Jacob Liv Borch SVERDRUP

Notes:

Jacob became an expert in land management and established the first agricultural school in Norway.

Birth:
På Laugen

Jacob married Jean Gundelle Birgitte SCHANCH on 19 Aug 1802. Jean was born on 1 Feb 1780 in Norway; died on 22 Dec 1820 in Jarlsberg Sems, Vestfold, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Peter married Agathe Ursula THURMANN on 27 Nov 1828 in Sem, Vestfold, Norway. Agathe (daughter of Lars Eriksen THURMANN and Agathe Aarsille BACKER) was born on 19 Jul 1811 in Hof, Vestfold, Norway; died on 21 Jun 1889 in Horten, Vestfold, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Hanne married Hans Plathe NILSEN on 10 Jun 1831 in Borre, Vestfold, Norway. Hans was born on 16 Feb 1803 in Borre, Vestfold, Norway; died on 7 May 1886 in Horten, Vestfold, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Livia married Anton Elias SMITT on 8 Feb 1834 in Sem, Vestfold, Norway. Anton was born on 1 Nov 1805 in Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway; died on 27 Oct 1875 in Voss, Hordaland, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Georg married Anna Cathrine THURMANN in 1836. Anna (daughter of Lars Eriksen THURMANN and Sophia Dorothea) was born on 14 Oct 1814 in Hof, Vestfold, Norway; died on 13 Jan 1894 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Edvard married Ida Gulbrandine Marie BØE on 12 Sep 1837 in Biri, Oppland, Norway. Ida was born on 12 Nov 1815 in Biri, Oppland, Norway; died on 2 Dec 1893 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Pastor

Notes:

In the 1865 census, Harald and his family (except Georg who is studying in Bergen) live on the Lunde farm in Balestrand. Harald’s occupation is Sognepræst Stortingsmd. The family has two servants living with them.

Member of Norway’s Parliament 1851-1873. He also was involved in many enterprises, from fruit growing to banking to shipping.

Birth:
Jarlsberg

Harald married Caroline Metella SUR on 4 Jul 1844. Caroline was born on 24 Jun 1816 in Slidre i Valdres, Oppland, Norway; died on 27 May 1903 in Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Lawyer, Norwegian Prime Minister

Notes:

Johan Sverdrup

Born: 30-Jul-1816
Birthplace: Jarlsberg, Norway
Died: 17-Feb-1892
Location of death: Oslo, Norway
Cause of death: unspecified
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Head of State
Nationality: Norway
Executive summary: Norwegian Prime Minister, 1884–89
Norwegian statesman, born at Jarlsberg on the 30th of July 1816. His father, Jakob Sverdrup, was a land steward, and the founder of the first school of agriculture in Norway. Johan entered the Storting in 1850, sitting first for Laurvik, and then for the district of Akershus, and was its president from 1871 to 1884, during the whole of the dispute over the prerogative of the Crown. He built up a strong political party, which, relying for support chiefly on the Norwegian peasantry, was determined to secure strict constitutional government and practically to destroy the power of the king. Under his leadership the opposition, in 1872, secured the passing of a bill for the admission of the ministers to the Storting, which was a step to the establishment of the dependence of the cabinet on a majority in that assembly. King Charles XV refused his sanction to this bill, and on its third passing in 1880 Oscar II opposed his veto, at the same time claiming his right to the absolute veto. Sverdrup then proposed the proclamation of the law in defiance of the king's action. The retirement of Frederik Stang removed Sverdrup's chief political opponent from the field. He was aided in his campaign by Björnstjerne Björnson, and after a series of political crises he became prime minister in June 1884. But when he became prime minister he soon found himself at issue with Björnson on church matters. Inspired chiefly by his nephew Johan he secured the refusal of a pension to the novelist Kielland because of his anti-clerical views, and he further wished to give the parish councils the right to strike off the voting list persons who had broken away from church discipline. Therefore, although during his term of office no fewer than eighty-nine measures, many of them involving useful reforms, became law, he failed to satisfy the extremists among his supporters, and was driven to rely on the moderate Liberals. He was compelled to retire in 1889, and died on the 17th of February 1892 at Christiania (now Oslo.)

