Susie W. Stageberg was born on a farm near Bader, Iowa on January 30, 1877, the daughter of Ole and Kristi (Sagaard) Williamson. In her early years she taught rural schools in Iowa and was a reporter for the Fort Dodge Messenger . She married (1898) Olaf O. Stageberg, a mathematics professor, and later moved to Red Wing, Minnesota, where Olaf joined the Red Wing Seminary faculty.
Susie Stageberg was active in church, community, and temperance affairs. Her political activities began in the Nonpartisan League and, in the 1920s, she became a founder of the Farmer-Labor Party. She was the Farmer-Labor candidate for secretary of state in 1922, 1924, and 1928, and for Congress in 1932. In 1950 she was a candidate for lieutenant governor on the Progressive ticket.
As a journalist she revitalized The Organized Farmer of Red Wing; authored a column, "As a Woman Sees It," which appeared in the Minnesota Leader, Willmar Tribune, and other Minnesota newspapers; and a column, "This and That," which appeared in the Norwegian Minnesota Posten . She died in Red Wing on March 15, 1961.
Biographical information was taken from the papers.
From the guide to the Susie Stageberg papers., 1881-1961., (Minnesota Historical Society)
