Constantin Esbjörn

(This series of Notable Faculty profiles was written in celebration Augustana's sesquicentennial in 2009.)

Constantin Magnus Esbjörn was born in Princeton, Ill., on Feb. 14, 1858. He was born to Gustava and Lars Paul Esbjörn, who was the founding president of Augustana College from 1860 to 1862. He traveled with his parents to Sweden in 1863, returning in 1873.

C.M. Esbjörn attended Augustana College in Paxton, Ill., and followed the college when it moved in 1875 to Rock Island. He remained at Augustana until 1877 when he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree. After his graduation from Augustana, C.M. Esbjörn became an assistant professor of Latin, Greek, and Swedish for Augustana  up to the year 1880.

He then moved to Philadelphia's Lutheran Seminary, and in 1883 he returned to Augustana College. At this time he married his first wife. Hilmore Elizabeth Swan. and became professor of Swedish at Augustana, a position he held until 1890.

C.M. Esbjörn was ordained in 1888. In 1890, he moved to San Francisco and was a pastor there until 1893 when he moved again, this time to Marshfield, Ore. Esbjorn's wife Hilmore died on Jan. 27, 1895. In 1897, he married Anna Sofia Rasmusson; their daughter, Hilmore Sofia, was born on Nov. 1 of that year. The family moved to Kingsburg, Calif., and lived there until Constantin Magnus Esbjörn passed away on Nov. 25, 1911.