Johan married Caroline Louise Gundelle SØRENSEN on 14 Oct 1844 in Brunlanes, Vestfold, Norway. Caroline was born on 18 Oct 1819 in Copenhagen, Denmark; died on 18 Jan 1883 in Nordal, Østre Aker, Oslo, Akershus, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Slagen

Gundelle married Anton Elias SMITT on 4 Jan 1842 in Seljord, Telemark, Norway. Anton was born on 1 Nov 1805 in Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway; died on 27 Oct 1875 in Voss, Hordaland, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Rise

Family/Spouse: Frederikke Antoinette Augusta NILSEN. Frederikke was born on 5 Nov 1834 in Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway; died on 3 Feb 1910 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Rise

Gundelle married Jakob Wulfsberg SEEBERG on 11 Jun 1857 in Sem, Vestfold, Norway. Jakob was born on 22 Dec 1824 in Tønsberg, Vestfold, Norway; died on 15 Dec 1870 in Fredrikstad, Østfold, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Rise

Died:
Rikshospitalet

Notes:

Birth:
Rise

Family/Spouse: Martin Muldrup SCHLYTTER. Martin was born on 22 Nov 1833 in Risør, Aust-Agder, Norway; died on 26 Sep 1906 in Tønsberg, Vestfold, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Rise

Died:
Rikshospitalet

Edvardine married Peter PETERSEN on 27 Oct 1858 in Sem, Vestfold, Norway. Peter was born on 6 Jun 1831 in Borre, Vestfold, Norway; died on 1 Jul 1904 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Rise

Notes:

Birth:
Rise

Family/Spouse: Ragna Valborg DAHL. Ragna was born on 21 Dec 1858 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Rud

Jonas married Livia Gundelle Margrethe SVERDRUP in 1874. Livia (daughter of Georg Frederik SVERDRUP and Anna Cathrine THURMANN) was born on 13 Jul 1843 in Slemdal, Telemark, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Tomb

Died:
Kolbjørnsvik

Notes:

Birth:
Tomb

Edvard married Ovidia Amalie BERG on 23 Jan 1885 in Oslo, Norway. Ovidia was born on 14 Apr 1861 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Tomb

Died:
Kolbjørnsvik

Notes:

Birth:
Moholt

Sophie married Jacob Liv Borch SVERDRUP on 10 Dec 1867 in Froland, Aust-Agder, Norway. Jacob (son of Edvard SVERDRUP and Ida Gulbrandine Marie BØE) was born on 29 Aug 1838 in Arendal, Aust-Agder, Norway; died on 2 Jan 1894 in Øyestad, Aust-Agder, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Moholt

Livia married Jonas SMITT in 1874. Jonas (son of Anton Elias SMITT and Livia Gundelle Margrethe SVERDRUP) was born on 20 May 1836 in Nordre Land, Oppland, Norway; died on 28 Mar 1905 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
Stabekk

Family/Spouse: Jessie SVERDRUP. Jessie was born in 1855 in London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Thorbjørsbo

Died:
Asdal gård

Jacob married Sophie Dorthea SVERDRUP on 10 Dec 1867 in Froland, Aust-Agder, Norway. Sophie (daughter of Georg Frederik SVERDRUP and Anna Cathrine THURMANN) was born on 18 Jun 1842 in Slemdal, Telemark, Norway; died on 7 Oct 1913 in Østre Aker, Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Lutheran Minister

Notes:

Member of Norway’s Parliament 1877-1889 and 1892-1895. Made Bishop of Bergen in 1898.

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She had 11 children with Anthon.

