The Icelandic Canadian - 01.02.2007, Síða 31

Vol. 60 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
157
In search of Gudrun Goodman
Reflections on gender, “doing history” and memory
by Lesley Biggs with Stella Stephanson
Part 2: Telling Gudrun Goodman’s Story
Obituaries are used often by historians
to provide basic information about an indi-
vidual’s life—the date of birth and death as
well as other biographical information.
The obituary summarizes the major events
of an individual’s life; delineates personal
relationships, lineage and property rela-
tions; and testifies to her/his accomplish-
ments. Obituaries, however, are rarely
treated as texts that provide insight into
cultural understandings of individual
biographies. What gets highlighted and
what gets omitted tell us not only what the
author of the obituary considered impor-
tant about the individual’s life but also
what a particular culture values. For exam-
ple, an obituary may mention family rela-
tions but not necessarily failed marriages;
or it may emphasize property owned, but
not property lost. In effect, obituaries are
mini-heroic narratives designed to immor-
talize an individual. Since they are public
documents—indeed the last text of the self
being written by the community—they
tend to both valorize and sanitize an indi-
vidual’s life.
An obituary for Gudrun
Gudmunddottir appeared in the Almanak,
a yearly calendar that existed from 1896 to
1954 which included profiles of remarkable
people (both Icelandic and non-Icelandic)
living in the area as a way of marketing the
calendar. Later, Thorgiersson incorporat-
ed profiles of settlements and homesteaders
written by local members of these commu-
nities.39 The Almanak then served, and
continues to serve, as a repository of mem-
ory, celebrating the lives and contributions
of esteemed members of the Icelandic com-
munity, and it is for this reason that the
obituary of Gudrun Goodman was includ-
ed in the Almanak. Her obituary reads:
Gudrun Gudmunddottir, mid-
wife, was born October 1, 1853, at
Teigakot in Akraneshrepur in
Borgarfjardarsysla. Her parents were
Gudmundur Jonsson (father), an
independent farmer in Teigakot and
Gudrun Thorkelsdottir (mother)
from Eilifsdalur in Kjos. She lost her
mother at the age of eleven years and
had to go to work to support herself.
She attended the Women’s Academy
in Reykjavik and then learned mid-
wifery which she practised for as long
as she remained in Iceland. In the
year 1880, she married Thordur
Gudmundsson, a respected merchant
at Hateigur on Skipaskagi. She lost
him in 1884 when he drowned. Two
years later, she emigrated to Canada,
and in May of 1887, she arrived here
in the settlement (Churchbridge)
where she homesteaded and lived
until 1894. She then moved to the
Theodore district and remained there
for ten years, after which she moved
to the Foam Lake District where she
bought land has lived since. Gudrun
has been a remarkably industrious
woman and an honourable woman in
all ways. A multitude of mothers on
both sides of the ocean have warm
memories of her well-done work and
helpfulness in their times of illness
and childbirth which she did so con-
scientiously.40
The title of “midwife” immediately
following her name suggests that
Goodman’s work as a midwife was the
defining feature of her identity—a master
status based on her occupation as opposed