ministerial Events | Skudesness Cemetery List | Back, Inside Cover | Back Cover

Page by Page Index for Skudesness Lutheran Church "Celebrating 100 Years: 1906 - 2006"

Return to
Matson - Garson Page Index

Skudesness Lutheran Church 100th Anniversary Commemorative Book : Introduction


Welcome to a very enjoyable on line version of a book commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Skudesness Lutheran Church of Bawlf, Alberta, Canada.

Permissions: I have permission from the Church to publish this book on my WEB site. Copying or reproduction of this material by me or others for personal profit or gain is strictly prohibited. Contact the church with questions about using the material you see here.

Skudesness Lutheran Church is just north of Bawlf, Alberta, Canada
(map). The address is Box 26, Bawlf, Alberta, Canada. About 20 kilometers east of Camrose on Highway 26, at Ryley Road #854, is a sign: 9 Kilometers to Skudesness Church.  Straight south from that sign and intersection, about 10 kilometers, is Bawlf. Bawlf is about 25 kilometers southeast of Camrose; Camrose is 100 kilometers southeast of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This area is a Norwegian stronghold and has a very strong history of early Norwegian settlements.

How to view this book: You may view the book page by page or by following links to book sections. The book section links appear on each page as they do on this page. Also included on each page is a link to the detailed page index where there are links to each page of the book. You can move back one page and forward one page from each page as you might in the actual book. 

The on line version of the book is a scan of the original pages. Load times will vary depending upon your Internet speed. The book has 29 pages. Including the front and back outside covers, the on line version of the book is 31 pages plus the introduction and other background and supporting pages. My pages are set up to load fairly quickly. As such, my pages are not of the same quality as the book, but are close to book quality.

To begin to read this book, choose the
"Page by Page" link, also at the top of this page. From there you can choose to read by sections or by page. But before you begin, here is some background.

Background: One of the early Norwegian settlers to the Bawlf area was Johan Olsen Aker. He and his family came to the Bawlf area from Dalton, Ottertail County, Minnesota sometime after the year 1900, having emigrated to Dalton from Norway in June 1883. Johan Olsen Aker & his wife, Line Andersdatter and family joined Skudesness Lutheran Church o/a March 28, 1906. 

I received my copy of this Skudesness Lutheran Church book from Lloyd Reed of Camrose. Lloyd is my third cousin on my father’s side. My wife and I first met Lloyd, his wife, Arlet (Johnson), his sister, Mildred (Reed) MacPhee,  and Lloyd's 1st cousins (once removed), Alice and Edna Aker, each sisters, in Camrose on September 11, 2002. My father, Roy H. Matson, had written to the aunt of these sisters, Anna Aker, before his (Roy's) death in 1979.  Since the year 2002, we have also met and shared with Lloyd's sister, Doris and her husband, Ole Myhre. Alice Aker will very soon now in September 2006, celebrate her 97th birthday. 

Lloyd Reed did the foot work to obtain church approval for me to share this won****ul history with you and others via the Internet.

My great grandmother, Hellene Olsdtr, who settled with her husband, Syver Madsen and family in Strum, Wisconsin, is a sister of Lloyd Reed’s great grandfather, Johan Olsen Aker. The parents of Hellene and Johan are
Ole Hansen & Ragnhild Juulsdatter. My WEB site has more on these people.

The Johan Olsen Aker family is, of course, the primary reason for my interest in Bawlf and Skudesness Lutheran Church and their 100th Anniversary. But as you can tell from the account in this book, many more Norwegian families, key ones from Skudesness and families from other areas of Norway, are central to this church history.

My second reason for interest in this church is that in many ways its history mirrors that of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church & West Beef River Lutheran Church in my home town, Strum, Wisconsin. 

The region, Skudesnes, is located on the southwest coast of Norway, just across the Boknafjorden, northwest of Stavanger. Please Email me at
dianne@undalumni.org if I am in error on this location and also with any feedback on your experience with this on line book and with other questions.

Credit for all this material goes to the members of Skudesness Lutheran Church of Bawlf, Alberta, Canada and to those involved in the development and publication of this fine document. Please enjoy their work.

Fred Matson
4 September 2006