Gundelle married Anthon Theodor Johannes THYGESEN on 8 Jun 1871 in Tjugum, Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. Anthon was born on 9 Nov 1835 in Skien, Telemark, Norway; died in 1885 in Rennesøy, Rogaland, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Minnesota Death Certificate: 1907-57-766
• Occupation: Teacher, Theologian

Notes:

From a biography in the History of Hennepin County and The City of Minneapolis: SVERDRUP, George was born in the western part of Norway. December 16th, 1848. He attended school at Christiana from 1862 to 1865, when he entered the University in the city of Christiana. During 1870, he traveled through Italy and Germany, and in 1871, passed theological exanimation at the University. The year 1873, he spent in Paris, in the study of the Semitic languages, Assyrian antiquities and other sciences connected with the study of the old testament. In 1874, he received a call from this conference since which time he has been closely identified with the history of Augsburg Seminary.

He was the second president of Augsburg College (then called Augsburg Seminary). He served from 1876 until his death in 1907. This 31-year tenure is the longest of the college’s presidents.

Shown as born in Norway in 1849 according to his death certificate. That is also the birthdate shown in the database for emigrants from Balestrand.

In the 1865 Norwegian census, he is probably the Georg Sverdrup who is a student of Theology in Aker at Rosenhoff af Blinderen. He was born in Balestrand.

The database for emigrants from Balestrand shows that the 25 year-old Georg Sverdrup, “cand. th.”, emigrated “over Bergen frå Balestrand” on July 22, 1874. He was married at the time. He departed on the Kong Sverre line.

In the 1880 census (June 14th), Georg and family are living in Minneapolis. Georg, 31, is a professor of theology. The rest of the family is Catherine G., 26, Carl U., 5, Elsey M., 2, and George, 10 months. Also living with them was Catherine’s brother Jurgen Heiberg, 21, and Caroline Herslet, 31, a servant. The three children were born in Minnesota and the rest in Norway. Jurgen was a miller. Two doors away from the Sverdrups were the Sven Oftsdahls: another future president of Augsburg.

It would appear that Georg the father went back to Norway, where Inga was born, after George the son was born in the United States. Georg the father’s first wife apparently died in the 1880s and Georg remarried (to Elise) in the late 1880s. {She married at age 20, which would have been 1886 or 1887, according to the 1930 census.}

“Professor G. Sverdrup”, age 40, arrived in New York on 18 September 1886. He is headed for Minnesota. He arrived on the ship “Alabama” via Glasgow, Scotland, and Larne, Ireland. He appears to be traveling with someone either born in Iowa or destined for Iowa but the name is obscured by the fold in the original document.

Living with Georg and his family at the time of the 1900 census were two “pupils” from Norway: 30 year old Gilbert Olson and 33 year old Henry Ytrehus each of whose occupations were shown as students. The family was living at 728 22nd Avenue S. in Minneapolis. Georg the father was a teacher at Augsburg Seminary.

Founder of the Lutheran Free Church.

There is a Georg Sverdrup society organized in December 2003 and open to anyone interested in the life and work of Georg Sverdrup (1848 - 1907), considered as among "the ablest theologians" in the history of Norwegian-American Lutheranism. The society is registered in the state of Minnesota as a 501(C)(3) nonprofit corporation.

Died:
“paralysis of the heart”

Buried:
Section 16, Lot 56, Grave 2

Georg married Cathrine Elisabeth HEIBERG on 25 Jun 1874 in Nykirken, Bergen, Hordaland, Norway. Cathrine (daughter of Andreas Severin HEIBERG and Else Cathrine Reusch FAYE) was born on 4 Nov 1853 in Bergen, Hordaland, Norway; died on 9 Oct 1887 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota; was buried on 23 Jun 1921 in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Georg married Elise Susanne HEIBERG in Aug 1890. Elise (daughter of Andreas Severin HEIBERG and Else Cathrine Reusch FAYE) was born in Oct 1866 in Bergen, Hordaland, Norway; died on 10 Sep 1942 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota; was buried on 14 Sep 1942 in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Lutheran Minister

Harald married Elise Nikoline SMITT on 16 Aug 1882 in Tjugum, Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. Elise (daughter of Anton Elias SMITT and Gundelle Louise SVERDRUP) was born in 1854 in Voss, Hordaland, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Lutheran Minister

Notes:

He and Martha had 6 children, all born in Rennesøy between 1886 and 1895.

