Ole Gabriel Ueland (28 October 1799 – 9 January 1870) 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 ...

political leader and member of 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 base ...

(1833–1869). Historians credit him with having popularized politics in rural Norway, paving the way for individuals of limited backgrounds to rise to positions of political importance. Ueland was the son of Gabriel Osmundsen (1760–1843) and his wife Ingeborg Osmundsdatter Skaaland (1764–1816). Ueland was born on the Skåland farm in Lund parish in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

, Norway. Ueland was raised in the traditional district of

Dalane Dalane is a traditional district in the southwestern part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities of Lund, Sokndal, Eigersund, and Bjerkreim. Dalane is one of the 15 districts in Western Norway. It sits to the southeast of the very flat Jæ ...

, a region characterized by small farms and an environment influenced by the

Haugean The Haugean movement or Haugeanism ( no, haugianere) was a Pietistic state church reform movement intended to bring new life and vitality into the Church of Norway which had been often characterized by formalism and lethargy. The movement emp ...

Movement (''haugianere''). Although his formal education had been limited to random local lessons, he had proven an unusual aptitude for learning and an appetite for reading. From 1817 until 1825, Ueland was a schoolteacher in Lund parish. He had by way of marriage acquired the Uelnd farm (''Ueland i Heskestad''). By 1827, he was installed as the sexton in the local church at

Heskestad Heskestad is a village in Lund municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located in the western part of Lund, along the European route E39 highway and the Sørlandet Line, about northwest of the village of Moi. Heskestad Stati ...

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

parish. From 1827 to 1852 he was a teacher in Heskestad, before he became sheriff (1852–1856). He was elected to the

in 1833, representing the rural constituency of ''Stavanger Amt'' (now

). He remained a parliament member until 1869, having been re-elected thirteen times.Ole Gabriel Gabrielsen Ueland
— Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) He became the leader for the peasant and farmer's movement in politics and earned respect for his deliberate and wise political outlook.

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

wrote of him: :''Though he is a farmer behind his plough'' :''and a sailor in his boat'' :''he thought as well as anyone'' :''in all the King's council'' : :''When he met in parliament'' :''to promote the cause of farmers'' :''every word gave birth to a ray'' :''in the people's young day .''Poems and songs: by Bjornstjerne Bjornson
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References

1799 births 1870 deaths Members of the Storting Rogaland politicians 19th-century Norwegian politicians {{Norway-politician-1790s-stub