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Svend Samuelson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment
Svend  Samuelson Profile Image
Believed to have been taken in early 1862 at Madison, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Historical Society, Iconography, ID 90273

Database Record Change Request

Name at Enlist

Svend Samuelson

Birth Name
Other Names

Samuelsen

Lived

24 Jan 1825 – ca. 1891

Birth Place

Mitsum farm, Krogstad (Kråkstad) parish, Akershus

Birth Country

Norway

Resident of Muster-In

Eaton, Manitowoc County, WI

Company at Enlistment

F

Rank at Enlistment

Second Lieutenant

Muster Date

11 Jan 1862

Death Location

Sturgeon Bay, Door County, WI

Mother

Johanne Arnesdatter

Mother Lived

1795-

Father

Samuel Svendsen

Father Lived

1780-

Immigration

1854

Spouse

Hanna Fredrikke

Spouse Lived

22 Nov 1842- 18 Oct 1926

Married On

16 Aug 1864

Svend Samuelson was born on the Mitsum Farm in Krogstad Parish, Norway on January 24, 1825. He came to America in 1854, and farmed in Manitowoc County. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company F. The men of the company called themselves “KK’s Protectors” in honor of the 15th’s first Lieutenant Colonel, Kiler K. Jones. “F” was also known as the Valdres Company because a large number of its members hailed from the Valdres region of Norway.

The army listed him as living in Eaton, Manitowoc County, WI, age 36, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on October 21, 1861 at Manitowoc, WI, and was mustered at Madison, WI, on January 14, 1862. Samuelson was commissioned Second Lieutenant (Løytnant) on January 14, 1862. He was sick at Birds Point, MO and sick in Nashville, TN since September 21, 1862 and left behind there on November 26, 1862. He became unfit for service and resigned on November 15, 1863 at Chattanooga, TN. 

After the war, he married Hannah. She was born in Norway on November 22, 1842 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1853. Together, they farmed in Sturgeon Bay, WI. They had 10 children: Josephine (born abt. 1865), Emma (1866), Oscar (1868), Albert (1870), Fredrick (1871), Alfred (1873), Jenny (1875), Julia (1876), Alis/Alice (1878), and Olif/Olive (1879).

 

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-8; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.84; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.497, p.500 photo; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.258; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.239, photo, p.306; Lars Gjertveit, Bodo, Norway; 1870 Census, Roll: M593_1723, Page: 170A, Image: 343, Family History Library Film: 553222; 1880 census, Roll: 1424, Family History Film: 1255424, Page: 104A, Enumeration District: 045; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T2888_411; findagrave.com.