Severt O. Tang, born on August 26, 1866, in Wauzeka, Wisconsin, became the county superintendent of schools in Moorhead, Minnesota. The son of Ole and Sophia Tang, he moved to Clay County, Minnesota, in 1879. After graduating from the State Normal School in Moorhead in 1896, Tang taught in various Minnesota schools and served as principal in Audubon and New York Mills. Elected county superintendent in 1908, Tang was also active in local government and community organizations. He was a Republican and a member of the Norwegian Synod of the Lutheran Church.
Severt O. Tang, county superintendent of schools, Moorhead, Minnesota, came from Wauzeka, Crawford county, Wisconsin, where he was born August 26, 1866, the son of Ole and Sophia Tang, who moved to Albert Lea, Minnesota, when our subject was two years of age. In 1879 they moved to Clay county and settled on a farm of eighty acres, which they took as a homestead and spent the remainder of their lives there. Both died in the year 1904 — Mr. Tang at the age of seventy-five years and his wife at the age of seventy-two. The farm acreage had been increased to 200 acres and is now owned by Severt O. and two other brothers, Henry M. and Christian Tang, who occupies the home.
Severt O. Tang is the sixth child of a family of twelve, of whom six are living. , His father was chairman of the township board, was school director for a number of years and treasurer of the board for ten years. After finishing his education in the public schools of Albert Lea and Lake Park, Minnesota, Severt O. entered the State Normal School at Moorhead, Minnesota, where he took the Latin course and graduated in 1896. He then taught in the schools of Clay, Becker and Otter Tail counties for twelve years, for three years as principal of the graded schools of Audu-bon, Minnesota, and was later principal of the graded schools of New York Mills, Minnesota, for four years, until June, 1908, when he be-came a candidate for the office of county superintendent of schools of Clay county, and was elected for the two-year term by a large majority, receiving all but forty-two votes at the general election.
Mr. Tang has been a member of the Educational Association since 1901, was assessor of Eglon township for five years, justice of the peace for twelve years and census taker in 1905. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Norwegian Synod of the Lutheran church.
Source
C.F. Cooper & Company, History of the Red River Valley, Past And Present: Including an Account of the Counties, Cities, Towns And Villages of the Valley From the Time of Their First Settlement And Formation, volumes 1-2; Grand Forks: Herald printing company, 1909.