Edvard Liljedahl

Edvard Apolloniussen Liljedahl (6 August 1845, in Vik - 10 October 1924) was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. He was a member of the Council of State Division in Stockholm in 1889, and Minister of Education and Church Affairs in 1912-1913. Liljedahl died on 10 October 1924 in Vik and was buried there. Biography Edvard Liljedahl was born to Apollonius Liljedahl and Britha Olsdotter Hopperstad in 1845. He received his degree from the Balestrand Teacher's School in 1864 and another from the Stord Seminary in 1866. For a year, he taught school in Leikanger. He also worked as an office clerk for a justice of the peace. On 18 October 1869, Liljedahl married Barbra Einarsdotter Ramsli. They were the first couple to be married in the newly built church in Kyrkjebø. They were the parents of Army general Einar Liljedahl. He sang in the church choir and was the first educated teacher in Kyrkjebø, where he worked from 1867 until 1889. He then went on to become a member of the cabinet in Stockholm from 6 March 1889, until 13 July 1889. Liljedahl later became postmaster in Aalesund in 1891, and then Bergen in 1901. After retiring in 1904 he moved to his property Røytehola (officially Fredheim) in Kyrkjebø. He cleared the land himself during his time as a parish clerk and a member of parliament, and rented it out when he lived in Ålesund and Bergen. On a visit to Vik, he purchased the Havnen farm from hotel owner Hopstock and moved to Vik in 1905. He sold the Røytehola property to a quartermaster sergeant named Mo. Agriculture When he took over the property, the Havnen farm consisted of only a barn, a summer cow barn, and a bathhouse. Liljedahl had to build a farmhouse, cow barn, and a stall. He cultivated more land in Havnen and planted a large number of fruit trees (about 250) of which, about half were pear and the rest were apple and cherry. These trees became an important source of income for him in Havnen. In addition to Røytehola which had been cleared and planted with fruit trees, he also had another farm in Østrem which he sold, and an additional farm farther out in Sogn. In Sogn he planted many plants and also tended the parish garden in Eivindvik.