author, newspaperman, politician, b. Gausdal, Norway. He migrated to the U.S. with his family in 1868 and settled in Waupaca County. Often called the "father of Norwegian American literature," his writings in Norwegian included novels, stories, and plays, which especially portrayed the lives of immigrants in Wisconsin and criticized the immigrants' longing for the homeland. He also wrote temperance stories, poems, and a history of the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He published the Stoughton Wisconsin Normannen (1894), and after moving it to Madison (1895), issued the paper as the Normanden (1895-1896). A Republican, he held local political offices in Waupaca County and was state assemblyman (1909-1910). Norwegian-Amer. Studies (Northfield, Minn., 1941), 12:128-143; Wis. Blue Book (1909).

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[Source: Blue book]