Family/Spouse: Martha Johanne HANNEVIG. Martha was born on 19 May 1856 in Borre, Vestfold, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also spelled Caroline.

She had 4 children with E O Bruhjell in Kinn, Sogn og Fjordane, between 1890 and 1897.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Lutheran Minister
• Baptism: 19 Aug 1861, Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway

Notes:

Johan Edvard Sverdrup (1866-1923) was teaching at the adult school at Sogndal at the time that Harald was born. Johan Edward and his four brothers were ministers of the State Church of Norway (Lutheran). In 1894 Johan Edward became minister in the island district of Solund, about 40 miles north of Bergen. After that, Johan Edward moved to Rennsö near Stavanger. In 1908 he became professor of church history in Oslo, where he died in 1923.

Family/Spouse: Maria VALLAN. Maria was born on 6 Nov 1866 in Norderhov, Buskerud, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She had 5 children with Knud Carl August Holt in Oslo between 1872 and 1884.

Notes:

Died:
or July 16

Family/Spouse: Karoline Josephine SVERDRUP. Karoline was born in 1865 in Kragerø, Telemark, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elise married Harald U SVERDRUP on 16 Aug 1882 in Tjugum, Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. Harald (son of Harald Ulrik SVERDRUP and Caroline Metella SUR) was born on 26 Feb 1852 in Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Annie married Rudolf Gottfried Johannes LÜNING on 31 May 1907 in Hamburg, Germany. Rudolf was born on 12 May 1881 in Sulingen, Niedersachsen, Germany; died on 30 Sep 1939 in Sulingen, Niedersachsen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Anton E SVERDRUP. Anton (son of Harald U SVERDRUP and Elise Nikoline SMITT) was born on 18 Jul 1883. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
apparently a reburial; Section 16, Lot 56, Grave 5

Notes:

Other sources have Andreas born and died in 1887.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Minnesota Death Certificate: 1965-MN-013003

Notes:

Her death certificate indicated that her mother’s maiden name was Heiberg.

In the 1900 census (June 8th), Elsey and Michael were in Mankato, MN. He is shown as church pastor.

In the 1910 census, the family was living in Willmar. Micheal, 42, and Elsie, 32, had been married for 10 years. Their children were Cathrine, 8, Frithjof, 7, and George and Elsie who were twins, age 1 and 3 months. The family also had a servant, 20 year-old Pauline Levano. Michael and Elsie had been married for 10 years. Elsie had had only the four children.

In the 1920 census, the family is living in Marinette, Wisconsin. Michael is, apparently, associated in some way with St. Mary’s Academy although his occupation is illegible. All four children are still living with their parents.

They were still in Marinette in 1930 although Katherine and Frithjof had left home. Although George was shown at home in Marinette, he also, apparently, was living in Minneapolis. Michael is still a Lutheran pastor. Michael is shown to have come to this country in 1886.

In the 1940 census, she lived in Minneapolis with her four children in a rented residence. She was a high school graduate.

Buried:
Section 16, Lot 23, Grave 4.5

Else married Michael Brittanius MICHAELSEN in 1899. Michael was born in Apr 1868 in Norway; died on 27 Aug 1938 in Peshtigo, Marinette County, Wisconsin; was buried on 31 Aug 1938 in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Minnesota Death Certificate: 1937-MN-022886
• Occupation: Professor at, and president of, Augsburg Seminary

Notes:

He was the fourth president of Augsburg College. He served from 1911 to his death in 1937. The length of his tenure as president (26 years) is second only to that of his father (31 years).

He was a student in New Haven, Connecticut, at the time that he applied for a U.S. passport in April of 1905. He was intending to be abroad for two years. He was described as 25 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a medium high forehead, blue eyes, a straight nose, a medium mouth, a medium pointed chin, black hair, a fair complexion, and an oval face. Charles E Stangeland of New York City vouched for his identification. He claimed to have known George for 8 years.

