Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.05.2015, Blaðsíða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. maí 2015 • 3
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In 1948, Valdimar (Val) Bjornson gave a series of radio talks on the subject
of Icelandic settlement of
North America. This article is
a summary of the presentation
given on October 14, 1948,
“Modern Migration Begins.”
“It is strange how
coincidence often shapes
history. It is because of the
association of two Icelanders
with some Danes that the
Mormon colony in Utah had
its beginnings,” said Val
Bjornson. “It is because of
one Dane’s association with
some Icelanders that the
Washington Island settlement
in Wisconsin later came into
being. And, as for my own
home community at Minneota,
its Icelandic settlement began
solely because one Icelander
and his family cast their lot
with Norwegians in Dane
County, Wisconsin, and then
moved with them by ox-
drawn covered wagon to the
banks of the Yellow Medicine
River, when those Norwegians
decided to press further
westward, into Minnesota.”
Two young Icelanders from
the Westmann Islands went to
Copenhagen to attend a trade
school. There they met with
Danish Mormon converts and
were themselves converted
and encouraged to go back
to Iceland and continue
the missionary work. They
confined their efforts mainly
to the Westmann Islands and to
southern mainland. Their work
culminated in the migration
of the Icelandic Mormons to
Utah in 1856, settling in and
near Spanish Fork.
Another migratory
move had its origins in the
Þingeyjarsýsla in northern
Iceland, when formal planning
for a move to Brazil began in
1863. Over 500 Icelanders
expressed interest in moving
when the formal planning
first began, mainly due to the
series of hard winters and the
continuing discontent with
the Danish trade monopoly.
Promised assistance from
Brazil failed to materialize,
and ten years later, only 34
Icelanders left for Rio de
Janeiro via Copenhagen,
Denmark and Hamburg,
Germany.
The “westward flood”
began with a Dane, William
Wickman, who worked
at the Danish mercantile
establishment in Eyrarbakki,
leaving for the US in 1865.
He first went to Milwaukee,
Wisconsin and then went north
to Washington Island. “He was
lavish in his praise of the new
home he had found,” noted
Bjornson. His letters, were of
course, discussed at the store
in Iceland and the result was
that several families from
the Eyrarbakki area left for
Washington Island in 1870.
As Elísabet Pétursdóttir
wrote for the Pembina Pioneer
Daughters: “Much had been
said of the country called
America … Many castles
were built in the air about that
country. The people just had to
pick the fruit off the trees and
live on that.”
Milwaukee became the
main Icelandic landing point,
with some moving up to
Washington Island, some to
Shawano County, a short-lived
Icelandic settlement in north-
eastern Wisconsin, and some
stayed in the Milwaukee area
and surrounding land, which
was predominantly settled
by Norwegians. Gunnlaugur
Pétursson’s family and some
friends settled in this area of
Dane County in 1873. “It was
because Norwegian neighbors
of his … decided to move
on to Minnesota in 1875 that
Gunnlaugur and his wife, and
a few relatives with them,
chose to follow the same
course. And thus he became
the first Icelandic settler in
the state of Minnesota, taking
a homestead in what became
Westerheim Township in Lyon
County, seven miles northeast
of Minneota, on the 4th of July
in 1875.”
You can learn more about
Val Bjornson and the settlement
of Minnesota at the Icelandic
National League of North
America Convention, May
15-17, 2015 in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. Program informa-
tion, registration instructions,
and hotel reservations are
found at www.inlofna.org.
Modern migration begins: the power of one or two
Dianne O’Konski
Minneapolis, MN
In 1916, the women of Manitoba had gained the right to vote. The world was in the middle of war and, back
in that year, a special woman, after her
husband had gone overseas, felt that she,
too, wished to make her contribution
towards winning the war. This was
her reason for joining a chapter of the
Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire,
which was formed to support war efforts.
She discussed this organization’s work
with numerous friends and relatives,
Icelandic women like herself, eager for
the opportunity to serve. Indeed, the
interest was so keen and the number
so great that someone suggested they
organize a chapter. So Mrs. J.B. (Johanna
Gudrun) Skaptason invited a number of
Icelandic women to her home for the
consideration of founding a chapter.
