Herman Thorson (December 18, 1880 – December 11, 1960) was a

North Dakota Republican Party The North Dakota Republican Party is the North Dakota affiliate of the United States Republican Party. Its platform is conservative. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling North Dakota's at-large U.S. House seat, both U.S. S ...

politician who served as the Secretary of State of

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 ...

from 1941 to 1942. He first won election in 1940, but was defeated in 1942 by Thomas Hall, also a Republican. Before serving as Secretary of State, he served in the

North Dakota Senate The North Dakota Senate is the upper house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, smaller than the North Dakota House of Representatives. Per the state constitution, North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts appor ...

from 1929 to 1940.

Biography

Herman Thorson was born in 1880 on a farm near

Houston, Minnesota Houston is a city in Houston County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 997 at the 2020 census. History The community was named after Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas. In 1852, William McSpadden platted the or ...

. His parents were of

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

descent, and he was educated in the schools of Minnesota. He operated a creamery in Sheldon Township, Minnesota for three years before moving to a homestead in 1908 in

Adams County, North Dakota Adams County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,200. The county seat is Hettinger. The county was created on April 17, 1907, and organized one week later. It was named for John Quincy Ad ...

. He served on his township board, and was Chairman of the county board of the Farmer's Union before he began his legislative career in the

in 1928. He served in the Senate until 1940 when he was elected as the

North Dakota Secretary of State The North Dakota Secretary of State is an elected office in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The incumbent was Alvin A. Jaeger. Duties of the Secretary of State include being the custodian of the state's Great Seal and other official state docume ...

. He served in that position for just one two-year term; he was defeated in his bid for a second term. Thorson married Sophia Moen, also of Houston, and had one boy and three girls (Obert Thorson, Berget Arndorfer, Minnie Larson and Clarice Henrickson).North Dakota Blue Book, 1954 He died in

Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck () is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's second-most populous city, after Fargo. The city's population was 73,622 in the 2020 census, while its metropolitan popula ...

at the age of 79 in 1960.

Notes

1880 births 1960 deaths Secretaries of State of North Dakota Republican Party North Dakota state senators American people of Norwegian descent People from Adams County, North Dakota People from Houston, Minnesota 20th-century American politicians {{NorthDakota-politician-stub