Corroborating Evidence that Thorsten Roan and Tosten Raaen are One

I’ve been reading Grass of the Earth for evidence that my wife’s great-grandfather, Thorsten Roan was born Tosten Raaen. It’s written by Tosten Raaen’s sister, Aagot Raaen, as a story of Norwegian settlers in 1800’s North Dakota and is quite interesting in it’s own right.

I borrowed the book from the library and as I waited for it to arrive I bought a used copy of Aagot Raaen’s autobiography, Measure of My Days. I had been holding off on skimming it in order to avoid spoiling Grass of the Earth, but I couldn’t manage. I checked the end finding nothing, then the postscript and found some of the evidence I sought: Tosten Raaen was killed in an automobile accident as was Thorsten Roan.