Bio of MELBY, Peter O. (b.1857), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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Vol III, pg 204, 205
PETER O. MELBY
For more than a third of a century Peter O. Melby engaged in the furniture and
undertaking business in Minneapolis and whatever success he achieved or enjoyed
was attributable entirely to his own labors. His life record proved his force of
character and his adaptability in the business world, where he made for himself
a substantial name and place. Mr. Melby was born in Grue, Soloer, Norway, July
7, 1857, his parents being Ole P. and Mathia Melby. His education was acquired
in the schools of his native country and he there learned the trade of
cabinetmaking. He was a young man of about twenty-three years when he bade adieu
to friends and native country and came to the United States, going first to
Ohio, where he was employed by General Sher-man, distinguished Civil war hero.
In 1881 he arrived in Minneapolis, where he secured a clerkship with E. Edsten,
who was conducting a furniture and undertaking business and for whom he also did
cabinet work. He was thus employed for about six years, or until 1887, when he
felt that his capital and experience justified him in engaging in business on
his own account. In 1887, therefore, he opened a furniture and under­taking
establishment at No. 1105 Washington avenue, South, and conducted it to the time
of his demise, or for a period of thirty-four years. It was in his store that
Knute Hamsun studied American people and customs. He was a young man who had
come from Norway to the new world and, forming the acquaintance of Mr. Melby,
one of his fellow countrymen, he passed the greater part of his time in the
store, there collecting material for a book which he later published in his
native country. Mr. Hamsun is today one of the noted Norwegian writers. Mr.
Melby continued in the active manage­ment of his business, building up a
substantial trade, and his reliability and sterling worth made him one of the
representative merchants of the city.
In 1884 Mr. Melby was united in marriage to Miss Julia Kjellrud, a daughter of
Herman and Ellen Kjellrud, who were natives of Rygge, Norway. They became
parents of four children: Edla; Adolf; Olga, the wife of John H. Schroeder of
Stillwater, Minnesota; and Stella, the wife of Dr. Frank G. Hess of Chicago.
Mr. Melby was always deeply interested in Scandinavian affairs and exerted a
widely felt influence for good over his associates who came from the land of his
nativity. He belonged to the Sons of Norway and he also had membership with the
Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he was a
lifelong republican and he was a member of the Bethel Lutheran church. It was on
the 17th of December, 1921, that he was called to his final rest.