Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.03.2009, Qupperneq 13

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. mars 2009 • 13
Photo
Mystery: Do you know these people? From the Pioneer Daughters
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.
[Note: genealogical data included in book edition.]
Ellenor Jane Ginn, one of the Pioneers of Pembina Coun-
ty, came to her homestead near Mountain, in the year 1882.
Her husband John Ginn filed on land near Mountain, in
the spring of 1882, and then returned to Manitoba and put
in his crop there. In September, 1882, he died. After the
harvesting of the Manitoba crop, Mrs. Ginn and part of her
family came to the Dakota Homestead and completed the
dutied of “proving up”, on the land. Mrs. Ginn also filed on a
quarter for herself. (This could be done at this time).
Ellenor Ginn was a woman of sterling qualities. She
knew what pioneering meant to the fullest extent. As a girl
of fifteen she came from Ireland with her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Kerr, and shared in their pioneer life in the
woods near New Castle, Ontario, Canada, about 1844. In
1854, Ellenor was married to John Ginn, a settler living
near Blackstead, Ontario.
When the Ginn family moved from Ontario to Aenaud,
Manitoba, in 1875, they came boat to Duluth, then by train
to Fisker’s Landing, (new Fisher), a town in Minnesota,
near East Grand Forks. They had two or three days wait for
the flat bottomed Red River Boat, which took them down the
river to a place called Whiteheads Landing; practically on
the site of St. Jean, Manitoba, and due west from Armaud.
It was here that a near tragedy occurred. While waiting
for the father to come with the ox-team to complete their
journey, the youngest son, Robert Wesley, strayed away and
was hopelessly lost in the wilderness of wild grass. The few
settlers and everyone, searched but no trace of the small
boy could be found. The anxious searchers found tracks of
bear and other animals, which added to their fears. Robert
stumbled on and on, and as night fell, lay down and slept
on the wet grass. In the morning he started out again and
providentially came to a settlers camp and they returned
him to his mother.
When the Ginn’s lived on their homestead near Moun-
tain, their nearest place to market grain and by supplies
was St. Thomas. A long trip with load and team.
Mrs. Ginn found little difference in the Pioneering in
Canada and that in Pembina County. Nine long months when
she did not see the face of a white person, except her fam-
ily. She was under no illusions as to what life held for her.
There was no rosy future, no empty social rounds, no years
of twilight rest and gladness. She was old fashioned enough
to believe that a Mother’s highest destiny is merged in her
family. Her greatest work to guide and develop the spiritual
welfare of her children. Her strong Christian character was
the greatest heritage she could leave her family. She saw
them fairly started and settled, then peacefully and content-
edly went to her reward.
Mrs. Finn is buried in Crystal Cemetery and the body
of her husband was brought from Manitoba and rests beside
that of Ellenor Ginn.
Mrs. John Ginn, Mountain, N.D.
(Ellenor Jane Ginn)
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.
Three stylish Icelandic immigrant women photographed by
Jón Blöndal of Winnipeg about 1890 - location unknown, but
Gimli and Winnipeg connections.
The Ladies Aid Society is
a thing of the past in Elfros,
as is much else. The town is
very quiet these days, and if
one listens carefully it is pos-
sible to detect some resent-
ment of the larger surrounding
communities, whose services,
employment opportunities and
citified attractions have drawn
people away from Elfros over
the years. A controversial sale
of seven houses “at lawn-sale
prices,” as village administra-
tor Glenn Thompson char-
acterized it, exacerbated the
problems in the village.
Despair does not seem to
be a word in the local lexicon,
however. “It’s an attractive area,
and people are looking to move
here,” Thompson says. The
mayor, Keri Zemlak, is by all
reports a dynamic civic leader
with no shortage of ideas. New
houses are being built, and the
local school, closed for lack of
students, is being redeveloped
into a bed and breakfast by an
engineering consultant who
has purchased the imposing
edifice. He will arrive in Elfros
at the beginning of May to start
the process.
And this summer the vil-
lage will celebrate its Centen-
nial. Beginning on July 24, the
town and any lucky visitors will
enjoy a weekend of parades,
fireworks, picnics, games, beer
gardens and all manner of en-
tertainment as Elfros prepares
for another hundred years as a
small jewel on the Saskatch-
ewan prairie.
More information on the
Elfros Centennial is available
online at www.elfrosrmcenten-
nial.ca.
Town heads into
100th year
Continued from page 10
Photo: caelum vatnsdal
Some public art in Elfros depicts a flag-waving giantess.