The Icelandic Canadian - 01.02.2007, Side 35

Vol. 60 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
161
happened. Gudrun Goodman and Bjarni
Thordarson, the man for whom she kept
house, kept the child and later raised her as
their own.47
Like Halldorson, the family history
acknowledges the relationship between
Bjarni Thordarson and Gudrun Goodman
but refers to her euphemistically as ‘his
housekeeper.’ The term conceals the inti-
macy of their relationship and recalls its
historical usage by retaining the way in
which the relationship was publicly repre-
sented when Goodman and Thordarson
were living. The continued usage of the
term in the 1980s when the concept would
seem ‘old-fashioned’ compared to
Halldorson’s statement that ‘they didn’t
get married’ reveals linguistically the way
in which the past is retained in the present.
That Goodman and Thordarson were
considered family by the Halldorson clan is
evident by the space devoted to each of
them (a paragraph each) in which their
(independent) accomplishments are cele-
brated. Here we learn that Gudrun
Goodman “delivered” 336 babies with
remarkable success and a very low mortal-
ity rate, quite a feat in those days. She was
loved and respected by all.” Bjarni
Thordarson was a farmer, operated a gen-
eral store, did some private banking and
was a councillor for the local rural munici-
pality. Thordarson was also quite wealthy
and when he died in 1945, he left a house in
Foam Lake to the Lutheran Church for a
Manse. “It was later sold and a portion of
the money was used to build the ornamen-
tal wrought-iron gates for the Bddfell
cemetery, where many of the early settlers
(including Goodman and Thordarson)
were buried,”48 and the remainder was
invested and used to maintain the ceme-
tery. The fact that both Goodman and
Thordarson owned land is also mentioned
by giving the coordinates; it is only after
you see a map that you realize that they
were neighbours. Bjarni Thordarson
owned land immediately adjacent (Range
12, Township 31, section 21) and to the
north of Goodman’s land (Range 12,
Township 30, section 33). This discovery of
Goodman and Thordarson side-by-side
fuelled my romantic plot.
The inclusion of a family photograph
(which Kon Halldorson also sent to me)
further attests to the importance of
Goodman and Thordarson to the
Halldorson family (see Figure 1).
Dressed in their finery for the occasion, the
family consists of Bjarni Thordarson,
Thomas S. Halldorson (husband to
Gudbjorg), and Konrad Eyjolfson (father
to Gudbjorg), Gudrun Goodman, Mrs.
Gudbjorg Halldorson, and Mrs. Eyjolfson
(Stepmother of Gudbjorg). Although the
photograph encodes the syntactical struc-
ture of a ‘typical’ Victorian portrait where
the men are standing in the background
and the women are seated in the fore-
ground, the accompanying text simultane-
ously undermines this patriarchal con-
struction of ‘family’ both by its silences
and its admissions. Presumably ‘everyone
knows’ that Goodman and Thordarson
‘raised Gudbjorg as their own’ since nei-
ther the presence of Goodman or
Thordarson nor their relationship to one
another is explained. However, the
absence of the tell-tale ‘Mrs.’ would indi-
cate to the reader that Goodman was not
married but the ring on Goodman’s second
finger on her left hand would suggest an
intimate bond with the man standing
behind her. And while Gudrun
Goodman’s relationship to Gudbjorg is
not stated in the written text, Goodman’s
hand resting on the arm of Gudbjorg’s
chair, suggests a connection—a sign of
familiarity, of being family. In contrast,
Mrs. Eyjolfson’s hands rest on her lap,
wedding ring prominently displayed.
However, it is necessary to identify her
relationship as stepmother to Gudbjorg in
the photograph precisely because Maria
Eyjolfson did not raise Gudbjorg. Maria
Eyjolfson occupies a marginal position
within the Halldorson genealogy, and no
other references to Maria Eyjolfson or her
marriage to Konrad Eyjolfson appear in the
accompanying text.
This family photograph on page 156,
is archived in the published family histo-
ry—“a mnemonic framework to keep