Ole Hovelsen Mustad (12 March 1810 – 24 February 1884) was a Norwegian businessperson and politician. He was instrumental in shaping the company O. Mustad & Søn, and served one term in the

Norwegian Parliament 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 ...

Biography

He was born in

Vardal Vardal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now divided between Gjøvik Municipality and Vestre Toten Municipality in the traditional district ...

as the son of Kari Tollefsdatter Bjørnstad (1782–1858) and her second husband Haavel Eriksen Kaas (1784–1849). In 1843 he took over the company ''Brusveen Spiger- og Staaltraadfabrikk'', founded by his father-in-law

Hans Schikkelstad Hans Hansen Schikkelstad (4 September 1789 – 29 March 1843) was a Norwegian farmer, businessperson and politician. He was the founder of the business which became O. Mustad & Søn. Hans Schikkelstad was born in the parish of Vardal in the pre ...

in 1832. It was located along the river

Hunnselva Hunnselva is a river in Innlandet and Viken counties in Norway. The long river is located mostly in Innlandet county, but the headwaters are actually just over the border in Viken county. The river generally flows north and it runs through the ...

in Vardal. Upon the takeover, Ole Mustad changed the name of the company to ''O. Mustad''. He gradually expanded from wire and nail production to running a foundry and a sawmill. In 1874 his son

Hans Mustad Hans Mustad (26 January 1837 – 27 February 1918) was a Norwegian businessperson. He was instrumental in shaping the company O. Mustad & Søn. Mustad was born in Vardal as the son of Ole Hovelsen Mustad. He was a brother of Kristian Mauri ...

became co-owner, and the company name was changed to O. Mustad & Søn. The nail production was moved to

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

in 1876; instead the factory at Vardal started specializing in

fish hook A fish hook or fishhook, formerly also called angle (from Old English ''angol'' and Proto-Germanic ''*angulaz''), is a hook used to catch fish either by piercing and embedding onto the inside of the fish mouth (angling) or, more rarely, by impal ...

production.Timeline
- Mustad.noHistory
- Mustad Eiendom The company eventually became the world's largest producer of fish hooks. Like his father-in-law, Ole Hovelsen Mustad was involved in politics. He was elected to the

in 1854, representing the constituency of Kristians Amt. He only served one term.Ole Hovelsen Mustad
— Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) Ole Mustad was also the local police sergeant (''lensmann'') in Vardal from 1834 to 1857. He died in 1884, only years before the company started expanding abroad. The company was eventually passed on to the five sons of Hans Mustad (1837–1918) who had been co-owners since 1905. Another of Ole Mustad's sons, Kristian Mauritz Mustad (1848–1913), became involved in national politics and worked as a jurist; so did his son Sigbjørn Mustad (1897–1970).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mustad, Ole Hovelsen 1810 births 1884 deaths Members of the Storting Politicians from Gjøvik Norwegian company founders People from Gjøvik