Valby Lutheran Church, Ione

    Ione is located in a very sparsely populated area of north-central Oregon where the wheat farms are two to four thousand acres each and where some of the last land was available for homesteading in the lower forty-eight states. Swedes first homesteaded land here in 1883, beginning as sheep herders.
    The Rev. Erik Norelius, an emigrant from Hälsingland who helped found and lead the Augustana Synod of Swedish American Lutheran Church, visited this isolated community, then known as Gooseberry in 1886. In April of that year he conducted the first service of the Lutheran church and organized the congregation. Formerly called Valby Evangelical Lutheran, the small white frame building with its short steeple was dedicated in 1897.

Valby Lutheran Church, Ione, after recent remodelling and expantion

When visiting the Valby Lutheran Cemetery, which is surrounded by miles of wheat fields, you notice about 90% of the people buried there are Swedish. A search of the background, stories, living relatives of these Swedish people will be done in the future. Below is a list of the people buried at Valby Lutheran Cemetery. If anyone recognizes a name, or has any information concerning anyone on the list (in U.S. or Sweden), please send it to me, Bertil Sundvall, my mailing address is 2316 NE 149th Avenue, Portland, OR 97230, USA..

Church Sanctuary

Alter in Church

Memorial Plaque

Click for location of Valby on map

För att se gravstenen klicka på namn med blå text - Click on name in blue to see gravestone