Casper Kristianson was born December 29, 1886 in Mandal, Norway to parents Christian and Olena Christianson. He attended the Mandal Middle School, finishing in 1902. He then went to work in a fabric shop in Kristiansand, where he met Mathilda Olson. For a time he worked as a seaman, perhaps influenced by Mathilda’s sea captain father. In 1907 he emigrated to the United States. Because he had been told that his name would be confusing in America, he changed his surname to “Skinsnes”. That same year he began studies at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, where he remained until 1909, when he entered United Church Seminary for one year. He studied for his M.D. degree at Loyola University, completing his work for his M.C. degree. The next year (1915) he finished an internship at Deaconess Hospital , Chicago, was ordained (he felt that it was important that he be able to baptize babies in China), married Mathilda Olson, and left for China with his bride. Some time later he did postgraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine.
Mathilda Fredrikke Olson was born February 14, 1887 in Kristiansand, Norway to F.A. and Yanna Olson. Since her father was a sea captain, she and her four younger siblings together with their mother would accompany her father out to sea. Being the oldest child, she had to help care for the younger ones at sea as on land. She attended Kristiansand Technical School from 1900 to 1902 and the Kristiansand Commercial School in 1903. She then found employment in the local fabric shop, where she met Casper. Before Casper left Norway, they became engaged. In 1912 Mathilda emigrated to the United States and took training for nurses and pharmacists at Deaconess Hospital, Chicago, completing her studies in 1915. That same year she was married to Casper, after which they made a trip back to their families in Norway, staying several months. They returned to the United States and boarded a ship to cross the Pacific Ocean. A lifetime of missionary service in China lay before them.
During their first year in China, they lived on Jigongshan (formerly Kikungshan) or Rooster Mountain where they immersed themselves in language study. On their first wedding anniversary Mathilda gave birth to their first child, who unfortunately died in childbirth. Later they had three more children, Olaf, Phoebe and Ruth.
The Skinsneses’ first assignment was to the mission station in Xinyang at a time when some of Xinyang’s gentry had requested the missionaries to build a hospital. Negotiations had just begun, and resulted in an agreement that the city would be responsible for building and managing the hospital if the westerners supplied the necessary personnel. It was also agreed that Christian chaplains would have full freedom to preach and minister to those patients who would welcome them. This arrangement was an unusual example of cooperation between a Christian mission and the local community and government. Plans were made and the building begun. But not until 1923 would the building be completed and Dr. Skinsnes assigned to serve in this hospital.
In 1919 Dr. Skinsnes was stationed at the hospital in Guangzhou (Kwangchow), where he found that there were few patients, poor equipement, and a lack of money to purchase supplies. Before long, the volume of work greatly increased. The mission then provided the means for the erection and maintenance of a hospital. In the spring of 1922 a splendid dispensary building was completed and the foundation laid for an eighty-bed hospital, but that year the Skinsnes family returned to America on furlough.
When they returned in 1923, they were assigned to the new South Henan Union Hospital in Xinyang, which was dedicated that year amid great festivities that lasted several days. The mission also assigned two nurses to this hospital, who shared the responsibility for the nursing as well as for the nurses’ training school.
Dr. Skinsnes soon became the most famous physician in Henan. In its first decade the hospital served a quarter million outpatients and twelve thousand inpatients. Until the hospital would become self-supporting the Henon Provincial Government provided a substantial monthly subsidy.
Time and again, large numbers of wounded soldiers were laid at the doors of the hospital and were treated, but at great financial loss. In 1926, when Xinyang was besieged for forty-nine days and the roof and windows of the building were peppered with flying bullets, one hundred patients were cared for in the hospital and up to one thousand a day served with dressings in the dispensary. Skinsnes in a later report stated that it was largely because the hospital volunteered to care for all the wounded soldiers in the city that the siege was brought to an end.
It was perhaps during this siege that Skinsnes at one time found himself outside the city wall with the gates locked. When entry seemed impossible, amid the flying bullets he was hoisted in a basket up the city wall and to safety.
In 1927, the turmoil brought on by the political situation made it necessary for all foreigners, including Dr. Skinsnes and his family, to leave. But in 1928, the Hospital Board requested that Dr. Skinsnes return, with two nurses assigned to work with him. Slowly he was able to bring order out of chaos and the medical and evangelistic work revived. A Dr. Kan worked with him and in the pharmacy was a Mr. Fan. The nurses training school was also flourishing, with twenty-two young men and seven young women in training.
The pace he set for himself was challenging. He would be at his clinic by 7:00 in the morning to examine patients continuously until noon. Surgery would normally begin at 2:30 and would continue of as late as 10:00 at night. In addition to all these responsibilities, Dr. Skinsnes also treated the missionaries when needed and was the doctor serving the American School of Kikungshan.
In 1941, the Japanese bombing and the general chaos of war became too great a stress for Mathilda, so she returned to America in May. Casper remained for one more year without his family before leaving also. His departure was not acceptable to the Japanese, however; they fired at his train in their attempt to capture him and bring him back to be their physician.
After Pearl Harbor, when it was not possible to return to China, Doctor Skinsnes went to Tanzania to work for two years. Following World War II, both he and Mathilda returned to China, where they remained three years, until 1948. At that time, the civil war leading to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China necessitated a mass exodus of missionaries from the country.
On their return to the United States, Dr. Skinsnes practiced medicine in Danforth, Illinois.
As a medical missionary Skinsnes’ gift of the healing of bodies played an important part in the development of the Chinese Church. Pioneering in the field of missionary medical service, he became one of the most revered workers in Henan. The Chinese were profoundly impressed that here was a man who loved them, who was dedicated to serving China, who took no monetary gain and who insisted on justice in all transactions. In their gratitude Christians and non-Christians alike joined in providing the greater part of the expenses for his mission work.