August Weenaas
August Weenaas (1835-1924) was a Norwegian American Lutheran minister and educator. August Weenaas was the founding President of Augsburg College.
August Weenaas was born in Norway and was ordained as a minister in the Church of Norway. He served as a pastor there for several years prior to immigrating to the United States in 1868. August Weenaas becomes a professor in Paxton, Illinois at the Scandinavian Augustana Synod Seminary (now Augustana College) in Rock Island, Illinois. In 1869, August Weenaas was named president of Augsburg Seminary. August Weenaas was Augsburg’s president from 1869 until 1876. Weenaas recruited two professors from Norway, Sven Oftedal and Georg Sverdrup. Together these three men would serve as the first three presidents of Augsburg Seminary covering the period 1868 through 1911.
His wife, Valborg died in September 1873 and subsequently his two young daughters also died. In 1876, Weenaas returned to Norway. In 1882, he returned to the United States with his second wife, Marie and several of their children. The family lived in Red Wing, Minnesota where Weenaas taught theology at the Red Wing Seminary from 1882 to 1885 before returning to Norway, where he engaged in pastoral work.
Selected works
- Wisconsinismen; belyst ved historiske Kjendsgjerninger (1875)
- Falskt vidnesbyrd (1879)
- Mindeblade: eller Otte Aar in Amerika (1890)