Adolph M. Christianson (August 11, 1877 – February 11, 1954) was an attorney and a justice of the

North Dakota Supreme Court The North Dakota Supreme Court is the highest court of law in the state of North Dakota. The Court rules on questions of law in appeals from the state's district courts. Each of the five justices are elected on a no-party ballot for ten year te ...

Background

Adolph Marcus Christianson was born at

Brumunddal Brumunddal is a town in Ringsaker Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality. It is located on the shores of the lake Mjøsa, about north of the town of Hamar. The town is a small, densely ...

Ringsaker is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hedemarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Brumunddal. Other settlements in Ringsaker include the town of Moelv and the v ...

Hedmark Hedmark () was a county in Norway before 1 January 2020, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged i ...

County,

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 ...

. He came to the United States with his parents in 1882. He spent his childhood in

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and received his early education in the Minnesota public schools. He attended the Law Department of the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. He was admitted to the bar on March 27, 1889. He moved to

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

in 1900 and was admitted to the North Dakota Bar.

Career

Christianson opened an office in Towner,

, where he practiced until his election to the

. He served as

state's attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

from 1901 until 1905. Christianson served as a justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court from 1915 to 1954 and the chief justice from 1918 to 1921, 1925 to 1927, 1931 to 1933, 1937 to 1939, and 1945 to 1949. Christianson

died in office A death in office is the death of a person who was incumbent of an office-position until the time of death. Such deaths have been usually due to natural causes, but they are also caused by accidents, suicides, disease and assassinations. The dea ...

at the age of 76 after having served on the Court for 39 years and one month. His burial was at the Fairview Cemetery in Bismarck, North Dakota.''The Capital Bills'' (Bismarck Tribune, page 37. April 21, 1915)

References

1877 births 1954 deaths People from Ringsaker Norwegian emigrants to the United States Chief Justices of the North Dakota Supreme Court People from McHenry County, North Dakota University of Tennessee alumni People from Polk County, Minnesota State's attorneys in North Dakota Minnesota lawyers Justices of the North Dakota Supreme Court {{NorthDakota-state-judge-stub