He was a teacher in Minneapolis when he applied for another passport in September of 1908. He was described as 29 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a high forehead, blue eyes, a straight nose, a full mouth, a firm chin, black hair, a dark complexion, and an round face. William Mills, of 1820 13th Avenue in Minneapolis, vouched for his identity.

He was still a teacher in Minneapolis when he applied again for a U.S. passport in August of 1914. He asked that the passport be sent to him at Augsburg Seminary and that it reach Minneapolis by August 29th. Alexander McRae of Minneapolis vouched for his identification. George was described as 35 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a high forehead, blue eyes, a straight nose, a full mouth, a firm chin, black hair, a dark complexion, and an oval face.

He and is new wife were renters in the house his widowed mother owned at 710 21st Ave. S. at the time of the 1910 census.

Registered for the draft on September 12, 1918, in Minneapolis. Described as of medium height, slender build, with dark blue eyes and black hair.

The family was still renting at 710 21st Avenue at the time of the 1920 census (January 2nd). The family consisted of George, 40, Hjalma, 37, Anna K., 9, Valborg E., 7, and Ruth, 1 and 5 months. George is a college professor. George was born in Minnesota but his parents were born in Norway. Hjalme was also born in Minnesota, her father in Norway and her mother in Iowa.

Still renting at 710 21st Avenue at the time of the 1930 census (indexed as Soerdrup). The family consisted of George, 50, Hjalma, 47, Katherine A., 19, Valborg E., 17, George, 5, Ragna, 44, and Elise, 65. Ragna has no occupation.

Buried:
Section 16, Lot 56, Grave 7

George married Hjalma STENVIG about Sep 1909. Hjalma was born on 15 Dec 1882 in Iowa; died on 22 May 1958 in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California; was buried on 26 May 1958 in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Minnesota Death Certificate: 1927-MN-018513

Notes:

Shown as having been born in Norway in the 1900 and 1910 censuses. Also shown as born in Norway on Elizabeth Katharine’s birth certificate.

Inga married William MILLS on 29 Dec 1904 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. William (son of John MILLS and Anna BAKKEN) was born on 28 Oct 1879 in Calumet, Houghton County, Michigan; died on 6 Sep 1959 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Minnesota Death Certificate: 1955-MN-021371

Notes:

Buried:
Section 24, Lot 56, Grave 4

Gunhild married Luthard Noble BERGH on 11 Oct 1907 in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Luthard (son of Ole Nielson BERGH and Tabithe Nicolaisdatter EDLAND) was born on 27 Sep 1880 in Minnesota; died on 2 Jun 1948 in Montevideo, Chippewa County, Minnesota; was buried on 7 Jun 1948 in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Minnesota Death Certificate: 1953-MN-024210

Notes:

Shown as daughter in 1900 census, son “Hagna” in 1910 census.

In the 1940 census, she is a bookkeeper at a college. She lived at 710 21st Avenue with her mother, the same house in which both had lived in 1935.

SVERDRUP, RAGNA  
Minnesota Death Certificate ID#  1953-MN-024210   

 Date of Birth: not indexed
 Place of Birth: not indexed
 Mother Maiden Name: not indexed
 Date of Death: 09/27/1953
 County of Death: HENNEPIN
 
 

Buried:
Section 16, Lot 23, Grave 5.5

Notes:

Usually spelled Harold.

Registered for the draft as Harold Sverdrup on June 5th, 1917. At that time he was a high school instructor in Winona and was living at 220 East Wabasha St., Winona. He did claim exemption from the draft but no reason is shown. He is described as of medium height, slender build, with blue eyes and light hair.

He and Lucile were renting Apartment #204 at 1524 Vine Place in Minneapolis at the time of the 1920 census (January). Harold was an accountant for a lumber company.

In the 1930 census, Harold and Lucile were living at 3544 Hughes Avenue in Los Angeles. They had no children. Harold was a teacher at a private school.

