Biographical Sketch of

Henry N. Olson

Transcribed by Robert Schieber

Source: Memorial and Biographical Record and Illustrated Compendium of Biography of Citizens of Columbia, 
Sauk and Adams Counties, Wisconsin, published 1901 by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1901, Pages 626 - 627

	
No foreign element has become a more important part of our American citizenship than that furnished by Sweden.  
The emigrants from that land have brought with them to the new world the stability, enterprise and perseverance 
characteristic of their people and have fused these qualities with the progressiveness and indomitable spirit 
of the west.  Mr. Olson, of Mars, Adams county, Wisconsin, is a worthy representative of this class.

He was born in Malmo, Sweden, February 21, 1845, and was educated in the Latin school at that place.  During 
his youth he learned the carpenter's trade, which he continued to follow until coming to America at the age of 
twenty-two years.  He first located at Rockford, Illinois,  where he worked at his trade until 1870, when he 
entered the employ of Harrison & Green, bridge contractors, and continued with them of six years in the capacity 
of timekeeper and foreman, laying out the work for the men.  When he retired from the railroad bridge building, 
he engaged in contracting and building on his own account in Milwaukee, where he erected over three hundred 
houses which are still standing.  He possesses excellent ability in mechanical lines and has had a varied 
experience.  As a skillful painter he has a worked in a street car shop, doing the finst work in painting and 
lettering, and while there he invented a wheel scraper, which is now patented and in general use.  On leaving 
the employ of that company he returned to railroad bridge building.  He is also a skilled iron worker and in 
many parts of Adams county may be found manifestations of his handiwork.

In 1878 Mr. Olson came to Adams county, and purchased a tract of land near Twin Valley, which he afterward sold, 
but repurchased again in partnership with Mason Peterson, and is still actively identified with industrial 
interests.  His support is never withheld from any enterprise calculated to prove of public benefit, and although 
he has never been an office seeker, he takes an active interest in political affairs.  He merits and receives 
the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens.


Transcribed by Robert Schieber






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