Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.12.1977, Blaðsíða 7

LOGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 1. DESEMBER 1977
7
"f" JAKOBINA
Mrs. Stefanson was born
February 3, 1883, the daugh-
ter of a Lutheran minister
whose church was located
on his farm at “Grund in
Eyjafjord” which is consider
ed one of the best farms in
Iceland. Her father, Rev.
Sigurgeir Jakobson, had an
outstanding singing voice,
and all his children were
likewise singers and musi-
cians. Their home was a
pleasant one and Jakobina,
the youngest of a family of
seven children, and the only
girl, knew nothing but love
and kind.ness until her fa-
t.her died and her mother
went with her family to
Canada. The trip was a long
and hard one. First, the trip
across the Atlantic Ocean by
steamship took many days
and Jakobina was so sick
that it was thought that she
would never see Canada.
There was no Canadian rail-
way across Canada at that
time so the journey was now
to Winnipeg via U.S.A. by
train.
Here the family settled for
a year and a half, and then
on to Gimli where they lived
until she was nine years old,
at, which time they moved
again, this time to “Mikley,”
now known as Hecla. Gimli
and Hecla were both in New
Iceland. The district of New
Iceland was alloted to the
Icelanders that came to Ca-
nada at. that time, but it is
now the southern part of
Manitoba. H e r e everyone
spoke Icelandic.
Jakobina’s education had
heen interrupted by a 11
these moves and their new
home was two miles from
t.he school, a long way for a
c.hild to go, especially in
Manitoba winter weather.
At, that time, the school term
was only six months of the
year, a one-room school with
one teacher for all grades.
Besides her school work,
she was also learning the
English language.
While going to school dur-
ing the pioneering years
there were more difficulties
to surmount, and to under-
stand Jakobina’s growing-up
years, one must bear in
mind these circumstances.
The pioneers were estab-
lishing h o m e s , building
houses and barns (a slow
procedure without the mod-
ern tools and equipment of
today) and they were ac-
quiring farm animals to sup-
ply the basic foods and
clothing. Three of four cows
was average to supply the
milk, cream, butter, skyr (a
yogurt type of food served
with cream and sugar), as
well as some beef.
Enough sheep were kept
to supply the wool for all
STEFANSON T
the socks and mittens for the
family for the winter, as
well as mutton and shoe
leather.
A team of horses was a
must, for hauling hay and
wood for the furnace and
cook stove, and to plow the
gardens after clearing the
bush off the land. Chickens
and pigs were also necessary.
The work load on these
home-farms was tremend-
ous. The men were away
working part of the time.
Fishing was seasonal, haying
in the summer time or log-
ging and hauling firewood
in the winter time as well
as sawing the logs into fuel
lengths in the spring, and
splitting and piling enough
firewood for another year.
The ice houses had to be'
built and filled annually in
the winter time.
It is obvious that the men
could not do all the daily
chores along with their work
so the women had to share
these duties. The saying “a
woman’s work is never
done” must have originated
during the pioneering days.
Besides cookíng and house-
work which was totally dif-
ferent from what it is today.
for instance, there was no
electricity, instead of switch-
ing on a light in each room,
kerosene lamps and lanterns
had to be ready to light.
These had to be filled with
kerosene each day, lamp
chimneys cleaned and wicks
trimmed.
Milking machines were
not even thought of yet, and
usually milking was a wo-
man’s chore, by hand, of
course, and twice a day. The
milk had to be separated,
separator washed as well as
pails a n d other utensils.
■Skyr had to be started and
the calves fed the rest of the
milk.
Monday morning at five or
six o’clock the fire had to be
lit in the stove to heat the
boiler full of water that had
been placed on the stove the
night before. W h e n the
water was hot the week’s
washing was started. No
washing machines; all cloth-
es were washed on a wash-
board after the garment had
been rubbed over with a bar
of soap. When rubbed until
clean, every piece of wash-
ing had to be wrung out by
hand and then rinsed twice
from two tubs full of water,
wringing each piece again
each time. Finally the cloth-
es w e r e carried to the
clothes line to be hung up
with clothes pegs. W a s h
days were “hard work days.”
Two days a week were
bread - making d a y s . The
ironing was usually done on
these days, too. One day a
week for making butter and
scrubbing floors on your
knees.
Every day sweet bread
was made; a cake, cookies,
doughnuts or pancakes.
All sheets and pillowcases
were made from flour sacks,
and wool comforters were
made for each bed.
Besides these jobs and
many more there was al-
ways knitting and spinning
to do, as well as hand-made
skin slippers to make. Be-
cause of the heavy work
load the women had, the
children had to help.
As a rule, the girls grew
up and went away to
work, but each girl in a fa-
mily took her turn to stay
home and help mother. In
Jakobina’s case, being nine
years younger t h a n her
youngest brother, and the
only girl, she stayed home.
By the time she was grown
up her mother was getting
old, and was tired after
being widowed for many
years and moving to another
country where she had sev-
eral years of pioneering life.
