Niels Andreas Vibe

Who was Niels Andreas Vibe?

Niels Andreas Vibe was a Norwegian military officer and civil and royal servant. He served as County Governor of Nordre Bergenhus Amt from 1802 to 1811, as General War Commissioner of Norway from 1811 to 1814, and as chamberlain to King Christian Frederick of Norway from 1814.

He was born in Rollag as a son of Major Johan Christian Vibe and Anne Cathrine Pihl. He was a brother of Johan Vibe and Ditlev Wibe. In October 1795 in Christianssand he married Margery Kierulf. They had the son Ludvig Vibe and the daughter Henriette Gislesen. Another daughter Line Vibe married Heinrich Arnold Thaulow, who was her second cousin. Niels Andreas Vibe was also a great-grandfather of Henrik Dedichen and Carl Looft.

He graduated from the Free School of Mathematics in 1780, and started serving in a dragoon regiment. Already from 1781 he worked for the institution that many years later became known as the Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority, notably with triangulation. He became Commissary of War in Vesterlenske distrikt in 1795, and in the Diocese of Christianssand in 1798. From 1802 to 1811 he served as County Governor of Nordre Bergenhus Amt.