Scarville, IA - Mayor's Office

Ole Scar was born August 11, 1844 in Bang, Norway. When he was 12 years of age, he started out to earn his own living as clerk in a store, where he remained for about 5 years. He felt the lack of education, however, for his advantages in that direction had been very limited, and he resolved to devote himself to making intellectual progress. He petitioned for admittance to the Sergeant Military School at Christiana, Norway and graduated with first honors in 1866 with the rank of sergeant. He did not wish to devote his life to military affairs so he secured his discharge with permission to emigrate to America. However, he had to file three more petitions before he received his permission. He sailed for the new world in July 1868, when he was not quite 25 years old.