Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.2007, Page 11

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. desember 2007 • 11
Photo
Mystery: Do you know these people?
Lögberg-Heimskringla features this series of photographic mysteries
in conjunction with the Nel-
son Gerrard’s “Silent Flashes”
project, which explores early
photography among Icelandic
immigrants and their descen-
dants in North America during
the settlement period — from
1870 to 1910.
All unidentified photo-
graphs featured in this series
were taken in Icelandic settle-
ments in Canada and the United
States during this era, and your
input is invited if you can pro-
vide any clues as to who these
people are.
Any successful solutions
will be published, but more
importantly these old photo-
graphic treasures can then be
archived for future generations.
Some may also be featured
in the upcoming book Silent
Flashes.
To obtain further informa-
tion on the “Silent Flashes” proj-
ect or to provide input, contact
Nelson Gerrard at (204) 378-
2758 or eyrarbakki@hotmail.
com, or by mail at Box 925,
Arborg, Manitoba R0C 0A0.
Check out the “Silent Flash-
es” website and photo archive
at www.sagapublications.com.
Questions on your own
photographic mysteries are
also welcome.
Unidentified Dakota family, photographed at Cavalier by Ás-
geir Sölvason, about 1895.
From the Pioneer
Daughters
In 1940, The Pembina County Pioneer Daughters began collecting information on North Dakota’s homesteading period in the late 1800s in the
form of memoirs and genealogical data. George
Freeman of Grand Forks, ND has compiled all of
the accounts on the early settlements into three
volumes, now available in hardcover.
For more information on the Pembina County
Pioneer Daughters Biographies, contact George
Freeman at 2091 27 Ave. So., Grand Forks, ND,
58201, by phone at (701) 772-3397, or e-mail
gfreeman@gra.midco.net.
ÞÓRÐUR DIÐRIKSSON
(Thordur Didriksson) was born
25 March 1828 at Holmar, Kross,
Rangarvalla; his parents were
Diðrik Jónsson, born 16 Sep-
tember 1794, died 11 July 1841,
and Sigríður Árnadóttir, born 25
August 1798, died 17 December
1892. He first worked on the farm
owned by Ólafur Jónsson at Fagri-
höll, Kross, Rangarvalla, until he
was 12 years of age. He then went
to work and lived with Höskuldur
Jónsson at the farm Butra, Kross,
Rangarvalla, until he was 21 years
old.
In 1853 or 1854 Thordur
went to Copenhagen, Denmark
to learn the trade of goldsmith.
While in Copenhagen he met
Mormon missionaries and ac-
cepted their message and joined
the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints. He was baptized
17 February 1855.
Upon returning to Iceland
Thordur was full of enthusiasm
and excitement about his new-
found faith. His message was not
well accepted and he was turned
away with scorn and treated some-
what as an outcast. This was the
same reception that Gudmundur
Gudmundsson had received in the
same area just a few years before.
Thordur was discouraged by
his lack of success and decided to
go to Zion, in Utah. He left Ice-
land in July 1855.
He stayed in Copenhagen for
four months before leaving for
Utah. He sailed from Liverpool on
12 December 1855. The terrible
weather encountered while cross-
ing the Atlantic Ocean lengthened
the travel time by almost twice the
usual. The ocean was very rough
and the food supply became lim-
ited in quantity and quality. Many
passengers became ill and died at
sea. Thordur himself became very
ill and was near death.
He arrived at New York 15
February 1856. He was delayed
at Castle Gardens in New York for
eight days and then he travelled
by train to Altum, near St. Louis,
MO. He stayed there until June.
He traveled by steamship up the
Mississippi River to Omaha, NE.
From Omaha he traveled by hand-
cart to Utah.
Leaving Omaha in mid-July
1856, he arrived in Salt Lake City
three months later. He stayed in
Salt Lake City for a short time and
then went to Provo, UT where he
stayed for several months before
settling in Spanish Fork. He was
the fourth Icelander to immigrate
to Utah.
In Spanish Fork, Thordur met
and married Helga Jonsdottir on 2
January 1858. Helga was born 12
July 1814; her parents were Jón
Hálfdanarson, born in 1771 and
Kristín Þorleifsdóttir, born 7 June
1782. He also married a Danish
woman, Maren Jacobsen, on 17
Icelandic Emigrants to Utah
ÞÓRÐUR DIÐRIKSSON
(Thordur Didriksson)
Beginning in 1854, Icelanders who had converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints emigrated to the United States. David A. Ashby is currently working on a book, Icelanders Gather to Utah, 1854 – 1914: From Iceland to Spanish Fork, Utah, collecting biographies of Icelandic
immigrants to the state. The book is edited by Bliss K. Anderson and Hálfdan Helgason. Excerpts will appear
in Lögberg-Heimskringla with the author’s permission. For more information, visit http://groups.msn.
com/IcelandicAssociationofUtah/iau.msnw. A person’s number (see below) refers to that person’s listing in
LaNora Allred’s The Icelanders of Utah.
Gudrun Arnadottir was born at Sydra Holti in Svar-
fadardal, Iceland, Aug. 6, 1846. She was married June 9,
1865 to Tomas Johannson, who was born July 22, 1838.
They farmed in Iceland until the summer of 1888, when
they emigrated to America. To them were born thirteen chil-
dren, five of them died young; the other eight children all
came to Dakota. They came by boat and rail via Winnipeg to
Mountain, N. Dak., Where they found a home with Gudrun’s
sister, Mrs. Thordis Bjornson, the first winter.
In the spring of 1889 they bought a farm near Gardar,
N.D., where they lived for seven years. There were no home-
steads left in that locality when they came, so they had to
buy in order to be near their kinsfolk. It was hard to make a
living on this farm, the soil was poor, so they sold it and in
the spring of 1899 moved to Morden, Man., where they and
two of their oldest boys were able to homestead.
Here they lived for seven years, which would have been
happy ones if Gudrun’s health had not been failing. She had
long suffered from a painful head ailment which necessitated
many operations, so that when the younger boys decided to
go to Saskatchewan to homestead, it was not deemed wise to
take her so far from medical aid, and her children in N. Dak.
offered them a home. Here they lived till the summer of 1913
when they went to Saskatchewan and where they stayed till
their deaths.
Gudrun died March 5, 1920, and Tomas Sept. 15, 1921,
at the home of their son Jonas, and are both buried at Mo-
zart, Sask. Their golden wedding [anniversary] was celebrat-
ed the 9th of June 1915, with a host of friends and relatives
present.
They were always in moderate circumstances, but nev-
er so poor that Gudrun could not share with those who had
less. She was generous to a fault, her hospitality unbounded.
Proud of her ancestry, with love and faith in her children she
was the ideal mother. A good Christian, kind to the sick, both
man and animal, and often acted as midwife where doctors
were not called. Loving her native land dearly, she was never
sorry she came to America for although she always worked
hard, she found life easier here.
The children took their father’s name calling themselves
Thomasson. Their names are: 1. Arni, 2. Katrin, 3. Johann, 4.
Sigurbjorg, 5. Paul, 6. Sigurros, 7. Jonas, 8. Thordis.
[Note: genealogical info included in book edition.]
Mrs. Thomas Johannson
Continued on page 15