Aad John Vinje (November 10, 1857March 23, 1929) was a

Norwegian American Norwegian Americans ( nb, Norskamerikanere, nn, Norskamerikanarar) are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the ...

immigrant, lawyer, and jurist. He was the 12th chief justice of the

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin. Location The Wi ...

, serving from 1922 until his death in 1929. He previously served 15 years as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in the northwest of the state.

Background

Aad John Vinje was born on the Vinje farm (''Winje nedre'') in Vangen parish in

Voss Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, Opphe ...

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. His father died from injuries received in an accident in 1859 and his mother subsequently remarried. The family came to the United States in 1869 when Vinje was 12 years old. His parents, Mons Knudsen Vinje (1831-1923) and Ingeborg Davidsdatter (Klove) Vinje (1824–1901), immigrated together with their five children. His family settled in

Marshall County, Iowa Marshall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,105. The county seat is Marshalltown. The county was formed on January 13, 1846, and named after John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Uni ...

, where Vinje attended Iowa College (now

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-st ...

) at

Grinnell, Iowa Grinnell is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,564 at the time of the 2020 census. It is best known for being the home of Grinnell College. History Grinnell was founded by settlers from New England who were ...

from 1873 to 1874 and Northwestern University at

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

from 1874 to 1875.

Career

Vinje earned his law degree from the

University of Wisconsin Law School The University of Wisconsin Law School is the professional graduate law school of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Located in Madison, Wisconsin, the school was founded in 1868. The University of Wisconsin Law School is guided by a "law in ...

(B.A., 1884; LL.B., 1887). While in school, he worked in the State Law Library. Vinje served as assistant Supreme Court reporter until 1891, when he established a law office in

Superior, Wisconsin , native_name_lang = oj , nickname = , total_type = , motto = , image_skyline = Tower Avenue.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Downtown Superior , ima ...

. In 1895, Vinje was appointed judge for the 11th Wisconsin Judicial Circuit where he served until 1910. He won election to 10-year terms on the Supreme Court in 1911 and 1921. Upon the death of Chief Justice Robert G. Siebecker in February 1922, Vinje became the Chief Justice, a position he occupied until his death in 1929.

Selected works

*''The Legal Aspect of Industrial Consolidations'' (Feb. 16, 1904), in Reports of the Proceedings of the Meetings of the State Bar Ass’n of Wisconsin, 1904–05, at 167, 171 (1906).

Personal life

Vinje was married in 1886 to Alice Idell Miller (1863-1954). They were the parents of four children. Aad J. Vinje died during 1929 and was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery in

Dane County, Wisconsin Dane County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin. The county seat is Madison, which is also the state capital. Dane County is the ...

. Usher, Ellis Baker. ''Wisconsin: Its Story and Biography, 1848-1913, Volume 5''. Lewis Publishing Company, 1914, p. 1237.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinje, Aad John 1857 births 1929 deaths People from Voss Norwegian emigrants to the United States Grinnell College alumni University of Wisconsin Law School alumni Wisconsin lawyers Chief Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court Politicians from Superior, Wisconsin 19th-century American lawyers