As mentioned before, at
the age of nine her educa-
tion was just beginning and
with the circumstances of
the pioneering life, where
the children’s help was es-
sentiaD in the home, her
school terms were few, but
h e r e was an intelligent
child, always interested in
book learning, so self-educa-
tion after the basics of read-
ing, writing, etc. had been
taught tc her m school,
seemed a must to her
Fortunately, her brother
Haraldur was well versed. in
the Englísh language by thís
bme and. equally interested
m Jakobína’s education, so
with his help she studied at
home or v^lthout hís heip
v/hen r.ecessary at every
oooortunity, year after year.
£he read every book avail-
able ar.d was kept posted in
ourrent topíes.and world af-
fairs I have alv/ays felt that
she would have been a
splendid librarian.
It. was most interesting to
come to the post office at
Hecla to get our mail, which
Cont, on pasro 3
BUSINESS
AND PROFESSIONAL CARDS
Þjódræknisfclag íslendinga í Vesturheimi
FORSETI: STEFAN J. STEFANSON ,37 Macklin Ave.
Winnipeg, Manitoba R2V 2M4
Siyrkið félagið og deildir þess, með því að gerasl meðlimir.
Ársg.iald:* EINSTAKLINGAR $3.00 — HJÓN $5.00
Sendið ársgjöld til gjaldkera ykkar eigin deilda, eða ti)
SIGRID JOHNSON. 1423—77 University Cres., Winnioeg,
Manitoba R3T 3N8
RICHARDSON AND COMPANY
BARRISTEHS AND ATTORNEYS AT LAW
274 Garry Slreel, Winnipeg, Man. R3C IH5 — Phone 957-1670
Mr. S. GLENN SIGURDSON attends in GIMLI and
RIVERTON on the lst and 3rd FRIDAYS of each month.
Offices are in the Gimli Medical Centre, 62-3rd Ave., between
the hours of 9:30 A_M. and 5:30 P.M. with Mr. Sigurdson and his
legal assistant in attendance. — (Telephone 642-7955).
In Riverton, Mr. Sigurdson attends in the Riverton Village Office
between tne hours of 1:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M.
Asgeirson Paints &
Wallpapers Ltd.
696 Sargent Avenue
Winnipeg, Man. R3E 0A9
PAINTS
Benjamin Moore
Sherwin Williams
C.I.L.
HARDWARE
GLASS and GLAZING
WOOD and ALUMINUM
WALLPAPER
783-5967 Phones: 783-4322
THOMAS A. GOODMAN,
B.A. LL.B.
Barrister, Solicitor amd
Notary Public
373 Main Street,
Stonewall, Manitoba
BOC 2Z0
P.O. Box96 Ph. 467-2344
A. S. BARDAL LTD.
FUNEHAL HOME
843 Sherbrook Street
Selur likkistur og annast um
útfarir. Allur útbúnaður
sá bezti.
Stofnað 1894 Ph. 774-7474
Minnist
Divinski, Birnboim
Cameron & Cook
Chartered Accounlanis
608 Somerset Place,
294 Portage Ave., Winnipeg
Manitoba R3C 0B9
Telenhone (204) 943-0526
Fully licmcwl RMtaarint
Oin*'1n - Pick-Up - Hom. Dnlfwnry
3354 Portage Avenue
PKone 888-3361 St. James-Assiniboia
ICELANDIC STAMPS
WANTED
OLDER ICELANOIC STAMPS ANÐ
LETTÉRS are VALUABLE
I am an Expert Collector, able to
Appraite or Buy
BRYAN Brjánn WHIPPLE
. 1205 SPRUCE STREET,
BERKELEY, Cal. 94709 U.S.A
HADLEY J. EYRIKSON
Barrister and Solicitor
298 St. Anne’s Road,
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R2M 4Z5
Business phone: 256-8616
<BETEL
í erfðaskróm yðar
Tallin & Kristjansson
Barristprs and Solicilors
300- 232 Portage Avenue
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
R3C 0B1
S. A. Thorarinson
BARRISTER and SOUCITOR
708 SQMERSET PLACE
294 PORTAGE AVE.
R3C 0B9
Off. 942-7051 Res. 489-6488
Skúli Anderson
Custom Jewellery Engraver
207 PARIS BLDG.
259 PORTAGE AVE.
Off. 942-5756 Res. 783-6688
The Westem Paint Co. Ltd.
521 HARGRAVE ST. WINNIPEG
“THE PAINTERS’
SUPPLY HOUSE”
SINCE 1908
Ph. 943-7395
J. SHIMNOWSKI, Presidant
A. H. COTE, Treasurer

GOODMAN and KOJIMA
ELECl'RIC
ELECTKICAL CONIRACTQRS
640 McGee Street
Winnipeg, Man. R3E 1W8
Phone 774-5549
ARTHUR GOODMAN M. KOJIMA
Evenings and Holidays
BYMBEYGLA
fæst á íslandi hjá:
Jóhannesi Géiz Jónssyni
Heiðarbæ 17, Reykjavik,
Bókav. Edda, Akureyri
Bókav. Kr. Blöndal,
Sauðárkróki.