Thorstein Hartvig Haugen Thoreson (1885-1956)

From the Bismarck Tribune, September 23, 1933.

  An important name in North Dakota politics in the first half of the 20th century, the plentifully named Thorstein Hartvig Haugen Thoresen was a native of Norway who, following immigration to the United States, found distinction through public service in his adopted state of North Dakota. A former state's attorney, state tax commissioner, and candidate for attorney general and governor, Thoresen would serve one term as Lieutenant Governor and for four years was the mayor of Grand Forks. In the twilight of his career, Thoreson re-emerged on the political stage, announcing his candidacy for U.S. Senator from North Dakota in the 1950 Republican primary.

  While largely consigned to history's dustbin in the decades since his death, Thoresen's political career extended over four decades and was frequently featured in editions of the Bismarck Tribune, amongst other state newspapers. His life began in humble circumstances in Horten, Vestfold, Norway on December 9, 1885, one of nine children born to Thor Henrik (1843-1894) and Maren (Pedersdotter) Thoresen (1841-1904). He removed to the United States with his family while still a child and settled in Stoney Creek township in Grant County, Minnesota. His early education was obtained at St. Olaf's Academy in Northfield, Minnesota. He graduated in 1909, and in the following year relocated to Dunn County, North Dakota, where he farmed and taught school for a time. 

  Wanting to pursue a career in law, Thoresen enrolled at the University of North Dakota Law School in 1911. He continued there until the death of a brother necessitated his leaving school, and afterward took over management of his brother's farm in Ottertail County. He reentered the University of North Dakota in 1914 and graduated in the class of 1916. Thoresen had earlier married in Grant County, Minnesota on July 31, 1912, to Inga Mendine Vigen (1888-1951), to who he was wed for nearly forty years. The couple's union produced seven children, Cynthia Miranda (1913-1999), Theresa (born ca. 1915), Hans Vigen (1916-1979), Aurelia Mendine (1918-2003), Valborg A. (1922-2007), Thordis (1923-2012), and Shirley Lamoine (1924-1989). 

  Establishing his law practice in Dunn County, Thoresen quickly became active in the affairs of his community, being a member of the board of education and a trustee of the Normanna Lutheran Church. In 1916 he helped to found a 16 piece band in Dunn Center, of which he served as president. In the year following he was elected as treasurer of the Dunn County Bar Association, and in 1918 made his first move into politics when he announced his candidacy for state's attorney for Dunn County. He was elected that November and served two terms, 1919-1923.

From the Bismarck Tribune, February 26, 1925.

  By 1924 Thoreson had aspired to higher office, and at the Nonpartisan League convention held that February he received the nomination for state attorney general. Like other league candidates that year, Thoresen took to the campaign trail, giving addresses throughout the state touting the party's platform. On May 21, 1924, he delivered what was called the Nonpartisan League keynote address at McClusky, North Dakota, declaring "Let us clean our government of graft and corruption." In an address chronicled in the Bismarck Tribune, Thoresen further related that:

"Come join us in our fight for Democracy...Let businessmen, laborers, farmers and professional men join hands in this fight. It is a fight where all good citizens belong. Let us put this program over and demonstrate once and for all that we are going to rid ourselves of the shackles of industrial slavery which is sinking down thousands, yes millions, of good Americans every year."

  Throughout the year Thoresen continued to address large crowds, including a joint address with U.S. Senator Lynn Frazier at the Bismarck Auditorium that June. Opposing Thoreson that year was Republican nominee George Shafer (1888-1948), a former state's attorney for McKenzie County. On November 4 it was Shafer who emerged the winner, besting Thoreson by a vote of 95,638 to 70,022. Despite his defeat, Thoresen's name was later bolstered for state tax commissioner in the early part of 1925, and after being offered the post by Governor Arthur Sorlie, accepted.

From the Bismarck Tribune, July 1, 1929.

