DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Decker Swedish Evangelical Free Church and Cemetery. Now, when you think about why somebody packs up everything they own and crosses an ocean to land in Central Texas, you might figure it's the usual things — land, opportunity, a fresh start. But the Swedish immigrants who settled in Decker in the 1880s, a good number of them were after something a little harder to put your hands on.
They were after the freedom to worship without the Swedish state church telling them how to do it. So here they are in Decker, Texas. No building to speak of, no congregation officially organized.
Just people who believed the same things, gathering in homes and schoolhouses, passing the word around. Out of those meetings, something took root. They organized the Decker Swedish Evangelical Free Church.
In 1892, a man named Joseph E. Johnson and his wife Charlotta — she was born a Mork — they deeded the land. On that land, a church building went up, and this cemetery was established right alongside it.
Charles Smith stepped in as the first pastor. And the congregation didn't stop there. They added a Sunday School.
They built a ladies society. They put up a parsonage. And every Sunday, the services rang out in Swedish — the mother tongue carried all the way from Scandinavia to the Texas Hill Country edge.
But here's where the story turns, the way so many Texas stories do. Drought came. Crops failed.
And when the land stops giving, people stop staying. Members drifted away. Eventually the congregation in Decker disbanded, and so did a sister church over in Elroy.
The building that stood on this very ground — it was torn down. You might think that's the end. But it wasn't.
In 1923, the Swedish Evangelical Free Church was formed in Austin, carrying that same faith into the city. It kept going, kept growing, and in 1952 it was renamed the First Evangelical Free Church of Austin. That little congregation born out of home meetings in Decker had a longer reach than the drought ever did.
As for this cemetery — it was here before the church even had a building. The first recorded burial was Carl Oscar Swening, laid to rest in 1891. And the people who followed him into this ground include many of the charter members of that original church, and their descendants after them.
The church still holds ownership of this site. Still maintains it. And the cemetery continues to serve the area to this day.
Something about that feels right. The building's gone, the Swedish services are long silent, but the ground those immigrants deeded and tended — it's still here, still cared for, still a piece of what they crossed an ocean to build.
What the marker says
Among the Swedish immigrants who settled in Decker in the 1880s were many seeking freedom from the Swedish state church. The immigrants held meetings in homes and schoolhouses, and organized the Decker Swedish Evangelical Free Church. Joseph E. Johnson and his wife Charlotta (Mork) deeded land in 1892 on which a church building was erected and this cemetery was established. Charles Smith served as first pastor of the church. As the congregation grew, a Sunday School and ladies society were added, and a parsonage built. Services were conducted in Swedish. Drought and crop failure forced many members to leave the area and the churches in Decker and Elroy disbanded. The church building located here was later torn down. In 1923 the Swedish Evangelical Free Church was formed in Austin; it was renamed the First Evangelical Free Church of Austin in 1952. The first recorded burial in the cemetery was that of Carl Oscar Swening in 1891. Many of the charter members of the church and their descendants are among those buried here. The church retains ownership of the site and maintains the cemetery, which continues to serve the area. (1997)