Sorry for taking so long to reply but when I
get into the family history it seems to swallow my time especially on the pc so I tend to leave it for a while. My grandmother was actually born in Mellen Wisconsin. Her dad John Johnsen Hjelle was born and raised in Stryn,Sogne og Fjorde. The Hjelle Name actually refers to the farm their family lived. It would be another way of identifying them. There would be a lot of Johns who John's sons. It would however indicate that some where along the way they might have coworkers or even in some cases relatives I'm sure. I don't know what your family experience is but I'm getting the picture of a family who were not great communicators. I'm sort of curious to find out if this a Norwegian trait or not.