Saga - 1980, Síða 80

74
BERGSTEINN JÓNSSON
Meetings of various types, lectures and visiting became more
frequent with time. As ahvays, Jón was very much a churchgoer,
attending Norwegian services when there were no Icelandic ones.
From the very beginning, the settlers observed the Fourth of July
with gatherings, picnics (a new custom for them), speeches and lec-
tures.
Curiously, the diarist rarely mentions his wife after their arrival
to America; there is not one reference to her dimming eyesight and
her blindness for many years before she died. For that matter, Jón
writes that his daughter Helga married on August 26, 1878, but
omits the name of the bridegroom; he was poet Stephan G. (Gud-
mundsson) Stephansson, a first cousin to Helga.
At the end of 1879, the diary gives the surplus for the year as
$16.74, with $26 owed to Helga, $44 to son Jón and $10 to unrelated
persons. Taking these debts into account, farmer Jón estimates his
net worth to be $686.
An unexpected entry from May of 1879 reads: “On the 20th 11
Icelanders from here went to Dakota.” Nothing more is said of this
for a long while. But in early May of 1880, a few of Jón's neighbours
set out for the same destination. He began to cut his wheat on July
24: “I sold may farm that day for $200.” On August 16: “We
started out west to Dakota with our animals. The 30th, we crossed
the Mississippi ...” The goal — today known as Gardar Township>
Pembina County, North Dakota — was finally reached on October 4,
1880, “after even 7 weeks from Shawano.”
Most of the Icelanders who came from Wisconsin to North Dakota
had ampler means than those arriving from New Iceland (Manitoba)
or were new immigrants — and it seems that Jón’s family prospered
from the start in Gardar township. There were soon meetings for
discussing the forming of congregations and finding ministers;
church-building projects followed, with father and son from Mjói"
dalur often contributing generously. That their farm operation v/aS
becoming more successful all along is clear from the year-end sets
of data on crops and the prices of what was sold, There was buyioí?
of livestock, implements and machinery (sometimes just for the
farrn, sometimes by going shares with different numbers of neigh"
bours).
There was no lack of social and cultural activity. Each year sa^
numerous events like drama performances, choir practices, and
meetings of diverse organizations: the Library Club, the Farrners
Association, the Women’s Society, etc. Writer-editors Einar Hjér'
leifsson and Gestur Pálsson visited from Winnipeg and gave leC'