Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.02.1988, Blaðsíða 3

LÖGBERG CENTENNIAL YEAR, FÖSTUDAGUR 5. FEBRÚAR 1988-3
Tribulations of Sygtryggur Jonasson
As a subscriber of Lögberg-
Heimskringla you may rightfully ask,
why once again we bring forth the
name of this man. There are several
reasons, the main one being, that he
was one of the founders of Lögberg
which without him would never
have existed. It was Sygtryggur who
put up the money required to launch
Lögberg, his business acumen must
have played an effective part during
those early and difficult years. He
also stepped in and carried the bur-
den of editor, when Einar Hjorleifs-
son returned to Iceland in 1895. Syg-
tryggur carried on for six years in this
capacity. It is largely through the ef-
forts of this individual, that we can
celebrate the Centennial year of the
founding of Lögberg, which has been
continuously published as an in-
dependent weekly newspaper until
1958 when the two rivals amalgamat-
ed and became one.
This year we give special recogni-
tion to Lögberg because of its hun-
dredth year, a historical event in the
annals of journalism. Sygtryggur be-
ing one of the founders and financi-
er as well as editor, deserves recog-
nition on the pages of the very pub-
lication he was so instrumental in
establishing.
Sygtryggur Jonasson was born in
the Oxnadalur, Iceland in 1852. He
was educated at home by his parents
and the local minister which was
common in his day. When he was 14
he entered the service of a
bureaucrat, becoming a secretary and
assistant. He became fluent in Dan-
ish and knew some English, when he
left for America at the age of 20.
He chose to stop over in Ontario
and in a partnership he sold ties
which netted one winter the tidy sum
of $1100. In 1873 he guided a group
of 126 Icelanders to the Roseau dis-
trict in Ontario north of Toronto.
During 1874 Jonasson was appoint-
ed by the Ontario government as im-
migration agent. Meeting a group
from Iceland he guided 350 im-
migrants from Iceland to Kinmount.
These arrangements did not work out
and in 1875 he travelled to Manito-
ba as part of a delegation chosen by
the people of Kinmount. They
travelled west and there they chose
the area known as New Iceland to
this day. He returned to Iceland the
same year and the following year
1876, he brought 1200 people from
Iceland, and joined the group in New
Iceland who had settled there the
previous year.
He soon became busy with the
tasks of homesteading and adminis-
tration. Sygtryggur was instrumental
in establishing a self-government for
the colony, which had jurisdiction
over local matters. He and others es-
tablished Framfari the first Icelandic
newspaper in North America. A
heavy outflow of original settlers was
having a detrimental effect on the
colony. It was during this time that
Sygtryggur with his steamer and
barges established a sawmill with a
partner, which gave employment. He
has been credited with the saving of
New Iceland with his initiative and
business enterprises which attracted
new settlers and encouraged others
to return.
Later he went to Winnipeg and sold
insurance and real estate. It was dur-
ing this interval that he helped in es-
tablishing Lögberg. He entered polit-
ics in 1896 and was the first Icelander
to be elected to public office in Cana-
da. He became an MLA for St.
Andrews.
In 1906 he together with a partner
invested in a slaughter house. Their
scheme was to buy the animals,
slaughter them and sell the meat at
a profit. Paying the farmers in
proportion to the original animals
they had provided. The company
went bankrupt. He and his partner
were harshly criticized by the farm-
ers and the Icelandic press.
It seems as if he never recovered
Racism
A young vivacious damsel excited-
ly informed her parents that a young
Icelander had invited her to the local
dance.
The father's reaction was quick:
"Leave those Icelanders alone, unless
you want to drmk coffee and eat fish
the rest of your life."
To the young generation, do not
feel discouraged — the present-day
Icelandic heritage does not include
fish.
Icelandic Canadian Fron
and Lögberg-Heimskringla
presents Thorrablot 1988
celebrating the lOOth Anniversary of Lögberg
Saturday, Feb. 20 at the Scandinavian Centre
764 Erin St., Winnipeg, MB
All Icelandic Smorgasbord Dinner 6:00 - 8:00
Displays and entertainment upstairs
Dancing Downstairs 8 - 1 a.m.
Tickets $20 per person $15 Students & Seniors
Please phone Lögberg-Heimskringla office 10 - 3 ‘Monday - Friday
or Viking Room Lounge, Scandinavian Centre
11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Monday - Friday
Pick up tickets early to avoid disappointment,
can not guarantee tickets at the door.
from this disaster. During the re-
mainder of his life he lived under cir-
cumstances of poverty, spending his
final years in a shanty on his
homestead with a nephew in River-
ton or at the home of his stepson in
Arborg.
In 1930 he was chosen with two
other Canadian Icelanders to attend
the millennium of Iceland's
parliament.
He left this world in 1942 and
shortly afterwards his documents
and personal records he had kept, fol-
lowed him into oblivion by careless
destruction through thoughtless
burning.
In Riverton there stands a memori-
al in his honour, erected in 1976 at
the time of the community's centen-
nial. This memorial in paying tribute
to Sygtryggur Jonasson is one of two
recognitions gjven to this man, the
other being a trip to his native
Iceland during 1930. Any other acts
of recognition are not obvious and
probably non-existent. The commu-
nity of Riverton has recognized Syg-
tryggur in a positive manner and for
that they deserve full credit. Other
Western Icelandic elements have vir-
tually forgotten and ignored this
man, who through one error was dis-
catded with little or no thanks for his
loyalty and initiative towards the ear-
ly Icelandérs who came here and
from whom we are descended.
In terms of time, it is not that long
since he left this world, when you
consider that even today' he was
known and can be recalled by older
individuals. As one person said, "I
can recall him in Arborg, he was al-
ways dressed in a suit with a white
shirt and cuff links. We did not know
who he was but we did like him. He
was gentle and kind to us. We liked
to hear him tell us stories. He did not
seem to relate to the grown up peo-
ple and we were never told who he
was. All we knew is that we liked
him."
It is not much, but we feel he
deserves space on the pages of
Lögberg-Heimskringla, the last re-
maining legacy inherited from the es-
tate of efforts of Sygtryggur Jonasson,
who gave of himself so generously to
the Icelandic background from
which our proud heritage is
descended.
He rose out of the darkness of
Iceland, he came and led our people
to a promised land, he achieved, he
generously gave of himself and then
he fell, to depart from this life forgot-
ten and abandoned in poverty.
Thé foregoing is based on former
issues of Lögberg, The Icelandic Peo-
ple of Manitoba by W. Kristjanson
and Thorgeirson's Almanak.
E. A.
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