The Sloopers Their Ancestry and Posterity
The Story of the People on the Norwegian  Mayflower - The Sloop, "Restoration"

by J. Hart Rosdail

published by the Norwegian Slooper Society of America

1961

The publication of this monumental book was to fulfill 2 of the objectives of the Norwegian Slooper Society of America:

    1.  To honor the memory of the Sloopers of 1825 by perpetuating the story of this group's spirit and deeds.

     2. To promote the publication of the history of the Sloopers as a group and of the individual families.

It records histories and genealogies of the crew and passengers of the ship Restoration that sailed to the U.S. in 1825.  These pioneers were the first organized group of Norwegian settlers to establish themselves on the American continent since Viking times.  Their success in America marks the beginning of the major Norwegian migration movement to North America.

This hard bound book of 668+ pages is not of typeset printing usually found in mass produced books as the print appears to be that of a typewritter.  Pages are just under 8 by 11 inches.  The original edition was printed by "Photopress, Inc.," of Broadview, Illinois.  Numerous photographs, maps and illustrations are all in black and white.

The original edition had large foldout pages presenting maps and pedigree (or ancestor) charts for the various individuals and families.  Subsequent printings of this book have reduced these large pages to the size of the regular book page.

The first 10 chapters present the background of the voyage, the voyage itself and the settling of this group in this country during the first 25 years (1825-50).  The subsequent 13 chapters are devoted to family histories. These family chapters start with what is known about the ancestors of a particular Slooper group, going back many generations, in some cases as far back as the 1100's.  Family chapters also include a listing of descendant names that the author was able to document up to the printing of the book in 1961.  A 24th and final chapter is devoted to "Associate Sloopers" or those not necessarily on the Sloop but who played a significant role in the story (these include Cleng Peerson, Knud Olsen Eide, mate Peder Eriksen Meland, Andreas Knutsen Stangeland, Knud Anderson Slogvik, and Jon Jonsoen Eide.  A multipart appendix is found in the rear of the book as well as both "Family" and "General" indices.  A large number of names, addresses and photographs of Slooper descendants can be found in this book.

CLICK HERE FOR TABLE OF CONTENTS

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO & INFO ON AUTHOR ROSDAIL

CLICK HERE FOR SOME PHOTOS THIS BOOK

A list of the "Original Sloopers" from pages 605-606 of the Slooper Book can be found online at the Slooper page of the "100 Years of Emigrant Ships from Norway" web site.

Reprints of the Slooper Book are still available through the Treasurer of The Norwegian Slooper Society of America.  Contact:

The price through him is $80 (as of fall 2010) plus book rate postage depending on where it is going, as that is zone-rated.  The current reprints are still hardbound, slightly larger than the original edition, the front cover does not have the same image embossing as the original, a page about the author has been added in the front and blank pages have been added at the back.  As mentioned above, the large foldout pages have been reduced to regular page size, so no information has been omitted (just harder to read because of smaller print).

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