Conrad Patrick Olson (September 4, 1882 – March 1, 1952) was an American politician and judge in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. He was the 48th justice of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

native served in both chambers of the

Oregon Legislature The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...

during the early 1900s.

Early life

Conrad Olson was born in the town of

Clay Banks Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

Door County, Wisconsin Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,066. Its county seat is Sturgeon Bay. It is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island. The dangero ...

on September 4, 1882.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956. In Wisconsin he was educated first at the Stevens Point Normal School, and later at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. After receiving his education he became a civil service examiner and a school teacher before moving to

in 1908. In Oregon he settled in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

where in 1910 he married Nellie C. Frost, and they had two children together.

Political career

In 1912 Olson was elected to the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...

as a Republican representing

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...

as a Republican.Oregon Legislative Assembly (27th) 1913 Regular Session.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on February 2, 2008. He returned to the House the following legislative session in 1915, but moved to the

Oregon State Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Sena ...

for the 1917 session. 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.Smith, William Carson
The Swedes of Oregon.
Retrieved on February 2, 2008. Olson also was the first person of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

ancestry to manage the campaign of an Oregon governor. Then on September 27, 1918, Olson was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court to replace Frank A. Moore by

Oregon Governor The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

James Withycombe James Withycombe (March 21, 1854 – March 3, 1919) was an English-American Republican politician who served as the 15th Governor of Oregon. Biography Withycombe was born to tenant farmers Thomas and Mary Ann Withycombe in Tavistock, England, ...

after Moore had died in office.Oregon Blue Book: Earliest Authorities in Oregon.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on February 2, 2008.Oregon State Archives: Governor's Records Guides.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on February 2, 2008. This term the ended on January 7, 1919 and Olson left the bench as

Alfred S. Bennett Alfred Silas Bennett (June 10, 1854 – November 28, 1925) was an American judge, educator, and attorney in Oregon. He was the 49th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving from 1919 to 1920. Previously he had served as a state circuit court ...

had won the fall election.

Later life

After leaving the court Olson then served as Oregon's code commissioner from 1919 to 1921, where he was charged with

standardizing In statistics, the standard score is the number of standard deviations by which the value of a raw score (i.e., an observed value or data point) is above or below the mean value of what is being observed or measured. Raw scores above the mean ...

the state's laws. The work produced from this was a two volume ''Oregon Laws'', published in 1920Legislative Research at the Oregon State Archives.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on February 2, 2008. After this he began private practice in Portland before dying in

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin Sturgeon Bay is a city in and the county seat of Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,646 at the 2020 Census. The city is well-known regionally for being the largest city of the Door Peninsula, after which the county is na ...

on March 1, 1952.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Conrad P. Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Republican Party Oregon state senators Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni 1882 births 1952 deaths People from Door County, Wisconsin American people of Swedish descent 20th-century American judges 20th-century American legislators