Asbjørn Kloster

Asbjørn Kloster (21 December 1823 – 18 January 1876) was a Norwegian educator, social reformer and leader of the Norwegian temperance movement in the 19th century.

Background Asbjørn Olsen Kloster was born on the island of Vestre Bokn in the parish of Bokn in Stavangers Amt (county) in Norway. His ancestors were farmers on the islands in the Boknafjord. He grew up on the Boknaberg farm. His parents were farmer (and later merchant) Ole Endresen (1795–1883) and Martha Asbjørnsdatter Kloster (1800–1880). At eight years of age, he was sent to live with an aunt on the farm Vik at Rennesøy. He was married to Marie Elisabeth Knudsen from 1861.

Career After his confirmation, Kloster moved to Stavanger, where his parents had relocated. Kloster worked as a salesman, first at his father's shop and later for others. During the period from 1842 to 1845, Kloster came in contact with the Religious Society of Friends movement in Stavanger. Kloster wrote several textbooks himself, including a catechism, a reader and English textbooks. The following year he began to publish the Norwegian-language temperance magazine , At the time of Kloster's death in 1876, DNT had a total of 7,000 members, distributed among 40 local chapters. The Stavanger chapter had around 1,600 members. A street in the Storhaug borough of Stavanger was named after him in 1903. He is buried at , the Quaker cemetery, in Stavanger.