Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.12.1977, Blaðsíða 2

2
LOGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLÁ, FIMMTUDAGINN 1. DESEMBER 1977
Dr. Paul H. T. Thorlakson:
Part two
Jfamílp ^euníon mt a ^torp
Descendants of Niels Steingrímur Thorlaksson 1857—1943
and
Erika Rynning Thorlaksson 1860-1947
We can be sure that they
were no longer strangers the
next day on their return
journey to Oslo. Mother told
us that she and the young
theological s t u d e n t later
went together to see the re-
cent newly-weds embark for
America. As the bride em-
braced her bridesmaid in a
fond farewell, she whispered
into her ear: “Erika, you will
soon be engaged to Niels
Thorlaksson!” What better
reassurance could the young
Mrs. Breda have for herself
than to believe that she
might be joined in that far
away land of America by
her friend, Erika Rynning,
and that is exactly what
happened.
Mother’s and father’s en-
gagement was announced on
June 6th, 1886. Later that
summer, when Professor and
Mrs. Breda returned to Nor-
way for a holiday, mother
and father were on the dock
to welcome them. As mother
greeted Mrs. Breda, s h e
pressed the hand with her
engagement ring into the
pálm of her friend and whis-
pered: “Emilia, you prophe-
sied correctly — we are now
engaged.”
When father was about to
graduate from the Univer-
sity of Oslo in 1887 and re-
turn with Erika to America,
their plans for the wedding
were well advanced. The
date had been set for May
17th, 1887. But here tragedy
intervened. The b r i d e ’ s
mother took critically ill and
died. The wedding was post-
poneed. Mother, as the eld-
est daughter in the family,
stayed for a whole year to
help make the necessary ad-
justments, which included
securing the help required
by a large family.
As father had received
and already accepted a call
from the Icelandic Congre-
gations in and near Min-
neota, Minnesota, he was
obliged to return to America
alone. He was ordained on
August 21st, 1887, by the
Reverend Jon Bjarnason, the
President of the Icelandic
Evangelical Lutheran Synod
of America, in the newly-
built church in Mountain,
North Dakota. Here his old-
er brother, Pall Thorlaks-
son — known as the Father
of the Icelandic settlement
in North Dakota—had serv-
ed from 1878 until his un-
timely death in 1882.
At the end of another
year, Erika Rynning bid her
family farewell knowing, as
many others before her, that
she might never see her
loved ones in Norway again.
She travelled alone across
the broad Atlantic. From
New York, she took a train
for Chicago and here, again,
fate intervened.
Father had left Minneota,
Minnesota, and travelled the
seventy miles to Minneapolis
by train to await the arrival
of his bride-to-be at the
home of their mutual
friends, Professor and Mrs.
Breda, where the wedding
was to take place on May 17,
1888. On the spur of the
moment, father decided to
surprise mother. He boarded
a train for Chicago in the
hope of travelling back with
her the four hundred miles
to Minneapolis. The large,
bustling railway station in
Chicago was packed with
people, some looking f o r
friends who were to meet
them, and others struggling
to find the right train on
which to continue their jour-
ney. Finally, father was
forced to admit to himself
that either mother had miss-
ed the train in New York or
had passed through on an
earlier t r a i n . When he
telephoned the Breda’s, he
learned that the bride-to-be
had already arrived in Min-
neapolis. Because of the mis-
hap in Chicago, the wedding
fort as a daugbter of one of
Norway’s old and honoured
families; and yet,” he said,
“cooped up ín two small
rooms over a dilapidated old
store, she never grumbled
and she never complained.”
Three years later, in 1891, a
parsonage was built and
ready for occupancy.
It was not until Gladys
and I visited Norway for the
first time in 1930, when
mother’s brothers and sisters
were still living in their
comfortable homes, that I
realized what mother had
sacrificed because of her
great love for father. Not
only had she left the com-
fort and security of a gra-
cious home, and the prestige
of her large family, but also
had turned down a hand-
some Norwegian suitor, to
travel alone — thousands of
miles — to become the bride
of a young Tcelandic pastor
and live in a strange and
harsh new world. Only such
a love could have given her
the courage to set off for
America, and the fortitude
to surmount the hardships
and heartaches which she
faced in her new and vastly
different environment.
Cont. next week
was postponed one more
day, to May 18th, 1888. We
can well imagine the excite-
ment when these four young
people w e r e finally re-
united. Professor Breda, who
was by then Professor of
Norwegian Language and
Literature at the University
of Minnesota and an ordain-
ed minister, performed the
ceremony.
Father’s and mother’s first
home in Minneota consisted
of two small rooms, reached
by an outside stairway,
above a general store. Much
of the furniture was hand-
made by father. Their good
friend, Gunnar B. Bjornson,
was later to recall that the
accommodation was “noth-
ing for the young bride to
write home about.” How-
ever, he continued by saying
that “Mrs. Thorlakson came
to the Minneota Parish as a
ray of sunshine. Everybody
- fell in love with her at first
sight. She had many fine
qualities: culture, geniality,
beauty, charm, and music.
She was accustomed to cul-
tured society, to the gay life
of a European metropolis, to
comparative ease and com-