Lauritz Jenssen (25 March 1837 – 7 June 1899) was a

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 ...

businessperson and politician. A part of a notable business family based in and around

Trondhjem Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

, Jenssen founded Ranheims Papirfabrik, and also served one term in the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

Personal life

He was born in

Ranheim Ranheim is a neighbourhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the borough of Østbyen. The neighbourhood approximately to the east of the centre of Trondheim. It comprises Olderdalen, Væretrøa, Reppe, and ...

as a son of businessman

Lauritz Dorenfeldt Jenssen Lauritz Dorenfeldt Jenssen (4 February 1801 – 7 June 1859) was a Norwegian businessperson. He was born in Throndhjem as the son of businessman Matz Jenssen (1760–1813) and his wife Anna, née Schjelderup Dorenfeldt (1763–1846). His old ...

(1801–1859) and his wife Karen Amalie Hagerup (1811–1890). He was a brother-in-law of Jens Jenssen, grandson of businessman Matz Jenssen and nephew of Jens Nicolai and Hans Peter Jenssen.''Personalhistorie for Trondhjems by og omegn i et tidsrum af circa 1 1/2 aarhundrede''
by Chr. Thaulow. Hosted by Trondheim public library. Through his mother he was a first cousin of Prime Minister

Francis Hagerup George Francis Hagerup (22 January 1853 – 8 February 1921) was a Norwegian law professor, diplomat, politician for the Conservative Party and women's rights advocate. He was the 7th prime minister of Norway from 1895 to 1898 and from 1903 ...

, and nephew of

Henrik Steffens Hagerup Henrik Steffens Hagerup (23 April 1806 – 29 May 1859) was a Norway, Norwegian Royal Norwegian Navy, naval officer and politician who served as Minister of the Navy (Norway), Minister of the Navy from 1856 to 1859 with certain interruptions ...

. In March 1862 Jenssen married Jørgine Wilhelmine Darre (1842–1910). She was a daughter of Bishop Hans Jørgen Darre and hailed from Klæbo.Genealogical entry
for Lauritz Dorenfeldt Jenssen Their sons

Hans Jørgen Darre-Jenssen Hans Jørgen Darre-Jenssen (22 June 1864 – 26 June 1950) was a Norwegian engineer and politician for the Free-minded Liberal Party. He was the Minister of Labour from 1910 to 1912, and thereafter served as director of the Norwegian State Ra ...

and Worm Hirsch Darre-Jenssen both entered national politics; serving as

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

in the early twentieth century. Another son Lauritz Jenssen Dorenfeldt was a notable engineer, and had a son also named Lauritz Jenssen Dorenfeldt, a notable jurist and a daughter Margot Dorenfeldt Holtan, who in 1919 became the first woman to graduate as

chemical engineer In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is a professional, equipped with the knowledge of chemical engineering, who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the ...

from Norwegian Institute of Technology.

Career

Ranheim, the farm where Lauritz Jenssen was born, had been bought by his father in 1834. He enrolled as a student in 1854, and after graduating in machine engineering from the Polytechnische Schule Karlsruhe in 1860, Lauritz Jenssen returned to Norway. His mother, who, being a widow, had run the farm for one year, but Jenssen became manager in 1860 and owner in 1867. The farm also featured a mill and a

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

for

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

. The mills were closed in 1897. He instead founded the

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...

factory Ranheim Cellulosefabrik, with construction starting in 1882 and operation in 1884. In 1890–1891 it was reorganized into the

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

Ranheims Papirfabrik. Jenssen served as its technical director for some years, but the factory struggled financially and it was taken over by Christian Christophersen in 1894. Ranheim farm was not a part of the deal, and Jenssen died there in June 1899. He was elected to the

in 1880, representing the constituency of Søndre Trondhjems Amt. He only served one term. He also served as mayor of Strinden municipality in 1888 and 1889, and was a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

for many years, starting in 1870. Jenssen co-founded and chaired the local branch of the Association of Hunters and Anglers. He was also among the proponents for the establishment of the

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was m ...

. It was rejected during his lifetime but finally established in 1910.

Legacy

Jenssen was a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

from 1869, and was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

and as a Knight of the

Order of Vasa The Royal Order of Vasa () is a Swedish order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III. It was u ...

. A street in Strinda was named after him in 1932. The factory he founded still exists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenssen, Lauritz 1837 births 1899 deaths People from Trondheim Norwegian people of Danish descent Norwegian company founders Papermakers Mayors of places in Sør-Trøndelag Members of the Storting Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Knights of the Order of Vasa