Lögberg-Heimskringla - 18.06.2004, Blaðsíða 11

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 18. júní 2004 • 11
About 80,000 Utahns of Icelandic descent
Richard Johnson has been the president of
the lcelandic Association of Utah since 2002
and is now stepping down. Steinþór
Guöbjartsson visited him in American Fork.
Steinþór Guðbjartsson
American Fork, UT
Between 1855 and 1860,
15 pioneers from Iceland
established in Spanish Fork
the first permanent Icelandic
settlement in North America.
Among them were Þuríður
Magnúsdóttir and Magnús
Bjarnason.
“Magnús was my great-
great-uncle, and they emigrat-
ed to the US in 1857 and
spent two years in Iowa
before coming here,” Richard
Johnson recalls. “About 20
years later Magnús went back
to Iceland on a mission and
brought his brother, Jón Bjar-
nason, to Spanish Fork in
1876. His son, Júlíus Jón
Jónsson, was my grandfather
and came over in 1883. My
father, Julius Johnson, was
born in 1889, so I am close to
the first Icelandic settlers.”
His mother was Danish,
but Richard says that the Ice-
landic heritage was always
dominant and he has been on
the board of the Icelandic
Association of Utah for the
last 12 years. “I will continue
to do that although I will step
down as a president,” he says,
and points out that next year
will be very important due to
the celebration of the 150th
anniversary of the Icelanders’
arrival in Utah.
One of the purposes of the
Icelandic Association of Utah
is to “preserve the memory of
the early Icelandic pioneers ”
Richard says that everybody
is getting ready for the big
celebration in June 2005. “We
are going to refurbish the Ice-
landic monument in Spanish
Fork, build a new wall around
it, and put a memorial plaque
similar to the one we put up in
Vestmannaeyjar. There we
will have the names of the
first 410 Icelandic settlers.-
We want to change the land-
scape around the monument
and have an access for handi-
capped people.”
Another purpose of the
Association is to “celebrate
and perptuate the common
interest in culture and her-
itage of Iceland, through
activities and continuing edu-
cation.” Richard says that
much has been done to pre-
serve the Icelandic heritage
and that the mission will con-
tinue in the years to come.
“We have the prosperity of
about 80,000 who have Ice-
landic roots,” he says, and
adds that people of Icelandic
descent can be seen in many
fields of work. “We will con-
tinue to grow.”
Ready for the road
Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir and
Emil Emilsson have been living
in Utah with their children
(Einar, 25; Lára, 22; and Sóleyf
9) since 1996.
“We got the green card in a
Visa Lottery and wanted to rnove
to Utah, but the fact that we
entered the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints in
1984 had a lot to do with our
decision,” Emil says.
Emil is a auto boarding tech-
nician and Ingibjörg works as a
boarding technician at an animal
hospital. They are happy in Utah,
and say that it is a good place to
raise children.
The landscape is also some-
thing they not only adrnire frorn
the distance but use for their out-
door activities. “The weather is
great and the beauty of the nature
is undescribable,” Ingibjörg says.
According to Emil, extreme
rock crawling is the fastest-grow-
ing sport in the U.S. “Einar and I
have been competing in our jeep
in Extreme Rock Crawling
Championships since 2002 and it
is a great fun.”
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
Ingibjörg Einarsdóttir, Emil Emilsson and Einar EmiLsson in front of their jeep, which they use for
extreme rock crawling.
Quick facts
about Utah
• Utah comes from the
Native American “Ute” tribe
and means people of the
mountains.
• Utali is 84,900 square
rniles and ranked the llth
largest state in terms of
square miles in the U.S.
• Kings Peak in Duch-
esne County in the Northeast
part of the state is the highest
point, 13,528 ft.
• The population in Utah
is about 2.4 million people.
Thereof about 430 thousand
inhabitants live in Utah
County and about a million
in the State Capital, Salt
Lake City.
• Utah Valley!
(www.utahvalley.org/cvb) in
Provo promotes the Utah Val-
ley area as a destination and
is working with the Icelandic
Association of Lltah
(http://groups.msn.com
/IcelandicAssociationofU-
tah/)because of the celebra-
tions 23-26 June 2005 (spfor-
kicelander @ hotmail .com).
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