Thus, this group of Icelandic women,
both Unitarian and Lutheran, formed an
IODE chapter at a meeting on March 20,
1916. It was named the Jon Sigurdsson
Chapter in honour of “Iceland’s National
Hero.” Their motto was “United We
Stand.” Johanna Gudrun was elected the
first regent and, in her inaugural speech,
she said:
“We all know the part our Icelandic
men are taking in the war and we certainly
are proud of them; we, the mothers,
and sisters and wives of these men. We
may therefore expect much from this
organization. Surely we have as much
strength, ability and courage as our men.
I do not see that we are inferior to them
except perhaps in eloquence when we are
called to the platform and then we make
up for that at the coffee tables. ...
“Our work will be especially among
the Icelandic soldiers; those who have
come home wounded. We should lend
a helping hand to the soldiers’ wives in
their loneliness and anxiety, for often a
friendly visit means more than money.”
The years 1916 thorough 1918 were
devoted to war work. During this period
the chapter raised over $5,000. Part was
turned over to the Provincial Chapter
for Belgian Relief, Sailors’ Relief, the
MacKenzie Hospital for Convalescent
Soldiers, and other work. The remainder
was used to supply needs and comforts for
the Icelandic Soldiers and their families.
The armistice was signed in 1918
and the war came to an end, but the
chapter carried on. There were men in the
hospitals and their families to be cared
for.
On February 11, 1919, the chapter
sponsored a reunion of Icelandic soldiers
and their relatives and friends. Over 600
people attended; admission was free.
Guest speakers included the Lieutenant
Governor, the Mayor of Winnipeg, and
the Hon. Thomas H. Johnson, Attorney
General of Manitoba, who had been born
in Iceland.
“Another entertainment we shall
long remember with pleasure was
the one proffered to the Falcons, the
World Champion Hockey Team, upon
their Victorious return from Antwerp.
The proprietor for the Manitoba Hall
generously provided the hall and orchestra
and supper for the boys. On this occasion
the chapter presented each of the players,
all Winnipeg boys of Icelandic parentage,
with a watch chain suitably inscribed in
appreciation of the honor they brought to
our people and to our City.”
“Our great work during the years
immediately following the war was
the 1923 publication of the Soldiers’
Memorial Book, Minningarrit Íslenzkra
Hermanna 1914-1918. At the close of the
war we set aside $500.00 for a memorial
to the Icelandic soldiers. It was decided
to publish a book containing a short
biography and portrait of every soldier of
Icelandic origin.” This was a stupendous
undertaking and great credit is due those
who brought this to successful completion
including Mrs. Gudrun Buasson, Dr.
Rognvaldur Peturson, Mr. Baldwin L.
Baldwinson, Mrs. F. Johnson, Mrs. G.
Jonsson, Mrs. J.B. Skaptason, and Mrs.
P.S. Palsson.
Completed, the book contained
portraits of thirteen hundred soldiers and
sailors who served in the Canadian and
American forces and sixteen nurses of
Icelandic parentage.
The chapter presented copies of this
book to all the leading universities of
Canada, England and the United States.
A copy was sent to the Governor-General
of Canada, Lord Tweedsmuir, for which
he sent the following acknowledgement:
“Dear Mrs. Skaptason,
Thank you very much for the gift of
the Icelandic Soldiers Memorial Book
which I am very glad to have. I have
always had the deepest interest in our
Icelandic Canadians! I only wish that we
had more of them.
Yours sincerely, ‘TWEEDSMUIR’.”
(Source: History of the Jon Sigurdsson
Chapter I.O.D.E., published on its 25th
anniversary, 1941, and written by Mrs.
L.A. Sigurdson.)
The first decade of Jon Sigurdsson Chapter IODE1916 TO 1925
Karen Botting
Winnipeg, MB
Jon Sigurdsson Chapter IODE –Organized March 20, 1916, Winnipeg.
From left to right – Top row: Miss J.S. Johnson, Echo Secretary; Mrs. Th.
Borgfjord, Councillor; Miss A.M. Skaptason, Councillor; Miss C.L. Hannesson,
Treasurer; Mrs. E. Hansson Councillor. Second row: Mrs. J. Carson, First Vice-
Regent; Mrs. J.B. Skaptason, Regent; Mrs. S. Brynjolfson, Second Vice-Regent.
Bottom row: Miss O. Oddson, Standard Bearer; Miss T. Sigurdson, Secretary.
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