Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.11.1987, Page 5

CENTENNIAL YEAR/ALDARAFMÆLISÁR, FÖSTUDAGUR 27, NÓVEMBER 1987-5
One hundréd years in America
and Ingibjörg Lindal.
Last July 18 it was a hundred years
since Jónatan and Ingibjörg Lindal
came to this country from Iceland
and settled in the Brown district of
Manitoba near Morden. On the an-
niversary date, the descendants of
this couplle gathered together to pay
homage in memory of this pioneer
couple from whom they are
descended.
Hannes Thomasson has prepared a
complete history and listed all the
descendants including spouses of
Jónatan and Ingibjörg Lindal. They
total 400 of which 260 were present
at the reunion.
They all met at the original Lindal
farm home where they enjoyed a
weekend of congenial fraternization.
Hannes described how they
cleaned out the machine shed to ac-
commodate this large group at a sit
down dinner and program, including
speeches recalling Jónatan and Ingib-
jörg, the early days and pay tribute
to their ancestral pioneers. This was
followed by a dance. It was ironical
that although the community hall is
located at this very farmstead, phys-'
ically it was too small to accommo-
date the family get-together, and they
were compelled to use the large
machine and storage shed. It was a
very successful reunipn and thor-
oughly enjoyed by alll
In summary form the family his-
tory highlightsi are as follows. Jona-
tan Lindal was born on May 8, 1848
at Kolthernumyri, Hunavatnssysla in
northern Iceland. His father was a
farmer and local Reeve for thirty
years
Early in life Jónatan became a
fisherman in the conventional six and
eight-man rowboats commonly used
around the coast of Iceland during
that era. He was a foreman most of
the nineteen years he fished off the
coast of Iceland.
The many storms which plagued
the fishing fleets called for strenuous
rowing, in order to make land. Oh at
least one occasion the storm was par-
ticularly severe and the cíew did not
expect to survive but Jóhatan urged
them on and they succeeded in mak-
ing land.
Jónatan had fathered two children
before he married Ingibjörg whom he
married in 1880. She was the daugh-
ter of Benedikt Thorvaldson of Reyk-
jahóli Skagafjörð and Gudrún Lofts-
dóttir, of Skaga, in Húnavatnssýsla.
In 1887 they moved to America
where they felt there was more op-
portunity for them and their chil-
dren. They took their six children
with them, but unfortunately three of
them died the first year they were
here. Coming with them was a youn-
ger brother of Jónatan. Another
brother Jakob and a sister Inga Hall-
grímsson had preceded them and
lived at Gardar N.D. Jónatan and In-
gibjörg followed them and went to
Gardar. Ásgeir the brother of Jónatan
who accompanied them to America,
promised his mother faithfully to
keep an account of. the trip.
Upon arrival at Gardar he wrote
his mother a long letter containing a
detailed description of the journey
from Iceland to Gardar.
The following is a translation of the
letter Ásgeir wrote to his mother:
* * *
On the sixth day of July 1887 they
left Midhópi and travelled two days
to get to the port of Bordeyri. Án
agent from the Allan Steamship Line
had promised to send a ship called
"Camoens" to Bordeyri to pick up all
the people in the area who had
booked with this agent to go to
America. Cameons was to take these
people to Scotland where the Allan
Steamship Line would place them on
a larger ship going to America. All the
people that had booked passage had
sold their belongings and arrived at
Bordeyri. The weather was very good
but no ship came to pick them up.
The amount of money these people
had, even after selling all their world-
ly possessions, was very meagre, but
most thought it would do them to
buy food and the necessities on this
trip. However, after days and weeks
went by and no ship came, they were
forced to spend money on food and
lodgings while they waited, causing
several to change their minds about
going.
On the 28th of July, a horse buyer
named John Coghill came to the port
and was appalled at the condition of
the people waiting there. He prom-
ised to go to the authorities in Reyk-
javik and tell them to send another
ship because something must have
happened to the Camoen — a break-
down, or it might even have sank. So
the people waited but no other ship
caipe. Finally on August 22 at 8 p.m.
the ship Camoen came to Bordeyri.
Except for a few people who had lost
interest and c^nged their mind
about going, they all boarded the ship
the next day. They had made up and
signed a petition asking for compen-
sation for their long wait, but after
negotiations they only got a slight dis-
count on their fare. They started on
their journey at 6 a.m. on the 24th of
August but due to fog and bad
weather they did not reach Reykja-
vik until 6 a.m. on the 27th. In Reyk-
javik they tried to change their
money into English currency but the
bank did not have enough English
money to give them.
In Reykjavik the ship loaded be-
tween three and four hundred horses
which John Coghill had bought in
Iceland while the ship lay at anchor.
A social worker came on board with
some used clothing as they knew
these people were hard up. Some of
their clothing had spoiled when wet
and rotted while they were waiting
to board ship. They left Reykjavik at
5 a.m. on the 28th of August. At noon
that day they saw Iceland for the last
time. Next day it was foggy and mis-
erable. The people did not get enough
water for their needs as the shipmen
had to water all the horses. On Sep-
tember lst, 6 a.m. the ship stopped
at Thorsnes, a small town at the
north end of Scotland. Cruising along
the coast they saw the land was beau-
tiful with houses and towns every-
where and trains moving at great
speeds.
It was 8:30, September 2 when
they got to Granton and the Camoen
pulled up to the dock. Before unload-
ing, the ship was even with some
buildings on shore but after unload-
i0 it rose wáy above them. Two
cranes run by steam were used to un-
load. The horse? were placed, three
or four at a time, in a big crate and
swung back from the dock and low-
ered into a plank corral. The crane
with their belongings was packed
into a rope sling and lowered onto the
wharf where custom officials exa-
mined the luggage, searching mostly
for liquor and tobacco. Their luggage
was then stacked on three railway
cars on steel rails and pulled all at
once by one big horse, a Shire which
was almost eight feet tall. This was
the biggest horse they had ever seen
and unbelievable when you were
used to Icelandic ponies. Now their
luggage was loaded onto a steam
driven barge which took them across
the bay from Granton to Leith. A
train was waiting there and when all
was loaded it started off at a terrific
speed heading for Glasgow. On the
way the train went through long tun-
nels. The smoke from the steam en-
gines was unbearable. They went
through the beautiful city of Edinbor-
ough but travelled so fast they saw
very little.
In Glasgow they had to walk from
the train to a huge building where
they received a free meal. Daniel
Danielson, who was supposed to be
their interpreter and help exchange
their money, disappeared, leaving
them helpless and unable to find any-
thing. They boarded the Grecian, a
ship belonging to the Allan Steamship
Line at half past eight on the 2nd of
September. The next morning at 11,
the ship started down the Clyde
River and it stopped at Greenwich.
Continued on Page 7