Lögberg-Heimskringla - 16.06.2000, Blaðsíða 6

6 » Lögberg-Heimskringla » Friday 16 Jurte 2000
_________History « Saga_____
Letters from America
The letter writer is Benedikt Arason
from Hamar in S-Þingeyjarsýsla. See
Vesturfaraskrá, 323. The recipient is
Benedikt at Auðnir.
—Böðvar Guðmundsson
Völlum (at Víðimesbyggð)
January 12, 1879
Dear cousin:
I thank you very much for your let-
ter of May 13 of last year. I did not
receive it until August 4, a bit later than
other letters arrived that were written
about the same time. Perhaps it was
because the address was a bit wrong,
“Fljótsbyggð” instead of
“Víðirnesbyggð.” However, it was
unharmed and I was very glad to
receive it. The news was well chosen
and clearly written, and I felt as if I
could see again all over Laxárdalur val-
ley, the place from where I have more
memories than any other place on earth
I have seen.
What I can tell you of the weather
here is that after what I wrote you at
about this time last year, the winter
weather was very good until mid-
March. At that time all snow was gone
and we had excellent weather all spring.
On April 16 we got a bad storm which
brought 12 inches of snow, but it almost
all disappeared the next day and from
there on we had summer weather. The
fall was rainy and windy until October
when we got calm, excellent weather
(this was Indian summer) until
November 26, when we got a consider-
able storm. The lake did not freeze
completely until December 3. Since
then we have had many storms, but lit-
tle snow each time. Yesterday the snow
was eight inches deep. Today we have a
major storm, as bad as it can get, and it
will add a lot of snow.
For most fishermen the catch was
small this fall because of bad weather.
From the beginning of the year 1878
until the end I got 1861 fish; many were
small. I got 107 bushels of potatoes this
fall, but 17 bushels were ruined when I
got water into the storage I put them in.
Overall the potato crop was about the
best it has been here in the colony.
Some seeded grains, mainly wheat
and barley, and some were quite suc-
cessful, but in some places it was
destroyed from wet weather first after it
was seeded. Gardens were unsuccessful
in many places, mainly because of
worms. In my garden turnips and
Bomholm mtabagas grew quite well,
cabbage poorly, a bit of tobacco, pump-
kins and squash grew well, and the little
I seeded of com grew well. Sugar beets
and mangelwurzel quite well, lettuce
well. But onions, carrots (a type of yel-
low tumips), parsley, rhubarb and oth-
ers which I don’t remember to mention
were completely mined.
You can see in Framfari what the
crops here in the colony were and what
livestock we have, with more, as they
are now gathering for the farm report
which will then be printed, similar to
the one that came out last year in
Framfari #14.
I will only mention that I have three
cows and three calves and that is my
entire livestock. We get five litres of
milk a day at present. Now you can see
what we have in our diet, namely fish,
potatoes, milk, and butter, which I have
produced myself. We also have some
wheat. At present we have little produce
to exchange for wheat, clothing and
shoes, which one cannot do without. No
one wants to buy potatoes, they were
oífered last fall for 25 to 20 and finally
15 cents a bushel [60 pounds] and did
not sell. Butter is falling in price as soon
as the train came to Winnipeg for it was
bought there on the market for 15 cents
a pound, but I have about 30-40 pounds
for sale, and that is all the products.
This is my farming here. All my people,
wife and four children are in fair health.
I have been in poor health for some
time and am suffering from an eye dis-
ease. I hope I will get better with time,
but the chest sickness I will take to my
grave. The health situation of people
here can be said to be at its best.
How do you like Framfari? Don’t
you think it is going to be an excellent
paper for arguments? The worst article
appearing there was the one by Jóhann
Briem to Séra Jón Bjarnason.
Otherwise Halldór’s answer to Jóhann
was a great improvement, but it is not
enough as many have been upset by this
and feel, as they should, that Séra Jón
received undeserved rebuke.
About Páll Þorláksson 1 cannot tell
you very much over and above what
you read in Framfari and the little I
have told you before. He is busy now
going between his congregations. 1.
Wisconsin, 2. Minnesota, 3. Dakota, 4.
Winnipeg and 5. here in the colony (or
rather three here). Those whom he
offers the sacrament or holy commun-
ion must confess to him that they
believe that they receive the same body
and blood which hung and expired on
the cross—that is where old Saura-Gísli
walked away. Most others hesitated, but
then Páll asked them: “And do you say
yes?” And they obeyed. But I prefer
what Séra Pétur has to say (see P.
Pétursson, Sermons, Reykjavík 1856,
page 250, 8 line) about this subject, and
others feel the same way.
I would like to tell you some news
of a few men you know. Jónas Kortsson
now walks the streets of Gimli dressed
like a nobleman and “lives high of the
hog” doing nothing. Margrét works at
knitting and works hard but Sigfús and
his sister are working as domestics and
take their salary to their parents. Old
Bangsastaða Hans is married to a young
girl from eastem Iceland, by the name
of Guðný. They are very poor. Early the
summer before last they went to
Winnipeg to look for work. It then hap-
pened when Hans was building a boat
that Guðný stole a wooden plank. An
English woman saw her and asked her
to leave it alone. She did not listen.
Then the English woman told the
police, who took Guðný and put her in
jail. There she stayed for two days when
she was set free, but Hans was most
upset that she had been wearing her
worst clothes (presumably for this
fancy trip) but he did better at this, if it
is tme what is said, that he stole a $50
gold ring and exchanged it for another
gold with another man.
Ingibjörg Guðmundsdóttir Ólafsson
from Nes came west with us and has
most often been called káetu-Imba. She
went to Winnipeg where she got a job
as almost a “servant to the queen.” She
has obtained work in good homes and
had a good salary, sometimes $15 a
month with advantages in the evening
as well, yet she does not have a patch to
cover her be.... She is now said to be
married to an English soldier.
Jón Sigurjónsson from Einarsstaðir
and Jón Magnússon from Máná live
here in the settlement. They each have a
cow on loan from the government and
are both struggling. Old Ásmundur
from Nýjabær, who lives here beside
me at Brautarholt, is now fairly well off
since he received his money from
home. Stefán from Einarsstaðir arrived
here in the colony and went north to
Mikley, and I don’t know any more of
him. I hear that Halldór Jónsson stayed
behind in Ontario, but I have not heard
anything from Laugasel’s Finnur,
whether he left nor anything from
home. Sigurbjörn from Jarlsstaðasel
stayed here (in the colony) about two
months and then left with Benedikt
Jónsson from Mjóidalur to stay in
Dakota. Benedikt Jónsson is there also.
Last August 20th some westfarers
arrived here in Gimli. Shortly before
Christmas Halldóra Jónsdóttir
Bergþórsson formerly from Öxará in
Bárðardalur died. She was a wife of
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