  Following conformation, Thoreson threw himself into his duties, and his four-year tenure in that post saw him acknowledged as "an indefatigable worker for the interests of the state." Thoresen and his staff were responsible for "the assessment of all state property, the collection of the state income tax and the state inheritance tax, in addition to the state, county, and local taxes." Upon his retirement from office in 1929, Thoreson reflected on his tenure, remarking:

"The first task I met, and the first thing that I saw needed, was to arouse the people generally and the officials of the state to get equality of assessment. There must be equality between taxpayers...The people are beginning to realize there is such as thing as far treatment between individuals. My idea was, and still is, that all taxpayers must pay, and that they will pay more willingly if they know all are paying alike. The work of the tax commission has doubled since I took office, probably because we have been too willing to work."

  While still the incumbent commissioner in February 1928, Thoreson attended the Nonpartisan League state convention, where his name was put forward for governor. He quickly led in the vote count, and after the third round of balloting, won the party's endorsement. Early in his candidacy Thoresen gained a firm backer in another oddly named political figure, state treasurer Chessmur Arlen Fisher, who was profiled here in September 2019. As both were serving in state government at the same time, the men grew to be friends and following Thoresen's nomination Fisher accompanied him to a campaign banquet in Lunds Valley, where both were guests of honor. Thoresen also made his first address there since winning nomination two months prior. 

  In June 1928, Thoresen (again accompanied by Fisher) joined with then-Governor Arthur Sorlie in a massive rally held in Rice Lake. Attended by over 6,000 people, Thoresen and Fisher spoke on "reviewing the state industries", and were both endorsed by Governor Sorlie, a fellow Nonpartisan League politician. Thoresen's gubernatorial opponent in that year's primary was George Shafer, the same man who had bested him four years previously for attorney general. Both candidates continued to stump the state through the next few weeks and on election day (June 27) it was Shafer who again won out, polling 9,000 more votes than Thoreson. Shafer went on to win the governorship in the general election and won a second term in 1930.

A Thoresen for Governor advertisement from the Bismarck Tribune, June 21, 1928.

   After Shafer was elected governor, Thoresen continued with his duties as state tax commissioner until his resignation in July 1929. He was succeeded by Shafer-appointee Iver Acker, and following his resignation continued residence in Bismarck, where he practiced law. In 1930 he and his family removed to Grand Forks, and in that year was briefly considered as a gubernatorial candidate, but withdrew his name from nomination during the February Nonpartisan League (NPL) convention. 

  Although not an elected official, Thoresen remained active in the affairs of the NPL, and in a June 1930 party address assailed the Shafer administration's handling of state finances. In 1932 Thoresen again announced a gubernatorial bid, beginning his candidacy that February in Grand Forks. Taking the Shafer administration and the legislature to task over wasteful spending, Thoresen remarked that "through legislation, the masses have been taxed for the benefit of the few and this brought on the depression." Unlike his 1928 candidacy, Thoresen's campaign didn't extend past March, when the NPL nominating convention chose William Langer as its gubernatorial nominee. Langer subsequently won the governorship that November.

  Not one to let a loss get the best of him, Thoresen launched a fourth gubernatorial bid in 1934. With William Langer in the hot seat due to alleged illegal campaign contributions, the camp of anti-Langer NPL delegates formally endorsed Thoreson for governor that March. He would hit the campaign trail once again in preparation for the June primary, and on election day lost out to Langer in a very lopsided contest, polling 47,380 votes to Langer's 113,027. Langer was subsequently removed from office a few weeks later by an act of the state supreme court, this extending from the financial impropriety that had dogged him throughout the campaign.

The Thoresen family, from the 1934 Bismarck Tribune.

    Thorstein H.H. Thoresen's political fortunes improved with his 1936 candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota. That March he received the NPL endorsement for the nomination and that June won the primary. In November, Thoresen emerged the victor, beating Democratic nominee P.H. Costello by over 11,000 votes. Thoresen served from 1937-39 under Governor William Langer, who had been returned to the governor's chair in 1936, having been acquitted of the charges against him.

