Carl Frederick Solberg was born in Kristiania (Oslo), Norway, in 1833. As a young boy he attended the Soroe Academy where he learned English, German, and French. His family left for America in 1853. His father became the director of the Oleana Settlement in Potter County, Pennsylvania, which did not succeed. They moved west to Wisconsin and Carl got a position with the Norwegian paper "Emigranten," becoming its editor in 1857 and publisher in 1860. Carl adopted as motto for the paper “no slavery for Black or White.” During the Civil War, he traveled with the "Norwegian Regiment" as correspondent for the paper. In 1872 he founded another Norwegian paper, "Minnesota," in Minneapolis. He held various public offices in Minnesota and Wisconsin until retirement in 1883. He then went into the insurance business in Milwaukee. He died in 1924 at the age of 91.