Lögberg-Heimskringla - 05.11.2004, Side 11

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 5. nóvember 2004 • 11
MUSKOKA
History book
30 yearsin
the making
David Jón Fuller
Rosseau, ON
Though there are not many
descendants of the original Ice-
landic settlers still living in
Muskoka, their contributions
have made it into the history
books. One such descendant is
Doreen (Shortt) Nowak.
Doreen, who is the daugh-
ter of Agnes Crawford and
Gordon Shortt, is Icelandic on
her father’s side. Gordon Shortt
was the son of Richard Shortt
and Arnbjorg Einarson, who
was bom in Iceland in 1869.
Doreen was born near
Rosseau, on a farm which is
now pait of the Aspen Valley
Wildlife Sanctuary. She cur-
rently lives in Rosseau.
She says Icelandic was
spoken in her family when she
was growing up, “but I didn’t
pay attention to it. I knew what
it was, but I wasn’t interested
then.”
The Women’s Institute
played a major role in the early
research that went into the
book. “Their goal was to col-
lect the history of their commu-
nities. So another lady and I
started years and years ago,
and we had a lot of informa-
tion, a lot of pictures, and we
put them all together, and a
number of years later, another
lady said, ‘Well, let’s get this
into a book ’”
That collecting, continued
by the Rosseau Historical
Society, took approximately 30
years, and resulted in the book
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Rosseau: The Early Years, pub-
lished by the Society, of which
Doreen is a member. It covers
the history of the area to 1950.
There was too much informa-
tion for one book, so a second
volume is in the works, which
will cover from 1951 to the
present day.
Icelandic names turn up
throughout Rosseau: The Early
Years. One is the tourist house
“Glenbumie,” also known as
“Reykjavik,” which was built
and operated by the Gudnason
family in the early 1900s.
Another is the rooming house
“Bide-A-Wee,” which Vigfus
Einarson bought (it had been a
bakeshop, ice cream parlour,
and store) but which was
destroyed by fíre in 1932.
Doreen notes that wheh
work on collecting material
started, their work with photos
was somewhat easier. “Back
then, when we started, there
was a lot of elderly people here
in town, which áre gone now.”
Their memories often served to
identify people in the photos.
In the end, the volunteers’
hard work paid off. “The book
sold so well we had to do a sec-
ond printing,” says Doreen.
“The day we launched our
book, it was the first of July
weekend, with the holiday, and
a lot of people who used to live
in Rosseau came back just for
that day.”
The
ICELANDIC
CANADIAN
PHOTO: DAVID JÓN FULLER
Above: Doreen (Shortt)
Nowak displays á copy of
Rosseau: The Early Years, as
well as one of her family
albums.
Right: One of the curiosities
which Doreen has turned up
is a poem in Icelandic. It is
dedicated to Hallgrímur
Pétursson, on the 200th
anniversary of his death,
October 27,1874. The writer
is identified only as Matthías.
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Ct ei .
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PHOTO: EARL MARCHAND
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Gerist c áskrífendur!
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P.O. Box 1156
Gimll, Manltoba
Canada ROC 1B0
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