Åsle Parish was the birthplace of several of the Bredberg children in the 1860's: Carl Fredric, Augusta, Anna Sophia, and our own great-grandmother Mathilda in 1872. There can be little doubt that each in turn was baptized in the same old country church we visited in 1998. The neat, white kyrka at Åsle is, like so many others in the Swedish heartland, a living link to the past. Here in the churchyard are found gravestones carved with the image of Thor's hammer alongside Christian symbols, hearkening back to the days when pagan and Christian traditions coexisted. The original central part of the church goes back to the 1100's. The north and south arms of the cross-shaped structure were added about 1570.

The altar is flanked by primitive wood carvings of saints and cherubs; chalices and communion service date from the 1600's. The sculpted stone baptismal fount continues in use since medievel times. It is likely that our own Carl Frederic, Augusta, Anne, and Mathilda Bredberg were christened here before this very altar.