WI BIO - Dane Co - SEEMANN, Jacob
Biographical Review of Dane County, WI. Chicago: Biographical Review Pub. Co. 
1893, Vol II, p 628

Jacob SEEMAN, a prominent lawyer of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, was born 
in Laurvig [Larvik in Vesfold fylke?] on 13 June 1830, son of Johanna 
[Johannes?] H. and Karen (DOROTHEA) SEEMANN, the former a native of Hanover, 
Germany, and the latter of Norway. His father was an architect by trade, but 
the latter portion of his life he was engaged in the mercantile business. He 
went to Norway at the age of twenty-seven. He died in 1855. His wife is 
also deceased. They had ten children, Jacob being the second born. Some of 
the family are in America, and others still remain in Norway.

Jacob SEEMANN had excellent educational advantages in his youth, and has been 
a student all his life, being now able to converse in many languages. In 
1854 he came to America, and soon after his arrival at Buffalo [Erie County], 
New York, had an attack of cholera and came near dying. After his recovery 
he came to Wisconsin [in 1855], located at Port Washington [Ozaukee County, 
WI], and for one year was employed in the county clerk's office. He then 
came to Madison [Dane County, WI], and was made editor of the 
Norwegian-American paper, which position he occupied until the following 
fall. At that time he turned his attention to the work of translating the 
first historical report of Wisconsin from English to Norwegian, and after 
satisfactorily completing the same was given a place in the public school 
land office, where he worked from 1856 until 1860. In the fall of 1860 he 
became editor of a German paper, known as the "North Star." Next we find him 
employed on a Norwegian paper for a while, and afterward engaged in the real 
estate business. About this time he was made a notary public, and while 
acting as such began the study of law, prepared himself for its practice, and 
in 1883 was admitted to the bar of the Circuit Court of Madison, and also to 
the Supreme Court of Wisconsin that same year. In October 1883 he went to 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he remained until December 1885. He also 
became a member of the bar of that State. Returning to Madison in 1885, he 
has since engaged in the practice of his profession here, and in connection 
with his practice has also been loaning money for his friends and clients. 
He was for seven terms elected Justice of the Peace in the Third Ward of 
Madison. When Mr. BRALEY was Judge of the Municipal Court of Madison, [p 
629] he made Mr. SEEMANN his substitute on the bench whenever he was absent 
or ill, Mr. SEEMANN being the oldest justice of the peace in Madison.

Mr. SEEMANN was married in 1858, and had two children: Cora M., died in May 
1875; and Eleonore Kathinka is the wife of Ole NORSMAN. [See also the Dane 
County, Wisconsin, biography of Ole S. NORSMAN, in which Eleonore's middle 
name is spelled differently.] Politically Mr. SEEMANN has been a lifelong 
Republican; religiously, a Lutheran. His poems, in English, Norwegian, and 
German, are found in numerous magazines and periodicals. He is an expert 
violinist, and was a great friend of Ole BULL [his Dane County, Wisconsin, 
biography also available] during the lifetime of that noted musician.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly