The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2006, Qupperneq 12

10
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 60 #1
chose a certain route which aimed at unrav-
eling the political knot rather than cutting
it. He was a leader of a movement on the
Constitutional Issue and many people
expected him to become Iceland's first cab-
inet minister in 1904. His political strategy
was named for him and called “Valtyska”,
Valtys Party which all Icelanders have
heard of. The main aim of “Valtyrism” was
for Icelanders to get their own cabinet min-
ister, stationed in Denmark. The reason for
this view was that he felt it was a more real-
istic one than demanding a cabinet minister
in Iceland on the first round. Political
changes in Denmark actually made this
proposal of Valtyr unnecessary, when a
newly elected government in Denmark
offered Iceland a cabinet minister in
Iceland.
Valtyr died 1928, at age 68. He had
requested that his earthly remains be taken
to Iceland. He never lived in Iceland, after
he left to attend school in Denmark. He
attended Althing in summers and always
kept his teacheing position in Copenhagen.
He was well known as a scholar and politi-
cian and the announcement of his death
was published in papers in the
Scandinavian countries, Iceland and in
North America and many memorial arti-
cles were written about him. His funeral
was held at the Reykjavik Cathedral.
Did GuSun and Valtyr ever meet?
Now we have made a quick overview
of his life. Did Valtyr ever meet his little
sister, GuSrun, the little sister that was
born in the bushes in Gimli? In the letters
Valtyr wrote to his family in Canada he
often mentioned a possible visit. Valtyr
also wrote beautiful and warm letters to
Gudrun in his small and beautiful hand-
writing.
Valtyr met his family once. It hap-
pened this way: A professor in chemistry at
Harvard Univeristy, by the name of
Horsford, became very interested in the
history of Vikings in North America. He
studied various archeological remains in
the area of Cambridge, Massachusetts and
discovered that the remains he had studied
were from the Viking era and that the place
called, Hop, in the Sagas had been at
Cambridge where Torfinnur Karlsefni and
his men stayed during their exploratory
trip. The professor’s interest was so
intense, that on his death-bead he commis-
sioned his daughter to continue the
research. That she did with much energy.
She studied Icelandic so that she could read
the Sagas and other sources in the original
language. She most likely read
Greenlanders’ Saga and the Saga of Eric the
Red, besides other writings. She sought
Valtyr Gu5mundsson's assistance, who
had written his doctor’s thesis on Housing
in Ancient Iceland, and asked him to exam-
ine the ruins of buildings in Cambridge. He
stayed in Massachusetts for six weeks. We
will not deal with the results of this study
here. But this was Valtyr's opportunity to
visit his mother, step-father, sisters and
brother. He traveled to Winnipeg and in
his travelogue he says: “I was quite excited
as I moved west-ward with the Pacific
Railways, as for a long time I had wanted to
see the Icelandic settlements with my own
eyes. Manitoba, and Argyle, were of special
interest to me, because there I had many
relatives; a mother and step-father whom I
had not seen for 22 years, a married half-
brother and three half-sisters; (Valdis had
left two older daughters in Iceland. They
joined the family in the Argyle district
where they married, Anna and Kristjana.)
and so added to my relatives, but the
youngest at age 17 was unmarried. I had
never met her because she was born in
America and I was interested in meeting
her”. He arrived in Winnipeg where his
brother, GuSmundur, met him. Also there
to meet him were the editors of the
Icelandic papers, Sigtryggur Jonasson,
MLA for Manitoba, and Eggert
Johannsson. The paper Tribune also got
hold of Valtyr and he had to tell them thor-
oughly about his studies at Cambridge.
Valtyr spent two days in Winnipeg, look-
ing around and meeting people.
Valtyr is impressed with the energy of
Icelanders in Canada.
He was impressed with the energy of
Icelanders living there and their interest in
maintaining their Icelandic heritage and