Roseau Times-Region - Serving Roseau County for over 100 Years - The Official Roseau County Newspaper

In 2002 my friend Lavonne Johnson and I took a trip to Norway, and what are the odds? My old relative on the Wingness side named Mickel Vigdnes had a birthday on March 4th the same day that we flew out of Minneapolis. That just doesn't happen. Especially when I didn't even know who Mickel Vigdnes was. He came to the United States with the name Vigdnes, a registered Norwegian name to this day. Vig must have sounded like Wing in Norwegian. Fifteen generations of ancestry found by Neal Johnson, my friend Lavonne Johnson's husband, who is a pro when it comes to research.

Backing up a bit, Lavo...