Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.12.1995, Blaðsíða 7

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 1. desember 1995 • 7
An lcelandic
Settíement in Utah:
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For lcelandlc Translation and detailed map
of their long walk, see page 8
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íslenskir landnemar við akuryrkju viö Spanish Fork í Utah í lok síöustu aldar.
Icelandic settlers at the end of the last century are seen doing farm work in
Utah 's Spanish Fork.
On September 7, 1855 the first
Icelandic settlers reached their
destination where they would
settle permanently in America. They
were three Mormons who had travelled a
long distance to reach the promised land,
the Mormon Zion here on earth, in the
desert at the great Salt Lake, in Utah.
After a short stop in Salt Lake City they
travelled to Spanish Fork where they
planned to farm and work the land. They
were Samúel Bjarnason, farmer from
Kirkjubær, his wife Margrét Gísladóttir
and Helga Jónsdóttir from Landeyjar. An
important chapter in the religious history
of Iceland had begun, with close to four
hundred people emigrating, because of
their religious belief, about twenty years
before the historic west-bound emigra-
tion began.
A new Gospel - a NewLand:
From the time the Christian faith was
adopted at Þingvellir in the year 1,000
A.D. and well into this century no reli-
gion had gained such foothold in Iceland
as the Latter Day Saints did on the south
coast of Iceland.
The Mormon missionaries began their
work in the Westman Islands in the year
1851 (the year of the National
Conference) when two young men
brought the new religion with them from
Copenhagen where they had attended
trade school. What at first had sounded
like false prophecy to the ears of hard
working people in the Westman Islands,
gradually became acceptable, and
around the turn of the century about 370
Icelanders had packed up their belong-
ings and left, leaving their extended fami-
ly and homeland behind, embarking on a
long journey to the promised land in
Utah.
Poverty and hopelessness undoubted-
ly contributed to the people’s acceptance
of this alien religion and caused them to
leave by the hundreds and move to Utah.
The Mormons began a mission in
Copenhagen in 1850. Among those bap-
tized there were two Icelanders who had
been studying in Copenhagen, Þórarinn
Hafliöason, a carpenter and Guðmundur
Guðmundsson, a goldsmith. Upon
returning to Iceland they began preach-
ing this new religion.
Mormons do not believe that God’s
last word was spoken in the New
Testament and they maintain that He
stili sends prophets to work among us.
The Book of Mormon talks about one of
those, Joseph Smith, who found some
gold tablets with ancient writing on in
the hills of Cumorah, which he translat-
ed and published in 1830. Soon a small
congregation formed around these teach-
ings and after repeated persecutions his
followers settled in the desert in Utah
where they finally could live in peace.
This gospel, about the ideal commu-
nity in the reclaimed Zion here on earth,
where there was enough vegetation in
the surrounding hills for the herds to
graze year around, sounded good to
working people in Iceland, whose daily
experience was backbreaking work and
hopelessness. Living standards in the
Westman Islands and on the South
Coast of Iceland, stagnated religious life,
and the general state of affairs in Iceland
in the 19th century undoubtedly con-
tributed to the people’s decision to try
their luck in an unknown country and
adopt this new religion.
Þórarinn Hafliðason soon abandoned
the religion but Guðmundur
Guðmundsson continued mission work
in the Islands. He had some success and
in the spring of 1851 Benedikt
Hannesson and his wife Ragnhildur
Stefánsdóttir from Kastali were baptized.
They were the first converts to the new
religion in Iceland. The following sum-
mer they travelled to Denmark on their
way to Utah, but reaching their destina-
tion would take longer time than they
expected. In the summer of 1853 a
Danish Mormon preacher, J.P.
Lorentzen, arrived in the Westman
Islands and Samúel Bjarnason, Magnús
Bjarnason and Loftur Jónsson were
added to the congregation. They were all
hard working and well respected people.
Their wives were baptized a bit later and
more were added the following year,
altogether about 10 people.