  Thoresen's political career continued on the upswing after his term as lieutenant governor concluded. Having returned to his law practice in Grand Forks, he successfully ran for mayor of that city in April 1940, defeating Democrat Ralph Lynch by a margin of 432 votes. His mayoralty extended until 1944, and during term served as both vice president (1942) and president (1943) of the Grand Forks County Bar Association. 

  In 1950 Thoresen made a final attempt at elective office when he entered the Republican primary race for U.S. Senator from North Dakota. Hoping to oust one-term incumbent Milton R. Young (1897-1983), Thoresen was dealt a 58,653 vote loss margin in the June primary. Young would go to win in the general election and was returned to the senate on four more occasions, retiring in 1981 after three decades of service.

  Following his senatorial defeat, Thoreson removed back to Bismarck and in 1951 suffered the death of his wife of nearly 40 years, Inga. He would remarry the following year to Elizabeth B. Earl, a native of Minneapolis. Thoresen continued prominence in his region during the final years of his life, being a member of the legislative department in the Office of Price Stabilization (1951-52), and in 1952 was appointed as an assistant attorney general for North Dakota. He continued residence in Bismarck until his death at a city hospital on April 16, 1956, at age 70. He was survived by his second wife and all of his children and was interred at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Grand Forks.

From the Bismarck Tribune, April 17, 1956.

Tollef Jorgenson Flamer (1854-1929)

Portrait from the North Dakota Magazine, Vol. I. February 1907.

  One term North Dakota representative Tollef Jorgenson Flamer is another new odd name found via a recent cull through that state's legislative annals, and I was extremely surprised to have found a picture of him in a February 1907 edition of the North Dakota Magazine (where his name is misspelled as "I.J. Flamer"). While his name may have been misspelled, mention of his being a hotel owner and native of Norway confirmed his identity, and a further biography of him (via W.B. Hennessy's 1910 History of North Dakota) detailed his first name and legislative service.

  Born in Norway on April 16, 1854, Tollef Jorgenson Flamer was the son of Jorgen and Agatha (name also given as Anna) Flamer. His early education occurred in the country of his birth and in 1872 left Norway for a new life in the United States. Following the boat trip to America, Flamer migrated to Red Wing, Minnesota, where he engaged in farming through the late 1870s. In 1880 he removed to North Dakota, and after settling in Fargo farmed and worked as a grain buyer in the employ of the Pillsbury and Hulbert Elevator Co. Flamer later purchased additional farmland near Moorhead in Clay County, which he would "farm at long range" for a number of years afterward.

  In 1883 Flamer entered the business life of Fargo when he erected what would become known as the "Flamer House." Originally constructed as a store, Flamer and his family would move into the establishment following the original client's abandonment and soon began work on adding a restaurant and boarding house to the existing structure. The hotel later added a west wing and early in its existence was utilized by Fargo physicians "for surgical procedures" in the years prior to the construction of Fargo hospitals. The Flamer House continued as a cafe and boarding house until its destruction in 1959, being torn down during an urban renewal project.

   Tollef J. Flamer married in 1884 to Olina "Lena" Erickson (1859-1947), with whom he had five children, Augusta Bertine (1884-1904), Henry (1883-1908), Pearl (1888-1983) George (1890-1966) and Erma (born ca. 1904). In addition to his hotel business, Flamer was remarked as having had 

 "A number of other interests which take a good deal of his time, and has not only built up a snug fortune, but also a long list of friends.

    As an avowed non-office holder, Flamer repeatedly cast aside calls for him to run for political office and continued along this route until 1906, when "public sentiment practically compelled his acceptance of the nomination for the lower house in the state legislature." In November of that year, he was elected as one of three Republican representatives from the 9th legislative district and during the 1907-09 session sat on the committees on Charitable Institutions, Immigration, Labor, Public Debt, and Corporations Other Than Municipal.
  The remainder of Flamer's life following his legislative service remains a mystery, other than his continued affiliation with the aforementioned Flamer House. He died in Cass County on August 28, 1929, aged 75 and was survived by his wife Lena, who died in 1947. Both were interred at the Riverside Cemetery in Fargo. 

