Olav Paulssøn was a Norwegian bailiff, writer and politician.

He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament in 1859, representing the constituency of Nordre Bergenhus Amt

Sogn og Fjordane

is a county in Norway, bordering Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland. The county administration is in the town of Hermansverk in Leikanger municipality while the largest town is Førde....

. He lived in Jølster at the time, where he was bailiff from 1855 to 1860. In 1860 he was hired as CEO of Fylkesbaatane, and had to move to Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

. Here, he was among the founders of Vestmannalaget in 1868. Led by Henrik Krohn

Henrik Krohn

Henrik Krohn was a Norwegian poet, magazine editor and proponent for Nynorsk language. He was born in Bergen. Among his works is the poetry collection Smaakvæde from 1867. He founded the Nynorsk organization Vestmannalaget in 1868, and edited the organization's magazine Fraa by og bygd. A...

, Vestmannalaget was a Landsmål

Landsmål

Landsmål, meaning "language of the land/country", was the name Ivar Aasen gave the Norwegian orthography he created in the 19th century. In 1885 it was adopted as an official language in Norway alongside Danish. In 1929, Landsmål was renamed Nynorsk...

 association for Western Norway, and Paulssøn helped publish texts in this written form of the Norwegian language

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

. He was also a member of Bergen city council.

He was married to Anna Kristine Christofa Hagerup (1824–1917), and was the father of writer Andreas Paulson

Andreas Paulson

Andreas Paulson was a Norwegian bank accountant, literary critic and theatre critic.He was born in Bergen as the son of politician Olav Paulssøn and Anna Kristine Christofa Hagerup . His family had moved from Jølster the year before he was born, and Paulson spent most of his life in Bergen...

 and bookseller and publisher Ragnvald Paulson

Ragnvald Paulson

Paul Ragnvald Paulson was a Norwegian book publisher and politician for the Labour Party.He hailed from Bergen and was an older brother of Andreas Paulson...

.