Olaus Michael Schmidt

Schmidt was born in Trondhjem[1] as the son of Claus Pedersen Schmidt and Johanne Christine Beck.[2] Claus was originally from Flensborg in Slesvig. Olaus had several brothers, including the Constitutional Founding Father Peter Schmidt, Jr..[3]

In 1816 he married Sophie Magdalene Carite Sommerfeldt, who hailed from Østre Toten. She was the daughter of Christian Sommerfeldt and Anna Sophie Hagerup.[2] On the paternal side she was a niece of politician Ole Hannibal Sommerfeldt and an aunt of Karl Linné Sommerfeldt and priest and politician Christian Sommerfeldt. On the maternal side she was a first cousin of Wolfgang Wenzel von Haffner.

Olaus Michael Schmidt enrolled as a student in 1801, and graduated with the cand.theol. degree in 1806. He was hired as a school teacher, but left this job in 1810 to study law at the University of Copenhagen.[3] He graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1812.[1] He became an assessor in the district court of Christianssand in 1817, and was promoted to Chief Justice at the same place in 1828.[3] He had been elected to the Parliament of Norway in 1827, to represent his city. He only served one term.[4] In 1829 he became national Supreme Court Assessor.[1]

However, he was not finished on national political scene. On 22 January 1838 he was appointed Minister of Justice and the Police. He held this post until 1 July the same year, when he was appointed as a member of the Council of State Division in Stockholm. On 1 August 1839 he returned as Minister of Justice. On 1 September 1842 he returned to serve one year in Stockholm. He then got his third spell as Minister of Justice from 1 September 1843 to 1 April 1845. One final tenure in Stockholm followed; he then returned to Norway to become Minister of Finance and Customs from 1 May 1846 to 1 July 1847, and then Minister of Justice for the fourth time, from 1847 to 18 April 1848.[4] He then retired.[3]

Olaus Michael Schmidt died in 1851 in Töplitz, three years after the death of his wife.[2]