Ryden, Ernest E. (E. E.), 1886-1981.

Ernest Edwin (E.E.) Ryden was the son of Swedish immigrants who came to the United States in the wave of Swedish immigration that occurred in the late 19th century. August G. Ryden came to the United States in 1868 first working in a Minnesota timber camp and then settling near Savonburg, Kansas to try his hand at farming land formerly in the Osage Indian territory, but ceded to the United States government through a series of treaties. Ernest's mother, Emma S. Petterson Ryden, was the childhood sweetheart of August when they lived in Sweden's Småland province. After he immigrated to the United States, August wrote to Emma imploring her to come to America and marry him. She was fifteen when he first wrote asking her to marry him, but her parents would not consent to the marriage. In 1871, Emma, then eighteen, left her home for America with the final destination being Kansas, where she was met by August. She and August married January 15, 1872, in Humboldt, Kansas. The Rev. J.C. Armstrong, a traveling Methodist minister, officiated. The Rydens began building their life and starting their family on their farm near Savonburg. The family lived on the farm in Savonburg until 1881 when after battling malaria, drought, and infestations of grasshoppers, they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Mr. Ryden worked as a stone mason.

Ryden was the third of six surviving children born to August and Emma: a daughter Alma, born in 1874; the oldest son, George, born in 1884; Ernest (E.E.) in 1886; another son, Arthur in 1888; and a daughter Hilvy, in 1892. The Rydens were charter members of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Kansas City, Missouri. After graduating from high school, Ryden went to work as a police reporter for the Kansas City Star. He continued there until he enrolled in undergraduate studies in 1907 at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. While at Augustana he worked his way through school as a telegraph editor at the Moline Dispatch. Among the many activities in which he was involved, was participation in the Gladstone Debating Club, the Wennerberg Chorus, the Elsinore Dramatic Club, and the Aztec Tennis Club. He even played the bass drum in the Augustana band. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in 1910 and with a bachelor of divinity from the Augustana Theological Seminary in 1914. He was ordained into the ministry on June 14, 1914, in Sycamore, Illinois.

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