John Rustgard was born in Beldstaden, Norway, October 21, 1863.

His parents were Andrens Hoe and Anne (Maere) Rustgard.

He married Alice Jane Adeane on April 25, 1903. Alice died on May 30, 1923.

He married Josephine Halvorsen on June 24, 1926.

John Rustgard came to the United States in 1881. He became a U.S. citizen and earned an L.L.B. from the University of Minnesota in 1890. He was admitted to the Minnesota bar the same year. He practiced at Minneapolis, Tower, and Duluth, Minnesota 1890-1899, Nome, Alaska, 1900-1909, and Juneau from 1909.

He was associate city attorney of Duluth, 1897-1898. He was mayor of Nome 1903-1904 and U.S. district attorney 1st Division of Alaska, 1910-1914, Attorney General of Alaska, 1921-1933.

He wrote the following books:

The Problem of Poverty, 1935, revised 1936

Bottom Side Up and Other Essays, 1936

Sharing the Wealth, 1937

International Vagaries, 1939

Our Sacred Cow and the New World Order, 1941

The Bankruptcy of Liberalism, 1942

His home was in Babson Park, Florida (as of 1949).