Nyström, Bengt Svenson, minister – Portland – born in Nässum, Kristinanstads County, on October 13, 1857. He moved with his parents, farmer Lars Svenson and his wife Anna Larsdotter, to America in 1865, where the family took up residence in Minnesota. Mr. Nyström studied at St. Ansgar Academy in Minnesota 1874 – 75, at Gustavus Adolphus College in 1876, and at Augustana College 1877 – 83, and was ordained in Red Wing, Minnesota, in 1883. His first parish assignment was in Scandia Grove, Minnesota. Over the next ten years he served in many Swedish Lutheran parishes: Tracy, Walnut Grove and Elim in Minnesota; Waterville and Brantford in Kansas; Malmo in Nebraska, and La Conner, Fairhaven, and Clearbrook in Washington State. In 1902 he moved to Hockinson, Washington State, where he served as minister until 1908, when he moved to Portland, Oregon. His Portland address is 3915 72nd St. S. E. During most of his life as a minister he has traveled a great deal and has preferred serving settler communities. Because of this he now mainly serves the scattered congregations in Oregon such as Powell Valley, Gooseberry, and Mist among others. He says himself that he would like to “consider as good friends, each and everyone who works honestly for the common good of the Swedish people in their colonies and villages, where inherited ethnic traditions and Christian beliefs best can preserve the Swedish heritage”, and that he “in the same way considers all who, through good newspapers and publications, try to promote the unity, education and progress of Swedish people.” He married Emma Olivia Borell from Chicago, on July 3, 1883, and they have had six children, of which three sons and two daughters have survived.
