Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Edgren, August Hjalmar

EDGREN, August Hjalmar, author, b. in Wermland, Sweden, 18 Oct., 1840. He was graduated at the University of Upsala, and at the Royal military school of Sweden in 1860, came to the United States, and entered the 99th New York regiment as 2d lieutenant in January, 1862. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant, and in August, 1863, was assigned to the engineer corps. He afterward joined the regular army of Sweden, and served from February, 1864, till August, 1870, having been adjutant from July, 1869. He was a teacher of languages in Riverview academy in 1871-'2, instructor in French, German, and Sanskrit in Yale from 1874 till 1880, and lecturer on Sanskrit in the University of Lund, Sweden, from 1880 till 1884, when he became professor of modern languages and Sanskrit in Nebraska university. He is a member of various learned societies, and is the author of numerous papers relating to Sanskrit, Romance, and Germanic philology, and of value to scholars, which have appeared at various times from 1867-'86 in Sweden, England, and the United States. Among his numerous publications are a Swedish translation of Longfellow's “Evangeline” (Göteborg, 1875); a “German and English Dictionary,” with Prof. W. D. Whitney (New York and London, 1877); a work in Swedish on “The Literature of America” (Göteborg, 1878), and on “The Public Schools and Colleges of the United States” (Upsala, 1879); “Swedish Literature in America” (Sweden, 1883); and “American Antiquities” (1885).