Dominee Alden

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Dominee Alden

Dominee Edwin H. Alden, geboren in Windsor/ Vermont op 14 januari 1836, was een belangrijke man in de Congregational Church in Walnut Grove. Hij had een kerk in het oosten maar was er nauw bij betrokken om nieuwe kerken op te zetten zoals in Walnut Grove.

De familie Ingalls had een trouwe vriendschap met Dominee Alden gedurende hun jaren in Walnut Grove en waren dan ook zeer verrast toen hij op de stoep stond in Dakota Territory.

Dominee Alden hield de eerste kerkdienst in De Smet in het huis van de familie Ingalls in februari 1880. Hierna ging hij naar het noorden en werd een agent in North Dakota. Hij trouwde twee keer en kreeg twee kinderen. Hij overleed op 6 mei 1911 in Chester/Vermont.



Rev. Edwin Alden (photo from the Mayflower Quarterly; Rev. A. was a descendant of John Alden & Priscilla Mullens) became minister of the Congregational Church in Waseca MN as Home Missionary today in 1868. He serviced the WG church as part ...of this mission field. (Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote that Ma and Pa were baptized by Reverend Alden when they joined the church in Walnut Grove.) --- Rev. Alden hadn't been very successful as a missionary to slaves during the Civil War in Georgia and Louisiana, nor was he held in much regard as a missionary to the Indians on reservation in Dakota Territory in the late 1870s. He ended up homesteading in Spink County after deserting his wife and two sons in Minnesota for a younger woman (Pa and Ma knew about this, but said they liked him anyway), and it's possible that he married his second wife without ever being divorced from his first. He remained in Dakota only until about 1890, but in one of the churches he served, a stained glass window was dedicated to him. And of course I can't find that info.... Ree Heights? Athol? Does anybody remember?

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Een quote over Duisternis versus Licht uitgesproken door dominee Edwin Hyde Alden (1836/1911):

THERE IS NOT ENOUGH DARKNESS IN ALL THE WORLD TO PUT OUT THE LIGHT OF EVEN ONE SMALL CANDLE.


By Harriet Faith

This quote is from Reverend Edwin Hyde Alden. He was also known as Robert Alden and lived from 1836 to 1911. Alden was one of many real people upon whom Laura Ingalls Wilder based a character in the “Little House On The Prairie” series of books and television show.

This quote really caught my attention in the days following the attack on Paris. That tragic and frightening event is one more example of the darkness that we are all becoming so aware of in the world. We know it’s there and it seems to be happening more and more. Yet it may not be that there is more darkness in the world so much as it is becoming more visible to us. If that is true, I tend to believe that it is becoming more visible to us precisely because we are meant to heal it. Those of us who see it and who are able maintain the smallest amount of objectivity about the dark things that are happening around us really do have a very important calling…..that of holding light. We may each feel as if we are only one person, and it may make us feel insignificant in the face of some of these forces around us. But I believe it is precisely that one small light inside each if us, seemingly no more bright than a small candle, that is making a difference in the world. This statement by Alden is true….darkness cannot wipe out a small candle. But a candle can change darkness. And if each of us holds our own inner light steady, we can make more of a difference than we can imagine.

This quote is also significant to me because we are entering that time of year called the Season of Lights. The seasonally dark time of year when lights and candles take on meaning for many different traditions around the world. I think I may do some more quotes on light in the coming weeks.