JOYFUL PILGRIM

Composer: Nils Frykman

Born: October 20, 1842, Sunne, Värmland, Sweden (birth name: Nils Larsson). Died: March 30, 1911, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Buried: Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nils took the name Frykman after the region where he grew up, Fryksdalen. In 1868, he graduated from teachers’ college in Karlstad, and went on to teach in Grums, Norrköping, and Sunne. He preached in the church in Sunne, and around that time began to write hymns. Eventually, his texts were printed in the magazine Sanningsvittnet. However, Frykman’s work was not sanctioned by Sweden’s state church, and almost led to the loss of his job as a teacher. Eventually he did resign his position over a controversy about his children’s baptism by an independent prea… Go to person page >