The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.2005, Side 12

138
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 59 #4
Einarson from Lariviere, Manitoba. We
have two children, Marea and Stefan who
are both schoolteachers. The Icelandic tra-
ditions of scholarly pursuits continue. Our
son married another Karen. Their daughter
Avery, is being raised having an Afi and an
Amma.
Now back to that big white house on
the north side of the highway. My wife
Karen and I now operate this as a Bed &
Breakfast, guesthouse called Amma’s
House. This home was built in 1919 by
Icelandic carpenters that were here who
were unable to work in Winnipeg during
the Winnipeg General Strike. We have to
remember that in that era, farming was a
very profitable venture, so Joe Josephson
was able to build a very elaborate dwelling
at a time when many people lived in log
cabins and small shacks. Unfortunately
during the depression of the ‘30’s, Joe was
unable to keep the farm. This house has
been designated a municipal heritage site
because of its importance as an example of
early architecture on the prairies and also its
Icelandic heritage. It has been lived in con-
tinuously by Icelandic/Canadians since it
was built. If the walls of that house could
talk, I think it could tell us about the cycle
of optimism and despair that has changed
agriculture from small farms on each 1/4
section to our present day large holdings.
Enough about my family, they were
just part of the bigger picture. The western
part of the Vatnabyggd settlement is often
referred to as the second settlement since it
was not direct migration from Iceland but
from existing settlements in North Dakota
and Manitoba.
Once in the area and their homestead
rights had been proven, their thoughts
turned to other things such as community
schools and churches that had to be built.
My Afi told me that originally they
received their mail and supplies in the town
of Quill Lake. He said it was easier getting
the mail in the winter since they could ski
across the frozen lake as opposed to walk-
ing around the lake in summertime.
The first post office in the new district
was Sleipner, a store and post office located
on H. J. Halldorson’s homestead, NE-30-
22-15. It was the hub of the community
until it moved to the Wynard townsite in
1908. The Grandy school district has the
distinction of being the first school district
formed in 1906. Icelanders were instrumen-
tal in starting this school but interesting
enough a Mr. Carl Schellinger of
Hutchinson, Minnesota donated an acre of
land for the school. S.S. Bergman, G. G.
Goodman and E. E. Grandy were elected
trustees and the first teacher was J. P.
Palson, who in 1908 received wages of
$50.00 a month.
Nordra School was formed in 1907.
The original petition to form the school dis-
trict stated the population as 79 with 12
children between 5 and 16 years of age, and
13 children below the age of 5. The first
teacher was Baldur Jonsson, a student at
Wesley College in Winnipeg. Since the
teacher taught during their own summer
holidays, the first school terms were short.
In the early years the teachers were
Icelandic, as were most of the students.
Carrying on in the Icelandic tradition,
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