He registered for the World War II draft in 1942 as Harold Ulrik Sverdrup. At that time, he lived at 305B East 3rd Street in Ellensburg, Washington. He gave as his “person who will always know your address” Mrs. Margaret W Sverdrup of that same address. Harold worked for the Potlatch Yards in Ellensburg.

He lived in Yakima, Washington, at the time of his half-sister’s death in 1955.

His obit said that he had attended Augsburg and was a graduate of the state teachers college at Menomonie, Wisconsin. He was a teacher of industrial arts at Jamestown, North Dakota, and later at Harvard Military School in Los Angeles, California. For three years he lived in Juneau, Alaska, where he managed a lumber company. For the past ten years he made his home in Yakima where he was a lumber firm office manager. Surviving are his wife Margaret, a sister Mrs. M. B. Michaelson, and a brother, Edward, of Buffalo, N.Y.

Birth:
draft card

Harald married Lucile E HUST on 13 Oct 1913 in Winona County, Minnesota. Lucile was born about 1891 in South Dakota. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
apaprently a reburial; Section 16, Lot 56, Grave 5

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Chemist for tire company

Notes:

Usually spelled Edward.

Living in Buffalo, New York and the time of the 1930 census with his wife and one-month-old son.

He and his family were still in Buffalo in the 1940 census. He was a chemist for a rubber plant.

Died:
SSDI last residence

Edvard married Marjorie SCHIPPER on 6 Sep 1928 in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Marjorie was born on 17 Dec 1904 in Minnesota; died in Oct 1977 in Irwin, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Jessie Georgine SVERDRUP. Jessie (daughter of Edvard Thurmann SVERDRUP and Ovidia Amalie BERG) was born on 19 Feb 1893 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 29 Jun 1888, Tjugum, Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway

Notes:

Birth:
Tjugum

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Ocean scientist
• Baptism: 9 Dec 1888, Stedje, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway

Notes:

Harald Ulrik Sverdrup was born in Norway in November 1888. His geophysical career began with V. F. K. Bjerknes in Oslo in 1911, then in Leipzig from 1913 to 1917. During that period he published more than 20 papers on atmospheric and oceanic physics, including his Oslo doctoral thesis on the North Atlantic trade winds. As scientific director of Roald Amundsen's polar expedition on Maud (1918-1925), Sverdrup worked extensively on meteorology, magnetics, atmospheric electricity, physical oceanography, and tidal dynamics on the Siberian shelf, and even on the anthropology of Chukchi natives. After his return, he was appointed in 1926 to the chair of meteorology vacated by Bjerknes in Bergen, and in 1931 he was appointed research professor in the Christian Michelsen Institute to work on the Maud results. At the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1930, he began to analyze new hydrographic information on the Pacific, suggesting that its deep waters formed in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean. He was a member of the unsuccessful Wilkins-Ellsworth North Polar Expedition in the submarine Nautilus in 1931. Always interested in boundary layer processes, Sverdrup joined H. W. Ahlmann in a 2-month expedition to the snow fields of Spitsbergen in 1934.

Upon the recommendation of Bjørn Helland-Hanson, Sverdrup was appointed director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) in 1936, ostensibly for 3 years. World War II and his sense of responsibility for the expanding SIO kept him there for 12 years. Under Sverdrup, SIO was transformed into a modern oceanographic institution, initially concentrating on study of the California Current and the Gulf of California. During this time he directed work at sea, wrote large parts of The Oceans; collaborated with Walter Munk on sea, surf, and swell forecasting for Allied landings in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific; and coordinated the processing of oceanographic data from the Pacific. In 1947 his paper "Wind-driven currents in a baroclinic ocean" showed the link between meridional currents and the curl of the wind stress, initiating the large-scale modeling of ocean circulation elaborated soon after by Walter Munk and Henry Stommel. Inspired during his SIO years to unite oceanic physics and biology, Sverdrup quantified the concept of "critical depth" (formulated earlier by the Norwegian H. H. Gran and the American G. A. Riley) in 1953, explaining the onset of the spring phytoplankton bloom in newly stratified water columns.

