The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1971, Qupperneq 44

42
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
In her article “The Stoneson Bro-
thers and the City They Built”, Mrs.
Louise Gudmunds has told their re-
markable success story. The key note
is effectively struck in the opening
paragraph:
“Stoneson Brothers, the building ty-
coons of San Francisco, in spite of lim-
ited educational opportunities in early
life, made a greater impact upon the
contsruction business in California
than most others whose beginnings
were made auspicious. They combined
a skillful use of hammer and saw with
a natural talent for planning and de
sign. It is said that Ellis could see a
barren, worthless acre of land and in
his mind’s eye spread it with beautiful
stately buildings.”
Brandur Einarsson Brandson design-
ed and built a number of houses in
Victoria and elsewhere, and was a
highly successful boat builder. Th;:
same was true of his brother, Gud-
mundur Einar (James), who was well
known as a builder and driver of high
speed racing boats, and was a member
of the Victoria Inboard-Outboard As-
sociation.
John Johnson, brother of Byron
Johnson, was an accomplished and
well-known lacrosse and rugby player.
The Brynjolfson brothers were like-
wise noted and popular athletes. Wal-
ter Brynjolfson’s versatility in that re-
spect is indicated by the fact that he
played baseball, golf, rugby and soc-
cer, and was equally successful as a
coach. Stefan (Steve) Brynjolfson was
a star rugby player, as well as a prom-
inent golfer. He has won the B.C.
Senior Men’s Championship and been
a runner-up on several occasions.
Clarence Brynjolfson was also an
excellent golfer. Edward (Cotton)
Brynjolfson (d. 1967) was a great
athlete, in particular an outstanding
lacrosse player as well as a rugby play-
er. He coached and managed the Vic-
toria Foundation Lacrosse team which
won the World’s Amateur champion-
ship in Winnipeg in 1919.
The most widely known athletes
of Icelandic origin in the Victoria
area are the Peden brothers, who be-
long to the second generation of the
descendants of the Icelandic pioneers
there, but are here included because
of their unusual eminence in the field
of sports. Their mother, Mrs. Sigridur
Peden (now Mrs. Tyrell), still a res-
ident of Victoria, is the daughter of
the early pioneers Johann (John) and
Anna Myrdal Breidfjord.
Douglas and William (“Torohy”)
Peden are both internationally re-
nowned bicycle riders. Douglas also
starred in professional basketball and
baseball, while “Torchy” was an out-
standing swimmer. For a number of
years Douglas has been a sports editor
of The Victoria Daily Times. Right-
fully, both the brothers are enshrined
in the British Columbia Sports Hall
of Fame at the Exhibition Grounds in
Vancouver.
Acknowledgements:
In addition to those already men-
tioned in the text of the article as
having furnished the author with in-
formation, lie is indebted to the
following for such or other assistance:
The staff of the Provincial Archives,
Victoria; Mr. A. J. Helmeken, Victoria
City Archivist; Miss Ragnhildur
(Ranka) Anderson; Mrs. Margaret
Brandson Beck; Mrs. H. M. Hannes-
son; Mr. Bjorn (Byron) Johnson; Mrs.
Valgerdur (Vala) Myrdal Miller; Mrs.
Sara Phillipson Ormiston; Mr. Har-
aldur S. Palsson; Mr. Gustav (Gus)
Sivertz.