Dear Listers, I have a real challenge for you today which I have tried to solve for 35 years. Maybe now it’s time to finally figure out what happened to this guy? Jens Thorson Hauge, aka Jens or James Thompson (his father’s name was Thor Thomasson!), born in Luster Co., Norway Nov. 3, 1852, emigrated in 1868 to Blooming Prairie township, Dane Co, WI where he was a farm laborer with his aunt Betsy Johnson by the time of the 1870-census. He MAY be identical to a carpenter named Jens Thompson who lived single in Chicago, IL in 1880. Then when his mother died in Norway in 1904, Jens’ brother-in-law Torbjorn Heltne of Nelson, WI, an 1893 emigrant, wrote a letter to the probate court stating the following: «Jens Thompson had lived in Vernon Co., WI, then in La Crosse, WI, before moving to Minneapolis, MN. There he was married and did have a family, but about 1892 he left the family for Moorhead, MN, then on to Idaho, but he supposedly died at Spokane, WA about 1895». When I first tried to work on this challenge back in the early 1980’s, I had no records to consult trying to find out what really happened to Jens. Nowadays it should be easier, but is it possible to find out what the probate court never managed to find 113 years ago? What happened to Jens and what about his family in Minneapolis, MN? Ancestry.com shows these marriages in Hennepin Co., MN: ** James H. Thompson and Mary Carbine - married Nov. 15, 1885 ** James H. Thompson and Ella Smith - married Nov. 16, 1885 And I find a birth at the St. Paul Lutheran church in Minneapolis, MN on Nov. 1, 1886 of Christian, son of Jens Thomassen and wife Marit! But I have no idea whether any of these records pertain to «my» Jens! Let me add that Jens emigrated in 1868 along with a brother: Nels Thorson Hauge, aka Nels Thompson(?), born in Luster Co., Norway Mar. 4, 1845, but he supposedly had died prior to 1904 leaving no children! Any suggestions in regard to Jens/James Thompson will be very much appreciated! Thanks a million and again: a very happy syttendemai celebration to all of you! Very sincerely yours, Lars E Oyane