Saga - 1962, Qupperneq 100

440
BJÖRN SIGFÚSSON
SUMMARY
The article explores the different reaction, to the revolution in
Icelandic social and economic life in the 20th century, of two com-
parable and kindred families, or, rather, a sort of clans, “R” and
“S”, which originated in the Mývatn district early in the 19th cen-
tury.
In 1939, when a genealogy of the clan R was published, it showed
the living descendants of the family’s founder, the Rev. Jón Þor-
steinsson (1781 — 1862), to number some 1060, or 0.9% of the popula-
tion of Iceland. When, 12 years later, a similar genealogy appeared
for the clan S, descendants of the farmer Helgi Ásmundsson (1768—
1855), the family members then living and residing within Iceland
numbered 1725, or 1.2% of the total population (Besides these many
hundreds of descendants of both families resided outside the coun-
try, mainly in North America).
Inter-marriages between R and S have been considerably more
frequent than with any other similar family group. Those persons,
who are both R and S, however, are not treated separately; a great
many of such families emigrated to America, especially around 1893,
in proportion at least equal to those emigrating of the pure clan S.
When these families are considered as two groups and compared
to each other, as well as to synchronous Icelandic averages, the
author believes some conclusions may be drawn from the statistical
results, even though the sampling method is not quite accurate. It is
shown that the emigration of S during the period 1870—1893 was
above the Icelandic average, yet only slightly above the average
emigration of farmers from the Mývatn and neighboring districts.
The family R, which during the decades 1850—1870, and thereafter,
was rapidly spreading from the Mývatn district to most sections of
Iceland, took up to 1890 almost no part in the emigration. Since
1900 the emigration of Icelanders has been small and of slight sta-
tistical importance, but urbanization has been rapid, and in spite
sést, að sú tíðni þar var engin algild sönnun um hærri meðalgreind
í þeim ættum en öðrum, né heldur afsönnun. En tíðnin var mark-
verðara einkenni á sókn þeirra ætta til fremri hlutverka í landinu.
Þingmennskuhugur manns (eða eiginkonunnar fyrir hönd hans),
kosningasigur og ráðherravald gæti ekki talizt tryggur mælikvarði
um yfirburði, jafnvel ekki um vinsældir heldur, en er sönnun um
tiltrú til manna, er áttu sjálfstraust.