Carl Petrus Eklund
1878 - 1940

Carl Petrus Eklund was the sixth of the 10 children of Anders adn Sofia Ekelund. He was born at Boras, Sweden, on May 6, 1878. In 1893, at age 15, he accompanied an uncle to America, and was soon working as a farmhand in Illinois. Beginning in 1896, he attended the Academy of Northwestern University for two years. He also attended the Academy of Nebraska Wesleyan University and, finally, the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Carl P. Eklund was married on October 3, 1900, to Laura Alvira Malnburg at Red Oak, Iowa. In about 1900, Rev. Eklund began his career as a minister. One of his first charges was the West Hill Methodist Church in Burlington, Iowa, a Swedish Methodist Church. Two of his three children were born there, including Carl Gabriel Warren Eklund, following. He became a Methodist evangelist in about 1908, preaching throughout the midwest in both English and Swedish for about 12 years. The family's residence was in Denver during this time. Rev. Eklund and family finally settled in Lindsborg, Kansas, where he combined the Swedish and English Methodist Churches to form the Trinity Methodist Church, preacching sermons in both languages. He was a Mason, and was founder and first president of the Lindsborg Historical Society. Before his death, he moved to Salina Kansas, where he died on August 30, 1940, at age 62. He is buried there in the Gypsum Hill Cemetery.