Stageberg was born January 30, 1877, in Badger, Iowa to Norwegian immigrants Ole Williamson and Krista Scargaard.[1][2][4] Growing up, she attended various rural country schools, including Tobin College and Jewell Lutheran College.[1][2][4] Stageberg eventually became a teacher for rural areas and a reporter for the Fort Dodge Messenger.[1][2]
On June 29, 1898, Stageberg married Olaf O. Stageberg, a professor of mathematics and languages.[1][2][4] In 1907, the couple move to Forest City, Iowa where she was the dean of women at Waldorf College while Olaf taught there.[1][2][4] The couple moved to Red Wing, Minnesota for Olaf to teach at Red Wing Seminary, where Stageberg encouraged the seminary to admit women, which they did start in 1914.[1][2][4]
Throughout the 1920s, Stageberg wrote and edited for various newspapers, including the "Kitchen Column" in farmers-owned newspapers and "As a Woman Sees it" in the Minnesota Leader.[2][4] She also became the editor of the weekly newspaper The Organized Farmer, where she criticized business and government policies she felt harmed farmers.[2][5]
In 1920, Staeberg joined the Nonpartisan League before giving a speech in 1922 supporting the creation of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, which led to her being dubbed the "Mother of Farmer-Labor."[1][2] She then ran for Minnesota secretary of state in 1922 in the Farmer-Labor Party, becoming the first woman to run for that office, running against Republican incumbent Mike Holm and Democrat Claude Swanson.[1][2][3] Stageberg came in second with 37% of the vote, to Holm's 52%.[3] Stageberg would run for secretary of state against Holm in 1924 and 1928 and would come in second place both times with 35% and 18%, respectively.[1][2][3]
The last time Stageberg ran in the Farmer-Labor party was in the primary for the at-large US House of Representatives seat but lost, receiving only 2.62% of the vote.[1][2][3] In April 1944, the Farm-Labor party merged with the Democrat party, which Stageberg vehemently opposed, believing the move would deteriorate the socialist wing of the new party.[1][6] In 1950, she left the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party saying the party was run by "Wall Street monopolists and professional militarists."[2] The same year, nominated by petition, Stageberg ran for Minnesota lieutenant governor and lost, coming in third with 1.89% of the vote.[1][2][3]
Personal life
Stageberg and her husband had five sons together.[1][2][4] She was a devoted member of the Lutheran Church and taught Sunday school for over 50 years.[1][2]
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