Hans Barlien

The recorded working language is Norwegian. Places of work recorded in the authority are Oslo. Positions recorded include member of the Parliament of Norway and deputy member of the Parliament of Norway. Distinctions recorded are Decoration of the Cross of Honour of the Dannebrog.

Barlien was born on 29 February 1772 in Overhalla, Nordre Trondheim county, Norway, to Anders Sørensen and Ane Hansdatter. On 24 November 1793, he married Kjerstine Einarsdatter Skistad (b. 1768) in Overhalla, daughter of Einar Skistad and Marie Sophie Christensdatter (1808–1897) in Sugar Creek, Iowa. Barlien was grandfather to Norwegian engineer Albert Fenger-Krog (1835–1904) and Norwegian politician Hans Konrad Foosnæs (1846–1917).

At the same time as his 1793 marriage, Barlien took over one of the Barli farms of Trondheim Cathedral. The parish priest Hans Blytt (1758–1805), together with Barlien, was the very first to provide vaccinations against smallpox in Norway. Blytt had imported lymph from Copenhagen and vaccinated first his own children, then members of the Barlien family. In May 1804 Hans Barlien moved with his wife and four children to Trondheim, where he bought a pottery located on Prinsens gate. He was later licensed as a watchmaker. Barlien was eager to improve the city's water supply, and initiated a new pump station and glass works on the farm Surviken, working together with Haugeans Otto Carlsen and Paul Anziøn. Barlien received the Dannebrogmændenes Hæderstegn on 28 June 1809 for his technological competence and skill. In 1812 Barlien bought the farm Ågård in Namdalseid for 7000 Norwegian rigsdaler, where he built and experimented with a gliding aircraft.

Barlien entered politics in 1814. He did not become a member of the Constituent Assembly, but was elected as a representative from Nordre Trondheim during the session 1815–1816 which became his only term in office. He was the only politician with farmer background who was represented in Lagtinget. The regulation of Norway's monetary system was the most important political issue that the Parliament dealt with in the 1815–16 period, and Barlien gave his point of view in a publication named Anmærkninger betræffende Pengevæsenet. En Nationalsag. Barlien wanted to maintain the Eidsvoll Warranty, claiming that "each citizen of the state, should, in relation to fortune, participate in the compliance of the Warranty". He was not reelected in the 1818 election. His liberal political and religious views had often put him at odds with both the clergy and the establishment. He could not run in 1820 or 1824 because of an ongoing trial against him. In an article in the periodical Det norske Nationalblad, Barlien presented his views on Norwegian constitutional law and his experiences as an MP. In that article, Barlien stated that the Norwegian people were the "producing and fabricating part of the state members".

• Flom, George T. (1909) A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States (Iowa City, Ia.) • Norlie, Olaf M. (1925) History of the Norwegian People in America (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House)