Iral Conrad NelsonIral Conrad Nelson (1900-1994), principal author was born and raised on a farm near Gordonsville, Minnesota. He attended the local public schools which were limited to Grammar School and two years of High School. Later he learned the accounting businss through a correspondence course. He followed banking for some years, and in 1943 he established his own public accounting practice in Eugene, Oregon which he continued until his retirement in 1981. His paternal grandparents had emigrated from Norway to Minnesota in 1852, and he was always interested in the Norwegian language and culture. He became reasonably fluent in Norwegian through study of the language on Linguaphone audio records. His associates at the Sons of Norway Lodge told him that he would do well speaking with the natives in Norway. His maternal grandfather emigrated from South Wales to Pennsylvania in about 1820. His maternal grand-mother was born in western Pennsylvania and was likely a mix of Scotch-Irish and German, but with a touch of Native American from the 1700's. (His grandmother once told his older brother, "You got more Indian in you than you think you have." The latter likely had some influence on the treatment of Native Americans in the story. His idea for the Viking"s Last Voyage apparently came from reading of The Riddle of the Kensington Stone published in the Reader's Digest, November 1948. The runic writing on the Kensington Runestone purports to provide evidence of Scandinavians in Minnesota in the 14th century. Read More Read Less