Lögberg-Heimskringla - 14.01.2005, Blaðsíða 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 14. janúar 2005 • 9
child had to pick two names out
of the hat and write to the sol-
diers they picked. One of the
names I picked was Steini’s. We
started to communicate through
mail, and when he came home
I was 18 and ready to get mar-
ried. The other boy never re-
plied to my letters, but Steini
always replied and I still have
his letters.”
Cattle farmers for decades
For many decades, Steini
and Runa raised beef cattle
and were established Here-
ford breeders. They had about
200 head at their peak but are
down to about 20 a year. “My
father had sheep and cattle but
we only had cattle. I have bred
Herefords for about 70 years;
got my first one when I was 11
years old,” Steini sáys. “We
showed our cattle locally and in
Toronto and won some prizes. I
liked being a cattle farmer. I got
used to that kind of a life.”
Runa adds that Steini had
a special way to treat animals
and they were fond of him.
“Animals respected him,” she
says. They still farm. “Only on
a small scale,” Steini says, and
admits that at his age it is diffi-
cult. “We buy some cows in the
spring, keep them in the sum-
mer and sell them in the fall.”
Many people think that the
grass is greener on the other
side. That has been the case in
Lundar, just as in other places,
but whatever has been said
about other areas, and although
many have moved away, Steini
and Runa have stayed where
they are. Despite inconvenienc-
es like no telephone and no hy-
dro for many years.
“There was no electricity at
the farm until 1955. We had to
carry all the water into the house
and I rubbed clothes on a wash-
board,” Runa says. “We like the
area and it has been pretty good
to us,” Steini continues. “We
have always been able to make
a living here and a little extra.
This area, east of the track, is
ideal for cattle farming, but the
land west of Lundar is better for
grain farming.”
Steini says that they have
hardly had any problems at the
farm since they started farming.
“Nothing we could not handle,”
he says, and thinks that 1955
was perhaps the worst year.
“There was so much snow that
you could drown in it and on
top of everything the well did
not work,” Runa says. “It was
hard to get our hay out. In those
days we had to haul everything
with horses,” Steini adds. “It
was hard on the horses.”
The end of an era
More than one hundred
years ago, Hjörtur and Kristín
wanted to get out of the city
and become farmers on their
own land. Most of the land by
Lake Winnipeg and Lake Mani-
toba was taken at that time bul
they were happy with what was
available in Lundar.
It does not seem likély
their children will live on the
farm in the future. The oldest,
Jóhann Hjörtur and his family,
presently live and farm near
Ottawa, Ontario. Daughter
Betty and her husband live in
Winnipeg. Youngest daughter
Patricia and her family live in
Wasaga Beach, Ontario. “They
are happy where they are and
we are happy here,” Steini and
Runa say simultaneously.
Elopement
led couple
to Canada
In her book My Amma and
Me, Evelyn Kristín Thorvald-
son tells the story of her grand-
mother Kristín Þorsteinsdóttir
from Húsafell in Borgarfjörður,
Iceland — how she fell in love
with Jóhann Hjörtur Pálsson
from Hólasveit and against her
parents’ wishes emigrated with
him to Manitoba.
While studying in Reyk-
javík, Iceland Kristín met a
young man by the name of Jón
Straumfjörð. They got engaged
in 1898. “Kristín’s parents
were pleased with her choice;
Jón was respected and intel-
ligent and all indications were
that their future together in Ice-
land would be bright,” Evelyn
writes.
Soon after, while horse-
back riding from Akranes to
Reykholt, Kristín met Hjörtur
Pálsson and they rode together
for a while. “There is no record
of what words were exchanged
between Kristín and Hjörtur
after that tumultuous ride, but
it remained in the memory of
the young man,” according to
Evelyn.
Later the same year Hjörtur
emigrated to Canada; however,
two years later he was back
in Iceland. “There is no doubt
that his purpose was to seek
out Kristín Thorsteinsdóttir,
who had won his heart on their
spirited ride between Akranes
to Reykholt,” Evelyn recalls.
“Her parents realized that the
young man’s interest in their
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
daughter was progressing well
beyond friendship, and they did
not approve. They were bitterly
disappointed when she ended
her engagement to Jón Straum-
fjörð; and it seemed unaccept-
able to them that Hjörtur should
pursue a woman already prom-
ised in marriage to another, or
that Kristín should be open to
his attention. She appeared to
be moving rapidly away from
them and the secure future they
had envisaged for her.”
Kristín’s parents sent her
away to stay with relatives
at the farm Lækjarmót, some
80 miles from Húsafell, to
keep her away from Hjörtur.
The move, however, brought
them closer together. Her par-
ents “would never have given
Kristín their consent to leave
Iceland and marry Hjörtur. If
she left, it would be without
their blessing.” Kristín made
her decision. “She would mar-
ry Hjörtur and would leave
Iceland quietly without her
parents’ knowledge. She knew
it was the only way. She loved
her family dearly — but she
had to make a choice. Hjörtur
was her choice.”
In August 1901 Kristín
and Hjörtur sailed on a mail
boat from Blönduós to Vop-
naíjörður on the east coast of
Iceland. The following month,
they left Iceland and went to
the Faroe Islands and Scotland.
From there they sailed for 15
days to Quebec. They took the
train for the last part and ar-
rived in Winnipeg October 23.
Kristín wrote to her par-
ents from Winnipeg and asked
them to forgive her. Later she
wrote thein about their grand-
children and how happy the
family was but she never got a
reply until about three years af-
ter her father’s death. After the
fifth child was bom, in Decem-
ber 1909, her mother finally
wrote her a letter. The mother
continued to correspond with
her daughter until she died in
1921. Hjörtur never retumed to
Iceland and Kristín did not see
her parents after she moved to
Manitoba, but her inheritance
made it possible for her to visit
Iceland once, in 1930, after hav-
ing given birth to 11 children.
“She needed to touch base with
her roots — her homeland and
her family,” writes Evelyn.
Evelyn Kristín Thorvald-
son is the daughter oflngibjörg
and Joseph Ganton and grand-
daughter of Kristín and Hjör-
tur Pálsson.
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