Thomas Ostenson Stine

Thomas Ostenson Stine was an early twentieth-century writer associated with Seattle and the Scandinavian-American world of the Pacific Northwest. His best-known book, Scandinavians on the Pacific, Puget Sound, was published around 1900 and later expanded, presenting a lively account of Scandinavian settlement and influence in Washington.

The surviving record also shows that he wrote poetry as well as history. Library and public-domain listings connect him with books including Echoes from Dreamland, Heaven on Earth, and Other Poems, and Additional Poems, suggesting a writer who moved comfortably between documentary writing and verse.

A later local history source says he had lived in St. Paul and Portland before coming to Seattle, and it notes that his obituary appeared in The Seattle Times in January 1915. Even in the limited record that remains, his writing stands out for preserving the stories of Scandinavian communities in the Puget Sound region during a period of rapid growth and change.