Ole Serumgard, register in the United States land office at Devils Lake, North Dakota, is one of the public spirited and enterprising citizens of his locality, and enjoys the highest esteem and confidence of his fellow men. He is engaged in the farm machinery business in Devils Lake in company with Air. Prosser, and has met with success in his business and is one of the substantial men of Ramsey county.
Our subject was born in the Parish of Lesje Norway, December 22, 1856, and came to America with his parents in 1868. They settled on a farm in Watonwan county, Minnesota, where our subject grew to manhood and continued his residence there until 1881. His education was received in the common schools and at the State Normal at Mankato, where he graduated in 1879. He was engaged in teaching and farming in Wantonwan county until 1881, when he went to North Dakota and taught school one year in Cass county, afterward going to Griggs county, where he took a homestead claim. He engaged in the land and loan business at Cooperstown and remained there till the spring of 1884, when he went to Devils Lake, following the same business there several years. He formed a partnership with Hon. F. H. Prosser in 1891, under the firm name of Prosser & Serumgard, and they have since engaged in the farm machinery business and have made a success of that line.
Mr. Serumgard was married at Mankato, Minnesota, to Miss Karen Throdahl, who was a native of Norway also. Mr. and Mrs. Serumgard are the parents of four children, named as follows: Pauline, Olga, Inez and Harold. Mr. Serumgard taught the first school in Griggs county, and is a gentleman of excellent mind and systematic nature. He was elected treasurer of Ramsey county in 1886, and served two terms. He was appointed a trustee of the State Normal School by Governor Andrew H. Burke, and resigned after serving one year. He has been a member of the city council of Devils Lake for several years, and in July, 1898, was appointed by President McKinley as register of the United States land office at Devils Lake, assuming the duties of that office in September of that year. At the time of his appointment he was serving as mayor of Devils Lake, to which office he was elected in the spring of 1898.
Source: Compendium of History and Biography of North Dakota 1900 Page 973