Samuel A. Siverts

Biography:

Samuel A. Siverts (1854-1941) was born in Bergen, Norway on November 22, 1854 and immigrated in 1870. He settled in Northfield, Minnesota where he began his banking career with Harold Thorson, who would establish the Bank of Kensington in 1898. Siverts married Anna Lysne of Northfield in 1879 and the couple had three sons (Samuel A.Jr, Ing T., and John S.) and one daughter.

When the Bank of Kensington opened in the fall of 1898 Siverts was assigned as cashier. The Siverts family moved to Morris, MN in the summer of 1899 where he worked at the Citizens Bank (also a Thorson bank) for over 25 years. Although he resided in Kensington only a few months, Siverts played a significant role in both the bank's establishment and the initial study of the Kensington rune stone. Siverts passed away at his daughter's home in Grand Rapids, Minnesota on February 3, 1941 and is buried at Northfield.

Siverts, a calligrapher, is credited with rendering a sketch of the Kensington Rune Stone inscription for Prof. Breda's evaluation. Soon after the stone's discovery he, along with John Wedum, Sam Olson, and Charles Lillyquist (all local businessmen) brought the stone from the Ohman farm to Kensington where it was placed in the new bank building.