Gauthe Emil Qvale (1860-1951)

From the Minnesota Bar Journal Vol. 5, 1897.

   Gauthe Emil Qvale was a native of Norway who, following his immigration to Minnesota in the late 1870s, became a prominent lawyer and jurist in the American Midwest. As district court judge for Minnesota's Twelfth judicial district, Qvale served nearly five decades on the bench, and at the time of his retirement in 1946 was acknowledged as the longest-tenured jurist in the state of Minnesota.

  Born near Haugesund, Norway on September 24, 1860, Gauthe Emil Qvale attended school in the country of his birth and in 1878 removed to the United States with his family. Settling in the town of Willmar, Minnesota, Qvale began the study of law in 1880 under local attorney John Arctander. Admitted to the Minnesota Bar in 1882, Qvale began the practice of his profession in Willmar, operating a partnership with John Arctander until 1884. In that year Qvale was elected as Judge of Probate for Kandiyohi County, an office which he would hold for six years.

  At the end of his term as Judge of Probate Qvale continued his rise in local politics, winning election as Kandiyohi County Attorney. He served in that post until 1894 and afterward returned to private practice. In 1897 Qvale was appointed as judge for Minnesota's  Twelfth judicial district and in the year following won a term of his own, running unopposed during that election year.  He continued to serve on the bench for a record 49 years, and at the time of his retirement in 1946 was remarked as being the longest-tenured jurist in Minnesota history.

  Despite serving nearly half a century as a district judge, little information could be located on Qvale's life. He lived his remaining years in retirement in Willmar and died at age 90 on January 31, 1951. A burial location for Qvale is unknown at this time but is presumed to be somewhere in the Kandiyohi County vicinity. 

Judge Qvale in his later years.

Thrond Torsteinsen Morken (1852-1932)

Portrait courtesy of the Minnesota Digital Library.

   Two-term Minnesota state representative Thrond Torsteinsen Morken joins a shortlist of oddly named Norwegian natives who've had a profile posted here, the last of whom, Marthinus F. Hegge, being featured back in December. A probate judge before his legislative service, Morken had previously served as County Commissioner for Polk County, Minnesota in the early 1900s. The son of Torsten and Carrie Lunde Morken, Thrond T. Morken was born in Norway on July 8, 1852. One should note that Morken's middle name has two variations in spelling in addition to the one given here, including Torstensson and Torstenson.

    Little is known of his early life in his native country, except that he was "educated in the common schools" of Norway. In 1874 Morken immigrated to the United States, settling in Goodhue County, Minnesota, where he would engage in farming. He would also farm in Nelson County, North Dakota for a period of about ten years and in 1883 married Bertha Karene Strandsness (1859-1947), later having one son, Thorsten (1888-1971).

   Morken continued to reside and farm in North Dakota until 1892, when he moved back to Minnesota, settling in Polk County. Eight years after his resettlement Morken was elected as a member of the Polk County Board of Commissioners, subsequently holding that post from 1901-1905. Two years after leaving that office he was appointed as Judge of Probate for Polk County, and would later be elected to a term of his own, serving a total of seven years on the bench (1906-1913). Towards the end of his term as probate judge, Morken was elected as one of Polk County's representatives to the Minnesota state legislature in November 1912, taking his seat at the beginning of the January 1913 term.

   Morken's first term as a state representative saw him serve on the committees on Claims, Labor and Labor Legislation, State Hospitals, Telephone and Telegraph, Temperance Legislation, Workmen's Compensation and was chairman of the committee on Logs and Lumber. As a candidate for reelection in 1914, Morken faced off against John Clementsen, and on election day triumphed in the vote count, garnering 2,597 votes to his opponent's 2,096. During the 1915-17 term Morken held seats on the house committees on Claims, Elections, Forestry, Labor and Labor Legislation, Reapportionment, State Normal Schools, and Workmen's Compensation, and is also recorded as having supported the " county option and all temperance laws, equal suffrage, repeal of the Elwell law and semi-monthly pay day."

   Little else could be found on Morken's life after leaving the legislature. He died a week after his 80th birthday on July 15, 1932, at his home in Crookston and was later buried at the Oakdale Cemetery in that town. Morken's wife Bertha was also interred here following her death in 1947. 

Morken's legislative portrait from 1915-16.

Gullick Nelson Risjord (1866-1951)

From the Madison Capital Times, August 30, 1951.

    The state of Wisconsin received passing mention in the December 2nd profile of oddly named Iowa jurist Zala A. Church, a Badger State native who lived the first two decades of his life there. In keeping with the recent theme of unusually named jurists, "America's Dairyland" has also produced its fair share of interestingly named judicial figures, including the gentleman pictured above, Gullick Nelson Risjord. A native of Norway, Risjord migrated to the United States in the mid-1880s to seek a new life. After equal periods of hard work and law study, he became a circuit court judge for Wisconsin and would serve nearly four decades on the bench.

   The son of Nels and Sonnef Pollag Risjord, Gullick N. Risjord was the second born son in a family of five children, his place of birth being Tinn, Telemarken, Norway on December 4, 1866. Telemarken is also notable for having been the birthplace of Drengman O. Aker, an Iowa State representative who was profiled here a few weeks ago. Risjord received his primary schooling in Norway and after attaining his eighteenth birthday left his home country to face an uncertain future in the United States. 

   Arriving in America in 1884, Risjord is recorded by Wisconsin, Its Story and Biography as settling in Dane County and is later noted as having "worked in the fields in the Red River valley." He recommenced with his education at the Blackearth High School and the Northwestern Business College in Madison. He continued to build on his education by enrolling at the University of Wisconsin and graduated in the class of 1897. Shortly thereafter he embarked upon the study of law at the University of Minnesota and was a graduate of that university's law school in the class of 1900.

   After receiving his law degree Risjord moved to Ashland, Wisconsin, and joined the law firm of Tomkins and Merrill for a short period and later operated another practice with attorney M.E. Merrill. Gullick Risjord married in Ashland to Josephine Quammen (1877-1925) in June 1904 and later had three children, Norman Edmond (1906-1980), Marion Gertrude (died in infancy in 1909), and Isabelle Josephine (1910-1983). Gullick and Josephine Quammen Risjord were married for eighteen years until Josephine's death at age 48 in 1922. Nine years following her death Risjord remarried in Gogebic, Michigan in November 1931 to Emma Torbol (ca. 1893-1952), who survived Risjord upon his death in 1951.

   In 1911 Gullick Risjord was elected as a circuit court judge for Wisconsin's 15th district, which comprised the counties of Bayfield, Ashland,  Iron, Price, and Taylor. Assuming his judicial duties on January 1, 1912, Risjord logged an impressive 39 years of service on the bench, and during this lengthy tenure served as chairman of the Wisconsin State Board of Circuit Judges in 1933. Risjord also presided over several trials of varying note during his time on the bench, including the 1938 trial of Thomas Duncan, an executive secretary to Wisconsin Governor Robert LaFollette Jr. who had been arrested in March 1938 in connection with the death of Henry F. Schuette, a West Allis, Wisconsin businessman who had been killed when Duncan's car struck him on the night of March 9th. Facts about the case denote that Duncan was (according to police and physicians) drunk at the time of the accident, and after a seven-day trial was found guilty of fourth-degree manslaughter by Judge Risjord and subsequently sentenced to serve "not less than one year nor more than two years in the house of correction."

From the Madison Wisconsin State Journal, August 31, 1951.

