[1] He received a common school education and emigrated to the United States, settling in the town of Liberty, in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, in 1854.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, he volunteered for service in the Union Army with the 15th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, frequently referred to as the "Scandinavian Regiment" due to being mostly composed of recent Scandinavian American immigrants.

[2] Samuelson was commissioned second lieutenant of Company F in the regiment while it was being organized at Camp Randall, in Madison.

The 15th Wisconsin Infantry operated in the western theater of the war, and saw significant combat in Kentucky and Tennessee.

This article about a Republican Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly born in the 1820s is a stub.