Jacob Tanner was a Norwegian American Lutheran minister, educator and religious author
Background
He was born at the farm Leirgrovvik in Bolsøy (now Molde), Norway, as the eldest son of Swiss dairyman Johannes Tanner (a Zwinglian) and native farmer"s daughter Anne Birgitte (née Innholm), who taught her children how to read and instructed them in the Catechism.
Education
He was educated in Molde and Kristiania, and became a theologian in 1892.
Career
He spent most of his life in the United States and became a naturalized citizen. Jacob was confirmed 24 April 1881, receiving high grades. At 27 years of age, he departed from the port of Kristiansand, arriving in New York City, United States of America, on 19 May 1893.
Jacob served as pastor for congregations in Iowa and New York, and taught at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota from 1916 to 24.
In 1924 Tanner became the editor of Lutheraneren – the Norwegian-language organ of the NLCA, where he also served on the Board of Elementary Christian Education. From 1925 to 38, Tanner was a professor of theology at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
He assembled a collection of small catechisms in translations from around the world, and the Jacob Tanner Catechism Collection forms part of the special collections in the Luther Seminary Library. After retiring, he taught theology as professor emeritus of Iowa"s Waldorf College, whose Tanner Hall is named for him.
They had five children.
Jacob Tanner dictated his autobiography in 1960. He died at 98 years of age in a nursing home in Minnesota.