Knute Nelson
Knute Nelson, also known as Knud Evanger (February 2, 1843 – April 28, 1923) was a Norwegian-American attorney and politician active in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. A Republican, he served in state and national positions: he was elected to the Wisconsin and Minnesota legislatures, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the US Senate from Minnesota, and he served as the 12th Governor of Minnesota. He was the first Scandinavian-born American to be elected to the US Senate He is known for promoting the Nelson Act of 1889 to consolidate the Ojibwe/Chippewa in Minnesota on a western reservation in the state, and require the breakup of their communal land by allotting it to individual households, with sales of the remainder to anyone, including non-natives. This was similar to the Dawes Act of 1887, which had applied to Native American lands in the Indian Territory.