A diffícult journey:
In the summer of 1854, Samúel
Bjarnason, his wife Margrét and Helga
Jóndóttir left the Westman Islands. They
travelled with Lorentzen and
Guðmundur, goldsmith, to Copenhagen,
where they stayed. The three left for
Liverpool in the fall, where they stayed
for some time, along with some Danes
destined for Utah. On January 7, 1855
they began a six week voyage across the
ocean on board James Nesmith arriving
in New Orleans on February 23. From
there they travelled up the Mississippi
River on the river boat Oceana, arriving
in St. Louis, Missouri on March 7.
After some preparation they took off
on foot, along with other Mormons,
crossing the American prairie to reach
the promised land. This was a great feat
as they had to travel through unsettled
areas of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and
Wyoming, all the way to Utah. They
arrived on September 7, 1855, 13
months after they left their homeland.
Samúel was in every way an able
man. He acquired 160 acres of land and
became a successful farmer in Utah. He
took another wife, besides his Margrét,
as was the custom according to the
Mormon tradition, Gertrude Mary
Mortenson, and they had 11 children.
According to the teachings of their
new religion the Icelandic settlers in the
desert of Utah had arrived in the
promised land. But was it really so?
What do we known about the people
who moved to Utah during these years?
How did they make out? Were they
able to adapt to new customs and put
down roots in a foreign land? The
Mormon leader, Brigham Young, knew
that Iceland was under the Danish
Crown and he saw to it that Icelanders
settled at Spanish Fork where Danish
people had already settled. Many
Icelanders felt that this was going from
bad to worse and they kept to them-
selves in the east end of town, somewhat
isolated at first. Gradually they adjusted
to the foreign community as other immi-
grants did, and they were considered
good and able workers.
Others Follow:
In 1856 one Icelander was added to
the group, Þórður Diðriksson, who
became one of the best known Icelandic
Mormons. He became a bricklayer as
well as bishop and leader of the
Icelandic congregation in Spanish Fork.
He is personified by “Þjóðrekur” in
Halldór Laxness’ play “Paradísarheimt”
(Paradise reclaimed). Þórður followed the
Mormon religion to the utmost and wrote
a booklet “The Voice of Admonition and
Truth” and he took three wives: Helga
Jónsdóttir, who had come with Samúel
and Margrét, Mary Jacobsen, a Danish
woman and Rannveig Jónsdóttir.
The life story of Guðmundur
Guðmundson, goldsmith and missionary,
from the Westman Islands, is a story of
unbelievable hardship which awaited
many of the settlers. He arrived in Utah
in 1857 along with a Danish widow, Mrs.
Garff, whose husband had died on the
way. Guðmundur married her and adopt-
ed her many children. They faced many
difficulties. He struggled with depression,
lost his faith, and they moved to
Sacramento in California looking for a
better life. They struggled with poverty
there too, but at last things tumed for the
better. Guðmundur adopted his faith
again and he worked as a goldsmith in
Lehi, Utah.
Another group arrived in 1857, 11
people in all, the largest group to leave
Iceland until then, and the last for 17
years. They were Loftur Jónsson from
Þórlaugargerði, his wife Guðrún and her
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two children, Guðrún and Jón; Anna
Guðlaugsdóttir, previously engaged to
Þórður Diðriksson; Vigdís Björnsdóttir
who later became a well known midwife
in Utah; Magnús Bjarnason from
Helgahjalli, his wife Þuríður and their
daughter Kristín; and Kristín
Magnúsdóttir a housemaid; and Guðný
Erasusdóttir a widow from Ömpuhjalli.
The last of the settlers to reach Utah
was a woman who had left Iceland first,
Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir from Kastali.
Her husband Benedikt died on the way,
in Omaha, Nebraska. Ragnhildur arrived
in Utah in 1862 along with their two
children, Efraím and María, ten years
after leaving Iceland in hope of finding
the promised Zion.
In 1938 a memorial was built in mem-
ory of the first settlers at Spanish Fork
with 16 names engraved on it.
Guðmundur Guðmundson’s, name, the
first missionary, was not among them.
Present at the unveiling of the memorial
was Maiy Hanson Sherwood or María
Benediktsdóttir, who had arrived in
Utah as an infant on her mother’s arms,
Ragnhildur, 76 years earlier. She was the
only one living who had her name
engraved on the memorial.
Continued next week
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