Michelet Family of Norway

Descended from the Michelets of Metz

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Introduction:

The Michelets in Norway are descended from two Huguenot brothers, Jacob (Jacques) and Paul Michelet, who came to Norway from Metz in the mid-1600s. Metz, Alsace, Lorraine, France, is one of those places that changed countries now and then and so sometimes you'll find Metz listed as part of Germany.

As part of my family research I ended up tracking down nearly everyone with the surname Michelet in Norway up to the year 1900. Nearly all descend from Paul Michelet of Metz. The Michelets in Norway were very frequently in the military, or in administrative roles. There also seemed to be a strong thread of artist/artisan with craftsman, writers, and music teachers. There were also quite a number of lawyers and politicians. At some point the Michelets were said to be nobility, though who and when I did not specifically find. The main area they were from was Trøgstad in Østfold, Norway with a large farm named Solberg being one of the main family homes. Other primary areas the Michelets lived were Halden in Østfold, Enebakk in Askerhus, and Oslo.

The St. Croix River left bank Pine County, Minnesota right bank Burnett County, Wisconsin

My own search into the Michelet families of Norway started with immigrant pioneers in 1870 in the very wild woods and prairies of Burnett County, Wisconsin, USA. This is in north-western Wisconsin along the St. Croix River which forms the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. A great many of my relatives come from there, and I grew up just across the river from Burnett County in Pine County, Minnesota. I came across the Michelet name while trying to trace the ancestry of my Dahl ancestors. In the 1870 census appeared my gggrandfather Peter J. Dahl and his wife, whose name we only knew as Bergitta, born in Norway about 1840. In this census, however, she was listed as Jacobine B., and in the same household, marked as being part of the same family, was a 62-year-old man named F. Michelet, born in Norway. Bergitta's husband was Swedish, so it appeared F. Michelet was tied to Bergitta, or Jacobine Bergitta.

Ultimately I found  Jacobine Bergitta's correct ancestry (from Hadsel, Norway, not online yet), and it didn't tie to the Michelets, at least not any way I've found yet. So, the mystery remains as to why Fredrick Michelet and his daughter were living with my ancestors in Wisconsin.

In the process of my hunt for my own family ties, I ended up gathering an extensive collection of genealogical information on nearly all of the descendents of Paul Michelet, the Huguenot from Metz. That information is presented here, with links to several related family lines. There are certainly some errors contained herein, though I've checked and cross-checked everything as far as possible with available sources. Naturally, the further back you go in time in this genealogy, the greater the uncertainty factor.

There are 207 people with the surname Michelet presented here.

I mix Norwegian and American spellings of family and place names throughout--more a matter of keyboard characters available when I entered the data than any special preferences, likewise use of place name abbreviations. Also the spelling of a number of names and place names changed through time. Some variations used are:

Norge = Norway

Table of Contents

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• Selected Families/Individuals
• Surname List
• Name Index

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Deb's Family History Main page

Surnames: Bollaugsen - Dahl - Michelet - Hegge-Rask - Lee (Lie) - Houdek-Kotek-Sauter-Kinzel

Burnett Co., Wisconsin Cemeteries: Pleasant Prairie, St. Olaf, Wood River, Benson, Logging Creek, Riverside Cemetery, Grantsburg

This web site produced 09 Apr 2003 by Ancestry Family Tree, a product of Incline Software, LC.