In 1948, Sverdrup returned to Norway to direct the Norwegian Polar Institute. Shortly after, he became professor of geophysics in Oslo (followed by other senior university positions), director of the Norwegian-British-Swedish Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (1949-1952), and chairman of a Norwegian program to improve fishing technology in India. He died suddenly in August 1957.

Harald Sverdrup's many appointments and honors included membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Sciences. He became a member of the Swedish Order of the North Star and was awarded the Agassiz Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, and the Bruce Medal (among many). He was President of the International Association of Physical Oceanography and of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Vice President of the American Geophysical Union (and chairman of its Division of Oceanography), and received an LL.D. from the University of California.
An honest, unassuming, pious, hard-working, humorous, and humane investigator of the atmosphere and the oceans, Sverdrup believed it was his duty to advance the prospects of the two nations he served, Norway and the United States, through research, teaching, and public service. His lasting reputation and the continued influence of his publications attest to his success.

Eric L. Mills ??Dalhousie University ?Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada




The begining of a lengthy obit in Geographical Review, Vol. 48, No. 2 (Apr 1958), pp. 284-285:

With Professor Harald Ulrik Sverdrup’s suddent death on August 21, 1957, at the age of 68, Norway lost a man who had faithfully served his country’s honorable traditions of research in the Polar regions. International geophysics will miss an outstanding figure, especially in oceanography and meteorology, to which he contributed highly valuable work.

Professor Sverdrup belonged to a family that has achieved much in different fields, both cultural and political, in Norway. As a pupil and later a colleague of Professor Vilhelm Bjerknes, he acquired a grounding in mathematics and physics, on the basis of which he developed his own varied investigations. His doctoral thesis, “Der nordatlantische Passat” (1917), gives the first constant picture of the structure, dynamics, and thermodynamics of that trade-wind region.

In 1917 he agreed to take charge of the scientific work on Roald Amundsen’s North Pole expedition with the Maud. The expedition left Norway in July, 1918, planned to last three or four years. But it lasted 7-1/2 years, and Sverdrup did not return to Norway until December, 1925.
…



The sverdrup, named in honour of the pioneering oceanographer Harald Sverdup, is a unit of measure of volume transport. It is used almost exclusively in oceanography to measure the transport of ocean currents.

Family/Spouse: Gudrun Bronn VAUMUND. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Tallak LUNDEN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He was a captain in the Norwegian Free Forces and was killed by Nazi forces in action in Spitsbergen in 1942.

Notes:

Leif became an American citizen, a civil engineer, and cofounder of the firm of Sverdrup and Parcel in St. Louis, one of the largest and most important American engineering companies. During the second world war, he served as chief engineer to Douglas MacArthur and rose to the rank of Major General in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The Society of American Military Engineers has a Sverdrup Medal named in honor of Maj. Gen. Leif J. Sverdrup, U.S. Army. This medal was first awarded in 1980.

The American Society of Civil Engineers offers the John I. Parcel - Leif J. Sverdrup Civil Engineering Management Award.

In the late 1990s the Sverdrup Corporation of St. Louis was sold to Jacobs Engineering Group.

In the 1920 census, Leif is single and is a lodger with a family in Minneapolis. The family is the William Hagen family; William was born in Norway and is a minister of the gospel. Leif has no occupation. He came to the U.S. in 1915.

In a passport application requested and issued in March of 1921, he was Leif John Sverdrup, an “honorably discharged soldier.” He claimed that his father was Edward John Sverdrup and that he (the father) lived in Christiania, Norway. Leif John claimed to have emigrated to the U.S. in December of 1914 and that since then he had resided “uninterruptedly” in Minneapolis. He was naturalized as a citizen in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 30, 1918. He was now a civil engineer living in Minneapolis and he was requesting a passport to visit his parents. He would visit England, Denmark, and Sweden along the way and intended to depart aboard the “Begernsfjord” on April 1, 1921. He was described as 26 years old, six feet tall, with a medium forehead, blue eyes, a straight nose, a medium mouth, an oval chin, light brown hair, and a fair complexion with an oval face. Professor George Sverdrup of Minneapolis vouched for the identification of the applicant, claiming to have known him for seven years.

