Oscar Solbert
Swedish-American general (1885–1958)
Oscar Nathaniel Solbert (originally Sohlberg; January 22, 1885 – April 16, 1958) was an American general, business executive and the first director of the George Eastman Museum.
Early life
Oscar Sohlberg was born in a little town in the north of Sweden on January 22, 1885, one of a family of five children whose parents were simple people of modest circumstances. His childhood days in Sweden left him with a lifelong interest in the country and everything Swedish. When Sohlberg was eight years old, his family emigrated to the United States and settled in Worcester, Massachusetts. Here, he supplemented the family income by the traditional method of peddling newspapers as well as teaching school at night and working in summer resorts during vacations to help pay for his own schooling.
West Point
After two years at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute he received an appointment to West Point. History does not record whether he had his heart set on being a soldier at this time, but in any case he graduated sixth in his class in 1910 (one year after George S. Patton) and, in accordance with custom, entered the elite Corps of Engineers. Following various tours of duty he returned to the Academy in 1914 as an instructor, and had among his pupils Cadet Eisenhower, who evidently profited from Sohlbert's instruction.
In March 1917, he legally changed the spelling of his surname to Solbert.
It was during his tour of duty at the Academy that he was married to Elizabeth Abernathy (November 20, 1895 – March 13, 1973).
The public source identifies “Oscar Solbert” as swedish-American general (1885–1958). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Oscar, Solbert and Swedish-American.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 11, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q1750309. VIAF identifies the subject as 304128276. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1885, 1958, 1910 and 1914.
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This entry incorporates text from “Oscar Solbert” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.