WAUPACA COUNTY POST

June 27, 1991

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            Waupaca’s Bethany Home name dates back to its inception in August 1895, when the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Synod (better known as the Blair Synod), decided to inaugurate a Christian welfare program for orphaned, indigent and neglected children.

            Albert Lea, Minnesota, was chosen as the first site for the new children’s home. At first a dwelling house was rented to provide temporary housing until the new home was built.

            When the new building was completed and made ready for the big move, it was named “Bethania Bornerjem,” Danish for Bethany Children’s Home.

            It was through the influence and encouragement of her pastor that Mrs. Ane Petersen, who had just recently become a widow, took the position as the first home’s matron.

            Ane Petersen was born December 7, 1851, in Lolland, Denmark, a daughter of Rasmus and Anna Marie Jensen Jacobsen.  She emigrated to America sometime between 1859 and 1869.  Records show the two different dates.  Ane was married in Oshkosh in 1872, to Christian Peterson.  They lived in Oshkosh for six years before moving to their farm in Section 4, Township of Waupaca.

            Misfortune struck the Peterson family.  Their daughter, Mary C., died March 28, 1882, aged five years ad four months, and 15 days later on April 6, 1882, their son, Victor W., died, age eight years and nine months.  When their third child was born they named him Victor Mannus. Ane’s husband, Christian, passed away August 6, 1894.  Her only remaining child, Victor, went to Albert Lea to be with his mother and help her as much as possible.  He was only 12 years old at the time.

            At the annual convention held in Blair, NE, in July 1897, it was voted to move the Bethany Children’s Home from Albert Lea to Waupaca.

            The Danish people of Waupaca all pulled together and raised $600 to help defray the expenses of moving and purchasing the new property on which to erect the new children’s home.

            September 7, 1897, the United Evangelical Lutheran Church purchased approximately 30 acres of land from Henry Warren and Fredrick Dunbar for $1,400.  This property is located from the banks of the Crystal River to the southeaster shores of Shadow Lake on the old Berlin Road.  When this property was first purchased, it was approximately one mile from downtown Waupaca.

            While the new home on Berlin Street was being built, Mrs. Peterson and her 10 to 12 children lived in a small house near the Soo Line depot.

            The new children’s home was completed in 1899, at a cost of $2,400, including the equipment and furnishings, and would accommodate about 40 children.  In October 1899, it was officially opened and it was not long before the Bethany Children’s Home population grew to 33.  Mrs. Ane Petersen resigned her position in 1908, after serving 13 years of dedicated service, and for this, she was presented a gift of $100 in gold by the president of the synod.

            Ane Petersen, following her retirement, went to live with her son, Victor, on his farm.  She died April 26, 1930.

            I find the name Petersen also spelled Peterson in different documents.  On the Petersen (Peterson) lot in the Waupaca cemetery, Christian’s marker is Peterson and Ane’s marker is Petersen.

            Ideas and times change policies and in the early 1950’s, it became apparent that the children could be placed in foster homes to a better advantage, so the Bethany Home was taken down board by board and the land leveled.  The only evidence that was left of the two-story wooden structure with the two huge screened-in porches in the front, one above the other, was the cornerstone that read “Bethania 1898”.

            In 1953, at the annual Wisconsin District Convention of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church, a directive was made to arrange for the incorporation of Bethany as an operating Christian home for the aged.

            The Bethany Lutheran Home, Inc. on March 22, 1954, filed for its Article of Incorporation.

            The Bethany Lutheran Home, Inc. for the aged began operation with 18 guests on a budget less than $4,000, and a lot of faith.

            March 10, 1959, the Bethany Lutheran Home, Inc. filed amendments to the original Article of Incorporation, and the Bethany Foundation, Inc. filed for its Article of Incorporation on October 12, 1978.