Representative from Palo Alto county, was born in Florence township, Benton county, Iowa. He received his education in the "Mud Creek" rural school, north of Norway, including two short winter terms, one at Norway and one at Blairstown Academy. His father and mother emigrated from near Stavanger, Norway, Europe, before the Civil War. His father was a soldier in the War of the Rebellion, enlisting in the Twenty-fourth Iowa infantry, and later transferred to the One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois. He engaged in farming and stock raising on his father's farm until twenty years old, when he moved to Emmet county. Here he conducted a large farm and was extensively engaged in buying, feeding and shipping cattle and hogs. He has resided on a farm in Palo Alto county for the past five years. He was married to Minnie S. Holland of Newhall, Iowa, June 15, 1901, and has a family of seven children. He is the author of several addresses and lectures presented before stockmen's organizations and farmers' institutes. Elected Representative in 1906. A Republican in politics.