    Although advancing in years Gullick Risjord continued to sit on the bench well into his eighties and is noted as having been "opposed for reelection only twice" during his nearly four-decade tenure as a judge. At the time of his death on August 30, 1951, Risjord was the oldest and longest-serving judge in the state His Madison Capital Times obituary remarked that he had been at his office a day before his death, and after a funeral service at the Ashland First Presbyterian Church was laid to rest at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Ashland County.

From the Madison Capital Times, August 31, 1951.

Drengman Olsen Aaker (1839-1894)

Portrait from the Iowa State Legislature Historical database.

    Born of humble origins in a small village in Norway, Drengman Olsen Aaker migrated to the United States with his family when still a child and upon reaching manhood became a highly regarded figure in Winneshiek County, Iowa, where he was a lumberman and creamery operator. Aaker was later honored by his adopted state by being elected to two terms in the Iowa State House of Representatives in the early 1880s.

    One of several children born to Ole Drengmansen and Aslaug Gunleiksdatter Moen Aaker, Drengman O. Aaker was born in Hjartdahl, Telemarken, Norway on September 29, 1839, and in 1848 immigrated to the United States with his family via the ship "Lolland". A genealogical website denoting the history of the Aaker family notes that the "Lolland" reached New York in August of 1848 and Drengman and his family later settled in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. The family resided here until around 1854, whereafter they removed to Iowa, settling near the town of Burr Oak Springs. 

   Despite being a recent transplant to the United States, Drengman Aaker proved that his patriotism ran high, and in 1862 enlisted in Co. G. of the 12th Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He served throughout the Civil War's duration and was mustered out of service in 1866. Following his return home Aaker moved to the town of Ridgeway in Winneshiek County and married in 1869 to Christina Andersdatter Turvold (1849-1922). Aaker and his wife later became the parents of four children, Lena (1870-1944), John Theodore (1873-1947), Adolph Oscar (born 1878), and Casper Drengman (1883-1960).

   In the years following his marriage, Drengman Aaker grew to become a successful business figure in Winneshiek County, being the operator of a lumber yard. Later he was a member of the mercantile firm of Galby and Aaker, dealing in grain throughout the 1870s. In the latter part of that decade, Aaker sold his lumber yard and became the owner of the Ridgeway Creamery, which later burned to the ground in March 1884. 

   Active in Winneshiek County political affairs, Aaker served in several local public offices prior to his election to the Iowa Legislature. He had earlier been an unsuccessful candidate for clerk of the Winneshiek County court in 1880, being defeated by Myron Hardin. In November 1881 Aaker was elected to the State House of Representatives as a Democrat and after taking his seat in the new year was named to the house committees on Constitutional Amendments, Elections, Railroads, the Asylum for the Insane, and the Soldier's and Orphan's Home.

                                                                    From the 1884 Iowa Legislative Roster.

    Aaker was reelected to the house in November 1883 and during his second term sat on the committees on Schools, State University, Engrossed Bills, and the Soldiers and Orphans Home. In the 1885 election year, Aaker ran for a seat in the Iowa Senate but was defeated by Republican Theodore Weld Burdick (1836-1898). During the latter period of his life Aaker's business as a grain merchant encountered financial trouble due to a "wheat blight", and his death notice in the 1894 Reunion of the Twelfth Iowa V.V. Infantry notes that "from this Mr. A. never recovered."  Suffering from ill health and a "broken down constitution" Drengman Aker died at his home in Ridgeway, Iowa on March 30, 1894, at age 54 and was later memorialized in his obituary as being

"Socially and personally always genial; more than usually intelligent, "D.O" was always popular before the people. He had his faults, as all have. His antagonisms were all political, not personal; and the grave covers them all with a mantle of love and oblivion. Peace to his ashes."

  Following his passing a lengthy funeral possession consisting of "nearly 100 teams" carried Aaker from his home to his burial site at the Lincoln Cemetery in Ridgeway. He was survived by his wife Christina and all four of his children. Caspar Drengman followed in his father's stead and went on to become prominent in his own right, being a lawyer and delegate to the 1940 Republican National Convention from North Dakota.