Jón Bjarnason Academy - 01.05.1935, Side 29

The First Seven Years of the Icelandic
Settlement in North America
A Lecture Delivered in Winnipeg in 1914 by
./. T. Thorson, K.C., ex-M.P.
Today I wish to speak to you of one group of foreign born
pioneers, viz: the Icelanders, not because their lot was any hard-
er than that of others, for their story is only a chapter of the his-
tory of the pioneers of the west. I speak of them, particularly,
because I happen to know something of them and because their
main settlements in the early days were in the Province of
Manitoba and the State of North Dakota. Then, too, they have
been in North America a little over half a century. May I
add, also, that North America was discovered by Icelanders
over four centuries before its discovery by Christopher Colum-
bus. Leifur Eiriksson, son of Eirikur the Red, came to America
early in the 11th century from an Icelandic settlement on the
west coast of Greenland. So I ask you to bear with me, while
I attempt to tell you the story of the first seven years of the
Icelandic settlements in North America. It will be a simple
tale, not lending itself to flights of oratory, if I were capable
of them, but a plain statement of labor and hardship and
persevering courage.
Men began first to think and talk of migrating from Iceland
about the year 1870. The outlook for the future was dark,
trade conditions were had and there was much social and
political unrest, for Iceland was then engaged in its political
struggle with Denmark for freedom of trade and self-govern-
ment. This was a period of great migration from Northern
Europe to North America, especially to the United States.
News of this had spread to Iceland and stirred the men’s hearts
with the desire to seek their fortunes in the new land.
In 1871 a few men left Iceland for America and settled on
Washington Island near Milwaukee in the State of Wisconsin.
The next year 18 persons, as far as I can ascertain, arrived
and settled in Milwaukee and its neighborhood. They were
well pleased with their surroundings, employment in factories
was easy to get, wages were good and they had plenty to eat.
Their only complaint was of the excessive heat. Their letters
to Iceland are hopeful and even enthusiastic. They point out
that in this new place they can save more in a month than
they could in a year in Iceland. Their letters especially men-
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