WI BIO - Dane Co - OLSON, Julius Emil
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol I, pp 184-186

Professor Julius Emil OLSON was born in Cambridge, Dane County, Wisconsin, 09 
November 1858. His parents are Norwegians, who came to Cambridge on 12 
August 1852. His father, Hans OLSON, was born on a farm in the parish of 
Norby [Nordby?], a few miles south of Christiania [renamed Oslo; Oslo fylke], 
Norway, on 20 March 1817. Both of the latter's parents were born in the same 
parish. During his youth the father worked on a farm and at intervals 
learned the shoemakers' trade, in which he perfected himself in Christiania. 
On 03 November he married Karen Mikkelsdatter FJELD, who was born 02 February 
1816, in the East Linni annex of the parish land, near the head of the Rauds 
Fjord, about 100 miles northwest of Christiania [now Oslo]. Her father was a 
country tailor. When about eighteen years of age she went to Christiania to 
serve, where she found a pleasant and comfortable home with the widow of a 
university professor, Madam STEENERSEN. This lady spent her summers on a 
large estate (Orager) near the city, which had once belonged to the famous 
Count Wedel JARLSBERG. This estate was worked by Professor [Julius Emil] 
OLSON's grandfather, and it was here that his parents first met. On this 
estate they lived the first two and a half years of their married life. 
After this they lived on various farms in the vicinity of Christiania, until 
the spring of 1852, when they sold their small stock of cattle and household 
goods and prepared to emigrate to America, the land of promise, whither 
thousands of their countrymen had gone before. They had six children and the 
undertaking was no small one. They left Christiania about 10 May [1852], on 
a sailing vessel, landing in Quebec after a voyage of fifty-three days. From 
Quebec they proceeded to Milwaukee, where they engaged a team and wagon to 
take them to Cambridge [Dane County, WI], at which place the father soon 
obtained work as a shoemaker. He was an excellent workman and in the course 
of a few months began business for [p 185] himself. He was very successful, 
but in 1874 he was forced to give up his work on account of ill health. At 
this time his ten children were all able to provide for themselves. In 1881 
his health was completely restored and he is now [1892] enjoying the fruits 
of his days of toil.

On 05 October Professor [Julius Emil] OLSON's parents celebrated their golden 
wedding, on which occasion the ten children were present. Professor OLSON 
has eight sisters and one brother, whose names are as follows: (1) Mina, 
the widow of John HANSON, still resides in Cambridge [WI]; (2) Olina, the 
wife of Sever RASMUSSON, of Stoughton [Dane County], WI; (3) Cecilia, the 
wife of Rev. M. F. WIESE, of Utica [probably Dane, but could be Waukesha 
County], WI; (4) Bertha Karina, the wife of Professor Rasmus B. ANDERSON, of 
Madison [Dane County], WI; (5) Herman V., of Rushford [Fillmore County], MN; 
(6) Annette, the wife of Rev. E. P. JENSEN, of Spring Grove [Houston 
County], MN; (7) Mary, the wife of Rev. Abel ANDERSON, of Montevideo 
[Chippewa County], MN; (8) Clara, the wife of Dr. Albert C. AMUNDSON, of 
Cambridge [Dane County], WI; and (9) Tilla Josephine, who lives at home with 
her parents.

Before his fourteenth year Professor [Julius Emil] OLSON attended school 
regularly, working on a farm during the harvest season. During the summer of 
1872 he worked in the drug store of Mr. Thomas C. SLAGG, of Cambridge [Dane 
County, WI]. The following fall and winter was spent at the village school, 
and in preparing for his confirmation in the Norwegian Lutheran Church, which 
took place 22 May 1873.

Professor [Julius Emil] OLSON's father had given him all the advantages that 
the public and private schools of Cambridge [Dane County, WI] offered, but he 
could not afford to give him a college education, and so the young man 
started out to make his own way through college, having been encouraged to do 
so by his brother-in-law, Professor [Rasmus B.] ANDERSON, who was at that 
time an instructor in the University of WI [at Madison]. But some funds were 
necessary, and so he left home in August 1873, having obtained a situation in 
the general store of Isham & Hale, of Stoughton, WI, where he spent ten 
months, saving about $100 of his earnings. On 07 September 1874, he entered 
the Madison High School, where he continued until 08 November 1875, when he 
began teaching a district school near Madison. He spent the following spring 
term at the high school, and in the fall term of 1876 he was admitted to the 
second year of the preparatory department of the University of WI. Five 
months of this school year were spent teaching in the country, during which 
time he also kept up his university studies.

In the fall of 1877 he [Julius Emil OLSON] entered the Freshman class, modern 
classical course, of the same institution. After having completed his 
Freshman year he was principal of the school of his native village for three 
years, at the end of which time he returned to the University and graduated 
with honors in 1884. During his senior year, after the resignation of 
Professor Rasmus B. ANDERSON, he taught a class in Old Norse. The same year 
he studied Old Norse with a native Icelandic scholar. While a student in the 
high school and in the university, Professor [Julius Emil] OLSON lived with 
Professor [Rasmus B.] ANDERSON, enjoying the advantages of his excellent 
Scandinavian library and the literary atmosphere of his home. Here he had 
learned to love Scandinavian literature, and while in college he lost no 
opportunity to speak to his fellow students on Scandinavian subjects. In 
June 1884, upon the recommendation of President John BASCOM, he was appointed 
instructor in the Scandinavian languages and German. In 1887 he was made 
assistant professor, and in June 1892 the Board of Regents elected him 
professor [p 186] of Scandinavian languages and literature. For his 
profession as a teacher Mr. [Julius Emil] OLSON is peculiarly well equipped. 
He possesses a thorough knowledge of his subject and presents it to his 
students with enthusiasm and clearness. His zeal is inspiring and he also 
has the faculty of giving all necessary attention to details. His own 
devotion and industry begets a similar spirit among his students. From the 
very outset he took rank as one of the successful teachers in the university.

Professor [Julius Emil] OLSON has also done a great deal of valuable literary 
work, particularly in his chosen field of Scandinavian literature. Besides a 
number of valuable original essays, written for the press and for literary 
societies, he is known throughout the country for his excellent translation 
of Lauridsen's History of Vitus BERING and his great geographical expedition, 
a book which has already taken rank as the standard work on the discoverer of 
the Bering Strait.

As a speaker and lecturer, Professor [Julius Emil] OLSON is clear, 
entertaining, instructive and forcible. In his university extension lectures 
he has discussed early Scandinavian subjects and given particular attention 
to the question of the original home of the Aryan race, showing by an array 
of scientific arguments that it must be looked for on the shores of the 
Baltic, rather than in Asia. His lectures in Milwaukee during the winter of 
1891-1892 were especially successful. His orations on the 04 July and 17 May 
[17 May or "Syttende Mai," is Norwegian Independence Day] are brilliant and 
he speaks with equal fluency in English and in Norse. As a teacher, writer 
and speaker he has already achieved a reputation of which older men ought to 
be proud.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly