Background
John Dylander was born in 1709 in Sweden.
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John Dylander
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In 1737 when he was appointed by Archbishop Steuchius and the Consistory of Upsala to succeed Gabriel Falck as pastor of the Swedish Lutheran congregation at Wicacoa, Philadelphia. Accompanied by William Malander of Rosland, a student of theology, he sailed from Stockholm on July 13 and landed at Philadelphia on November 2. Four days later he was installed by his compatriot, the Rev. Peter Tranberg, as pastor of Gloria Dei Church.
Plis ministry, though of only four years’ duration, left a deep impression not only on his own people but on his English and German neighbors. Whereas most of the Swedish pastors regarded themselves as merely sojourning in America, Dylander identified himself with the country by marrying a daughter of the merchant, Peter Koch (Kock, Cook).
He often delivered as many as sixteen sermons a week. In his own church, for more than a year, it was his practise to have a service at 8 a. m. in German, the main service in Swedish, and vespers in English. It was the fashion for couples to come to Gloria Dei Church to be married by him; one English clergyman, alarmed by the inroads thus made in his perquisites, complained vainly to the governor to have the practise stopped. Peter Kalm, the famous Swedish naturalist, records that he found Dylander everywhere beloved.
In 1741 Benjamin Franklin published a tract for him entitled Free Grace in Truth: The XXIVth Meditation of Dr. John Gerhard Translated from Latin into English, with Notes for the Better Understanding of the Author’s Meaning. On the authorization of the Upsala Consistory he and Tranberg arranged to ordain Malander on November 2, 1741, but on that very day Dylander died. He was buried under the chancel of his church.
Achievements
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He restored the discipline and finances of his congregation, catalogued the church library, which consisted of thirteen folio and thirty-three quarto volumes of substantial Lutheran theology and church history, and established a fund for the relief of the poor. Holding that his duty extended to all whom he had strength to serve, he ministered in their own language to the Germans at Philadelphia, Germantown, and Lancaster, and with astonishing rapidity learned to preach acceptably in English.
