Johnson Creek in Portland. Mrs. Palmblad,
Augusta was born in Kalmar, Sweden on July 20, 1866. John
Palmblad and his wife, Augusta were married in Manhattan, Kansas on October 21, 1876.
Mr. Palmblad had come from Jorpa, Sweden in 1869. Mrs. Palmblad had
traveled from Kalmar, Sweden with her
parents in 1870. In 1878 the Palmblads left Randolf, Kansas with their little
daughter Amanda, now Mrs. Gustafson and a member of our church. They
arrived on March 30th, 1878 and were met by Mrs. Palmblad's father, C.A.
Palmquist and who drove into town in a lumber wagon to pick up his daughter and
son-in-law and the baby.Sixteen miles out the Palmquists had settled and the young Palmblads joined them in their farming until Palmblads bought their own farm a little later. Concerning those early days Mrs. Palmblad has written: "My husband and I became believers in Randolph, Kansas, and had lived in Oregon three years before we heard a Swedish sermon. The first preacher to visit us was Rev. Okerson, who held a meeting in our home at which four families were present. How well I remember Sunday, December 30, 1883 when we journeyed to Portland, fifteen long miles in our farm wagon, It took us about five hours as the roads were bad. We stayed over night at Pastor Liljeroth's home. It was cold and there was a lot of snow and it was hard to keep warm. There was wood in the basement but none of it was cut, worse yet there was no axe in the house. Mr. Palmblad got up at four o'clock in the morning and went into a neighbor's woodshed and borrowed his axe, chopped some wood and built a fire so that it became warm and comfortable.
The next night we stayed with Edwin Stones' and the following night at Shogren's in East Portland.
On New Year's Day, 1884, I was baptized by Pastor Liljeroth together with Mr. and Mrs. Rose, Lina Johnson, P. A. Johnson and on the next day the church was organized."
John Palmblad died on April 20, 1922. Augusta Palmblad died on January 16, 1938.