MONROE — The Green County Genealogical Society will host Duane Freitag of Greendale, who will present “Coming to Green County on the Erie Canal” at 10 a.m. Saturday April 6 in the second floor meeting room of the Monroe Public Library. 

Refreshments are available for 15 minutes before the meeting. The meeting is free and open to the public. Call Sharon Mitchell at 815-868-2416 or Donna Kjendlie at 608-921-1537 with questions. Leave a message if no answer.

Freitag will tell how the canal was used by European immigrants in the 1800s as they traveled from New York City to Milwaukee and on to Green County. 

The program will include a discussion of building the canal as well as some of the families who came from Switzerland in 1846, went west on the canal, and settled in New Glarus. Freitag, a retired reporter and editor for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is a native of New Glarus and has written several books about the Swiss of Green County. 

The GCGS Research Center, located in lower level of the Monroe Public Library, is available to the public for research. Research Center hours are: Tuesdays and third Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and first Saturday after the meeting from 1 to 3 p.m. or by appointment by calling 608-921-1537. Main holdings are on Green County. 

Both Rock and Lafayette Counties are well represented as well as several other counties, states, countries and ethnic groups. 

A large clipping collection of births, marriages and obituaries is available. Volunteers are on staff to help with research.