This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Sorem, Ostrem, Mikkelsen, Swedin, Ousbye, Knudsen, Oudensen, Udneseth Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/wg.2ADE/1643.1.1 Message Board Post: Lea, Thanks so much for your reply. The info on Michael fills one of the gaps in my search. I was not aware that he had ten children, so that opens up some more doors. I have found a number of Sorem families in the Grundy county area and have wondered if they are all related in some fashion. My guess is that they are. The puzzle is trying to figure out how. Have you ever seen anything about a Lars Ole Sorem? He has been very elusive and came to the US later than the other three brothers. I did find him in a Ransom twp 1900 Census but haven't found anything else on him so far. He was born about 1838 in Norway. I don't have the obituary on Mons and would like to have it. It is possible Mons may have stayed with my father's family. My father was the son of Benjamin and was raised in the Ransom twp area in Minnesota. Ben had 12 children with Nellie Milton. My father was #3 of the twelve and they lived on a farm in the Worthington area until Ben retired in the 1930s. The reason I am interested in the naturalization is that Mons and Andrew immigrated as Nielsen. Mons from Ostreim and Andrew from Sorheim. They were shown at those locations in the 1865 Norway Census. In the 1880 Illinois Census they are shown as Mons Nelson and Andrew Nelson. I had been having a terrible time trying to find them in the Census and finally located them in the Digitalarkivet in the 1880 US Census of Norwegians in the US. I am curious to know when they adopted the last name of Sorem. They probably did it because there were so many Nelsons around and Sorem is different. It is logical since it was not uncommon for Norwegians to take the name of the farm from which they came. It could possibly show up in their naturalization papers. I really appreciate all of your assistance, Lea. Thanks, Kay