Conrad P. Olson

Conrad Olson was born in the town of Clay Banks in Door County, Wisconsin on September 4, 1882.[1] In Wisconsin he was educated first at the Stevens Point Normal School, and later at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.[1] After receiving his education he became a civil service examiner and a school teacher before moving to Oregon in 1908.[1] In Oregon he settled in Portland where in 1910 he married Nellie C. Frost, and they had two children together.[1]

In 1912 Olson was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Republican representing Multnomah County as a Republican.[2] He returned to the House the following legislative session in 1915,[3] but moved to the Oregon State Senate for the 1917 session.[4] While serving in the legislature he was responsible for introducing legislation to create state funded kindergartens as well as a bills relating to the illegitimate children of men who then deserted their family to allow for better treatment of these children.[5] Olson also was the first person of Swedish ancestry to manage the campaign of an Oregon governor.[5] Then on September 27, 1918, Olson was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court to replace Frank A. Moore by Oregon Governor James Withycombe after Moore had died in office.[6][7] This term the ended on January 7, 1919 and Olson left the bench as Alfred S. Bennett had won the fall election.[6]

After leaving the court Olson then served as Oregon's code commissioner from 1919 to 1921, where he was charged with standardizing the state's laws.[1] The work produced from this was a two volume Oregon Laws, published in 1920[8] After this he began private practice in Portland before dying in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on March 1, 1952.[1]