Lögberg-Heimskringla - 19.09.1974, Blaðsíða 2

2
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 19. SEPTEMBER 1974

llögberg-^emtéferingla (BfUb tt in EniUu.ii
Exciting to be a Winnipegger When the City Wos Young
Mrs. Ina Bjömson can
think of nothing more excit-
ing than growing up with a
city just a few years your
senior, few sounds more ex-
hilerating than the symph-
ony of hammer and saw at
daybreak and nightfall, no
fragrance more pleasing
than the smell of new timb-
er and no sight as promising
as new houses sprouting out
of vacant lots ovemight-
She was bom in Winnipeg
92 years ago when the city
was only eight years old, ac-
cording to its charter. Little
girls, including her and her
sister, skipped on wooden
sidewalks then, and there
were puddles where there
are now pavements. Their
parents, Gísli and Sigríður
Johnson,owned a house on
Burnell Street, a way out on
the open prairie and ran a
dairy close too home. Two
nice working dogs helped
herd the cows and played
with the little girls in their
spare time.
Mrs. Bjömson’s parents,
Gísli Jónsson and Sigríður
Pétursdóttir, came to Winni-
peg with the large group of
immigrants from Iceland in
1876. Sigríður was then a
young widow, left with
three children when her hus
band died tragically, lost in
a violent winter storm while
joumeying to town for sup-
plies. Tree intense searches
were made for him and Gísli
had been in all the search
parties. This Sigríður leam-
ed when the two met on
their joint joumey to the
new country Five years lat-
er, they were married in
Winnipeg and made their
home on Fort Street, be-
cause it was away from heav
ey traffic and the noise of
the city.
Their two little girls Ina
and Elín, grew up in the
home on the comer of Bum-
ell St. and Einarsson Ave.
They attended old Mulvey
Joy Antenbring
in a Recital
Joy Antenbring will be
heard in a half-hour recital
at Young United Church,
Furby and Broadway, at
12,30 noon this Sunday, Sept
ember 22. She will síng ari-
as by Mozart, including his
famous Exultate Jubilate-
This is one of a series of aft-
er church recitals inaugurat
ed by Richard Grieg, organ-
ist and choirmaster of the
church. A collection will be
taken for the organ fund.
School, a two-room structure
that bumed down The board
then quickly rented a house
on Young St., just north of
Portage, painted blackboards
on the walls, and school con-
tinued with slight interrupt-
ion-
Indians tented in the west
end of town then, and Mrs.
Björnson remembers a vil-
lage of 40 tents when she
was a little girl. The stock-
yards where located on the
comer of Portage Ave. and
Home St., and Arlington was
mostly mud.
Top-hatted gentlemen and
ladies in sweeping gowns,
carrying frilled parasols in
gloved hands, rode in hand-
some carriages drawn by
spirited horses, and some
wealthy parents equipped
their youngsters with buggi-
es and ponies, while a Mr.
Austen operated a fleet of
horse-drawn buses for less
affluent citizens.
Winnipeg grew by leaps
and bounds, through wild
booms and relaxing prosper-
ity, followed by new booms.
By the time young Ina John
son reached her mid teens
her city was in its mid twent
ies. Nursing was her first
choice as a lifetime professi-
on, but too young to enter
training, she hadn’t the pati
ence to wait and found a job
in a men’s tailoring establish
ment instead. It was exact-
ing work, requiring a good
deal of fine han-stitching.
But her mother, who was an
excellent seamstress of the
old school, had taught her
well and soon the youngster
was making too much
money to give up the trade.
Going home from work on
Lombard St- one evening,
she saw a great crowd of
people near the Clarendon
Hotel on the north side of
Portage Ave. Such traffic-
stopping crowds were un-
usual, even at the end of a
working day. Something
must be going on. The first
automobile had arrived in
town.
The old Hudson’s Bay
store at Main St. and York
Ave., she remembers as a
bad place to work in one
way only. New merchandise
was unpacked right under
her nose, an overpowering
temptation for a young girl
making good money and in-
clined to dress in style.
Girls wore white formals
and opera cloaks to the the-
atre in those days, when
their escorts could afford
choice seats, especially to
the old Walker on Notre
Dame. Gloves were a must
on all occasions, millinery
was elegant and expensive.
There was lively interest
in music and the theatre,
with visiting stock compani-
es and opera singers from
large cities in Canada and
the states, as well as local
talent and vaudeville'. Young
Ina Johnson took elocution
lessons from Edna Suther-
land, a well known Winni-
peg elocutionist, and was in
demand as a reader at con-
certs in the tæo Icelandic
church and elsewhere in the
city.
New hats and dresses
were in order for the yearly
celebration of “Islendinga-
dagurinn,” always held on
the 2nd of August in the
early days, when many
Winnipeg firms generosuly
gave their Icelenders time
off to absorb lengthy toasts
and speeches, sing songs
from the homeland and soci-
This interesting interview
was sent to Lögberg-Heims-
kringla by a reader, Margar-
et Benson Haukins. It appe-
ared in the New York Sun-
day News, May 12 this year,
under the headíng “Collect-
or’s Item.” It deals with the
work of Margaret Johnson,
daughter of the late Nels
Johnson, former attomey-
general of North Dakota and
superior court justice- Miss
Johnson is also a niece of
Mrs .Lilja Eylands, wife of
Rev- Dr. Valdimar Eylands.
In a blurb above the feat-
ure, the writer says of Miss
Johnson: “Her balconied mid
town duplex is a collector’s
treasure trove.”
* * * *
“When I’ve come up with
a successful series of designs
I take cabs and buy moun-
tain tops. When things slow
down, I walk and spend
more time at home.”
Margot Johnson is the de-
signer of hundreds of thous-
and zodiac prints that hang
on American walls today,
and home for her is a duplex
townhouse on a tree-ined
street off Madison Ave.
alize over substantial lunch-
es brought from home.
There was a good program
of sport sand athletic con-
tests, including the Icelendic
glíma- All the early years of
her married life, Mrs. Bjöm-
son’s husband, Sigurður
Björnson, was an acrtive org-
anizer of the sports program.
Sigurður has now passed
on. He came to Winnipeg in
infancy with his parents,
and lived out his life in the
city of their choice. Some of
the couple‘s grandchildren
attended public and high
school inthe west- end south
of Portage, not far from the
site-of their grandmother’s
first school. When a poll was
taken there, it was found
that Mrs. Bjömson’s grand-
son was the only third-gen-
eration Canadian in the
school. Her yoimgest .dcs-
cendants are bom fourth-
generation Winnipeggers.
Long on ambiance and filled
with architectural nuance,
the one-bedroom apartment
has a 28-foot living room end
ing in spectacular floor-to-
ceiling leaded glass windows
which overlook a garden.
The windows and spotlights
help keep the vast hanging
plants healthy.
“I love growing things.”
Margot says. “I own an old
stone house in Bucks Count-
ry, Pennsylvania, and one of
the reasons I actually bought
it was the 40.000 daffodils
that bloom each spring. I
still go to the country to
furnish my New York living
room with plants.”
Among the room’s high-
lights are a carved oak fire-
place and a balcony which
circles the room.
“I couldn’t quite imagine
what I would do with the
balcony, so I roped it off up-
stairs from my bedroom,”
she explains- ‘I thought I’d
better keep people off as it’s
not as secure as it was in
1919 when the house was
built. It’s too bad, really be-
cause it would be the per-
Cont. on page 3
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Thousands of Her Prints Hang on
American Walls
By NANCY SMITH BATE