Manda

Manda

(Severin)

Biographies Alf. L. Scott and T. J. Westerberg

Manda is one of our younger communities in Travis County, between New Sweden and Elgin, with Lund to the north and Kimbro to the south. The land is rich and the Swedes are prosperous. Cultivation and settlement in this area happened around the same time as the Lund community was established. Clearing of the land was difficult. Clumps of cactus and mesquite-bushes grew in abundance in this fertile land, and the rattlesnakes that had been driven from the neighboring communities had settled here. The first Swedes moved here at the end of the 1880’s. Among the first were J. V. Morell, 1885, John Sanden and Aron Johnson, 1887, Otto Bengtson, 1888. Most of them arrived during the following ten years and at the beginning of the 1900’s. Victor Morell built a cotton-gin in 1886 and soon thereafter a blacksmith’s shop was built. A variety store was started by Otto Bengtson around 1893. He owned and ran it for many years. The post-office was established jointly with the store and was named Manda after Mr. Bengtson’s sister. Miss Manda Bengtson, and the community has also adopted this name. The beautiful church property, the church and the parsonage belongs to the Swedish Methodist Church. Just west of the church is the Lutheran Chapel, an annex to the New Sweden Congregation.

Extracted from: Swedes In Texas In Words and Pictures,

English Translation, 1838 - 1918