In the 1930 census, he and his family lived in Richmond Heights, St. Louis County, Missouri. The family is indexed as Sverdruk. Leif is a civil engineer. Living with him, his wife, and his children is 63 year-old Agnes, mother, and 23 year-old Ruth Bouman, servant. Agnes, born in Norway, may have been Helen’s mother. Leif was a veteran of the world war. Leif had come to the U.S. in 1914 and his wife in 1916.

Collapsed bridge design firm has deep Minn. roots
Minnesota Public Radio
January 16, 2008

The investigation of the I-35W bridge collapse is bringing new focus on the engineering firm that built it. The National Transportation Safety Board said design errors led to the disaster, killing 13 people and injuring 100 others.
Although Sverdrup and Parcel opened its doors 80 years ago in St. Louis, the company's roots trace back to the same Minneapolis neighborhood where the bridge fell.
St. Paul, Minn. — Leif Sverdrup and Ira Parcel are not household names, but their firm drew up some of the most recognizable structures in America, like the Louisiana Superdome. Their Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel was once considered one of the seven engineering wonders of the world.

The Sverdrup and Parcel partnership began in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota. Sverdrup was the son of a Norwegian immigrant. His father was president of Augsburg College. Parcel was a U of M engineering professor who taught the young Sverdrup.

Both had early connections to bridges, too. Sverdrup's first job was as a Minnesota State Highway Department bridge inspector. Parcel was hired to help rebuild Washington's Tacoma Narrows bridge after it blew down in a 1940 windstorm.

But Leif Sverdrup made his reputation literally paving the way across the Pacific for Douglas MacArthur in World War II. He also helped raise his dead cousin's son. George Sverdrup is a retired Minneapolis math teacher who remembers Leif's fame lasted long after the war.

"He was head of the engineering forces in the South Pacific under MacArthur. In fact, after the war at all of Gen. MacArthur's birthday parties at the old Waldorf, Leif was the host. They had those birthday parties for many years."

The connection helped Sverdrup turn his company into what was then the biggest engineering and architecture firm in the world. They designed dams, bridges, the first supersonic wind tunnel and even the 94-foot skeleton of the blue whale hanging in New York's American Museum of Natural History.

"He was just a magical person. There was no other way to describe him. He could sell anything to anybody," says Greg Franzwa, the Utah author of two histories of Sverdrup's engineering company.

Franzwa also wrote a biography of Sverdrup, better known as Jack. He thinks one of Sverdrup's partners, perhaps an engineer named Brice Smith, now dead, may have overseen work on the I-35W bridge. Sverdrup himself was not big on the technical side of the business, Franzwa says.

"He didn't care much for design. He wanted buildings that kept the weather out and the people in."

Only one other Sverdrup project ever made news. A tornado dropped the Chester Bridge between Missouri and Illinois into the Mississippi River in the 1940s.

The bridge collapse this past August revived Sverdrup's memory in Minnesota, as the design became suspect early in the investigation into the disaster. But other connections live on, too. Augsburg College has a hall named for the family. The Depression-era Division Street bridge in Faribault was designed by Sverdrup engineers.
Leif Sverdrup helped run the company until he died at 80 in 1976. The firm lasted another 23 years, until Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering bought it out.

Birth:
On his 1921 passport he claimed 11 Jan 1895.

Died:
SSDI last residence St. Louis

Leif married Helen L (Molly) EGILSRUD on 26 Nov 1924 in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Helen was born on 20 Dec 1901 in Norway; died on 7 Oct 1997 in Missouri; was buried in Valhalla Cemetery, Hanley Hills, St. Louis County, Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Inger BECK. Inger was born on 24 May 1908 in Oslo, Norway. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]