Lögberg-Heimskringla - 11.02.2005, Blaðsíða 6

6 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 11 February 2005
New English translation now available
Icelanders on the Pacific Coast:
Point Roherts, Blaine,
Bellingham, Marietta
by Margrét Benedictson
The Icelandic Club of Greater
Seattle, 176 pages,
$19.95 US
Fanney Guðjónsson
Seattle, WA
A new book, Icelanders on
the Pacific Coast, is now avail-
able in English translation, and
features fascinating stories about
Icelandic settlers in Point Rob-
erts, Blaine, Bellingham and
Marietta.
The original stories in Ice-
landic were written by Margaret
J.Benedictson, one of the first
outstanding personalities to emi-
grate from Iceland. Bom in 1866
in the northem part of Iceland,
she immigrated to the US in
1887. She lived in North Dakota,
where she married her husband
Sigfús Benedictson. Together
they published the women’s
magazine Freyja for 12 years.
They moved to Blaine in
1912. There she wrote eight ar-
ticles between 1925 and 1943
on the íirst Icelandic settlers,
which appeared in the Almanak
published in Winnipeg by O.S.
Thorgeirsson.
Three students in an Ice-
landic class in Seattle — Ted
Beck, Baird Barðarson and
Will Larson, and their teacher,
Arna Garðarsdóttir — translated
these articles. Icelanders Ámi
Magnússon and Sverrir Magnús-
son also contributed. Hulda Em-
ils edited the manuscript.
These translations will al-
low English-speaking people of
Icelandic descent to íinally read
about their ancestors’ travels,
hardships and successes.
This book takes us through
the first settlers’ travels in their
search for a better life on a for-
eign ground, far away from their
own country. Most came by way
of Manitoba and North Dakota,
some with stories to tell.
The first settlers came to
Blaine in 1888 and started
clearing for farms and worked
in the factories, canning salm-
on. Originally the US federal
govemment had intended the
isolated spit of Point Roberts to
accommodate a military base,
not to be settled.
Icelanders commenced set-
tlement in 1893 and soon wrote
petitions to Washington and suc-
cessfully achieved private own-
ership. The main early industry
was canning the abundant salm-
on that schooled past the spit.
Industries in Bellingham em-
ploying Icelanders were lumber
mills, canneries and shipping.
Marietta was a smaller commu-
nity supported by farming and
fishing.
Today, with succeeding gen-
erations, the Icelandic language
has for the most part been lost.
Descendants will thrill to the
stories of their ancestors in Eng-
lish.
The Icelandic pioneers pros-
pered and many of their children
went on to higher education. The
1990 census indicated that there
are some 6,000 Icelandic de-
scendents in Washington State,
along with newer Icelanders still
emigrating from the old country.
Margaret writes about all
these people with warmth and
gentleness, although I think she
must have been like so many
Icelandic women that emigrated
after her, strong, opinionated, in-
dustrious, well-read and beauti-
ful.
The book can be bought by
writing to The Icelandic Club of
Greater Seattle, c/o Sig Johnson,
654 W Olympic Pl. # 302, Se-
attle, WA 98119. The price is
$19.95 US plus $2 mailing with-
in the US. For Canada: $19.95
plus $4 in US equivalent.
From Icelanders on the Pacific Coast
Wlten Gitðrun got there, it was her intention to visit a woman
friend who had a home in Gardar. She started out late in tlie day
with the children, who were six and eight. The conditions were
bad. The way was completely covered with snow and slush. The
people in Mountain hegged her to wait until the next day, hut
Guðrun didn ’t want to and said that she could make it in a day.
The distance was said to be six miles. It is believed that dusk
fell and she took the wrong path. She had asked her children to
wait for her while she searched for the right way to thefarm and
cautionéd them to go no farther until she came hack for them,
or someone else came to Itelp. People believe she knew that her
days were numbered and she died that night.
The day after, a traveller reported thcit he had seen the alter-
nate route tliey had taken. The childreh saw this man and called
to him but were not heard. The next day a search party went out
andfound them all. Guðrun had died, but the children, who had
followed their mother’s advice and who had walked back and
forth all night, were alive and harmed little if at all.
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