Genealogy workshop, author visit to take place at Norway Community Center

A genealogy workshop and author event will be at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, July 16, in Norway.

Cleng Peerson Lodge and the Norsk Museum are teaming up to host this program at the Norway Community Center.

The workshop is back by popular demand, with presenter Dave Johnson, board president of the Norsk Museum and a Slooper historian.

Johnson will lead attendees in a hands-on workshop. Participants are asked to bring their own laptop and/or family history notes and information they have accumulated.

Johnson will guide attendees to success. He also will share his research into the Sloopers, their journey to America and what is happening to the group of immigrants today.

Local historian and author Arden Twedt accepted an invitation to join the program and share in his ancestral research into the writing of “The Central Iowa Norwegians,” which is a three-volume set of Norwegian history.

He will speak about how he traced the journey of 153 immigrants who came to Lisbon, Illinois, in the 1850s, sailing on a three-masted barque called the Kong Sverre. He would love to meet other descendants of the Kong Sverre group.

Lunch is provided at this free program. A tour of the Norsk Museum will take place at the conclusion of the program. Call Dave Johnson at 815-343-5070 with questions or for more information