E. E. Lobeck

Engebret Engebretsen "E. E." Lobeck (11 October 1864 – 30 October 1922) was a Norwegian-American politician who served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1907 to 1911 and in the Minnesota Senate from 1915 to 1919, representing Douglas and Pope counties.

A member of the Prohibition Party, Lobeck ran for the office of governor of Minnesota on the party's ticket in 1912, where he received 9.38% of the vote. In his 1914 winning bid for state Senator, he ran under the status of nonpartisanship, and in 1918 he ran as a member of the National Party.

Born in Trysil, Norway in 1864, Lobeck moved to Minnesota as a child and grew up on a Douglas County farm. He was educated in several Lutheran institutions and began his speaking on prohibition in 1890, moving to Farwell three years later. He married Martha Nordby in 1896, with whom he had six children.

Lobeck moved back to Douglas County in 1902, settling in Alexandria. His political leanings aligned closely with that of the Nonpartisan League, and shortly after the organization reached Alexandria he became one of their directors. Lobeck published two works; one a set of poems, the other a story about temperance.

Lobeck's political career and campaigning lasted for around two decades. He ran for the office of US Representative thrice, Minnesota Representative twice, and governor of Minnesota and Minnesota Senator once each. He died of natural causes in 1922.

Early life and education E. E. Lobeck and his family at their household near Alexandria in 1900. Lobeck was born in the Norwegian commune of Trysil on 11 October 1864. Three years later, he and his family moved to the state of Minnesota, where he would be raised on a farm near Holmes City until moving to Farwell in 1893. He attended the private Minneapolis high school Wraaman's Academy. He then attended the Lutheran educational institutions of Augsburg Seminary in Minneapolis and Willmar Seminary in Willmar before taking a one-term Norwegian literature class at State University. In 1890, he would give up life as a farmer to become a speaker on temperance and prohibition.

Prohibition

1,289 57.39% — 1st

Gain Lobeck lost the election, which would be the last in which he was a candidate, to incumbent Republican Andrew Volstead. He came out of the election with 43.7% of the vote.

Personal life Lobeck with the Farwell Concert Band at the Oscar Lake Lutheran Church in 1916 for its 50th anniversary. He is in the second row, sixth from right. Lobeck was a member of the Swedish Augustana synod. They had five daughters together, Evangeline, Dagny, Constance, Martha, and Genevieve, as well as one son, Torarin.

After becoming a prohibition-speaker, he took on the secondary role of a Church singer and instructor. He moved to Alexandria in 1902. His views were similar to the left-wing Nonpartisan League party, whereof he was a director. Starting in around July 1922, Lobeck worked as a lecturer and field secretary for the World's Purity Foundation. Lobeck died from heart complications on 30 October 1922.