Lögberg-Heimskringla - 11.02.2005, Blaðsíða 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 11. febrúar 2005 • 9
tween 1880 and 1890. In the centre (per the scribbled pencil in- 3. Four portraits of Icelandic immigrant men, taken in Winnipeg about 1885. Second from the
i.” To her right is the faded and stained image of Signý Pálsdóttir right is Sigurbjörn Stefánsson, who died in Winnipeg in 1890.
eft are two familiar but unnamed faces.
cil scribble “Mrs Polson,” and
while it is tempting to link this
with an Icelandic family in Win-
nipeg that used the name “Pol-
son,” this may have been jotted
by someone unfamiliar with the
Icelandic spelling of “Palsson.”
The recognizable photos, on
the other hand, did include im-
ages of Signý Pálsdóttir, the wife
of Eyjólfur Eyjólfsson Olson of
Winnipeg, and her sister Gudb-
jörg Pálsdóttir — both natives
of eastem Iceland. Signý Olson
was the foster mother of Anna
Olson Stephanson, who became
the mother of Signy Stephanson
Eaton.
Then there was a picture of
Sigurbjöm Stefánsson, who was
active in the Icelandic commu-
nity in Winnipeg until his death
in 1890, and who was married
to Sesselja Eiríksdóttir, an aunt
to Signý and Gudbjörg Pálsdót-
tir, just mentioned. These I knew
from identical photos I had come
across in connection with Gim-
lunga Saga I, the first volume of
a history of pioneers in the Gimli
area, still unpublished.
Also recognizable among
these old photos was an early
portrait of Helgi Jónsson, pub-
lisher and editor of the Icelandic
newspaper Leifur, which was
printed in Winnipeg from 1883
to 1886. Helgi, too, was from the
east of Iceland.
Another of the pictures was
immediately recognizable as
Steinunn Ámadóttir, the wife of
Jóhann Þorsteinsson. This cou-
ple, both from the East Fjords,
settled near Lundar after a short
time in Winnipeg. With this
in mind, I looked up a photo I
have of Steinunn’s sister Soffía,
together with her husband, Jón
Sigfússon Olson (who happened
to be a half-brother to Eyjólfur
Olson, husband of Signý Páls-
dottir, above). There was no mis-
take. Soffía was without doubt
the young woman on one of the
photos, a fact plain to see even
though one photo shows her
wearing a large hat.
There is little doubt that other
photographs in this group are the
images of other people closely
connected with these East Fjord
families — but for the time being
this remains part of an unsolved
photographic mystery...
Maybe you can help. If you
recognize any of these pictures
or have others that you would
like to discuss, please contact
Nelson Gerrard at (204) 378-
2758 or eyrarbakki@hotmail.
com or Box 925, Arborg, Mani-
toba R0C 0A0.
Many thanks to Brian for
this little photographic riddle.
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