Severt Johan Fretheim was born November 5, 1876 at Hayward, Minnesota. He graduated from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, in 1907 and from Luther Seminar in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1910. From 1910 to 1919 he served as pastor to a Lutheran parish in Plentywood, Montana, where he organized fifteen congregations in Montana, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan. He was an ardent supporter of the Prohibition movement and served as chair of the Anti-Saloon and Public Welfare League of Sheridan County; he wrote frequently on this issue for local and national Lutheran publications. He divided them into three parishes and continued to serve the central parish. From 1919 to 1947, he served parishes in Scarville, Iowa. After his retirement from the regular parish ministry in 1948, he was interim pastor to a congregation in Hayward, Minnesota and served another parish in Albert Lea, Minnesota. He authored a book about his time in Montana, A little reminder of the pioneer days of the Lutheran church in the Plentywood Parish, Montana , which was published by the Sheridan County News Print in 1919.
He married Christine Wangsness; she died in 1926. His second wife was Tena Wangsness, Christine's sister. He had no children with either. He died in 1953 at Albert Lea, Minnesota, at the age of 77.
From the guide to the Severt J. Fretheim Papers, 1905-1954, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)
