The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2009, Page 25

Vol. 62 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
67
ly through their membership in the suf-
frage society in Argyle.
Margret (Danielsdottir) Kristjanson
Margret Danielsdottir arrived in
Winnipeg in 1892 from Iceland as a fifteen
year old girl. Shortly after arriving, she
found work with an English speaking fam-
ily and used this experience to learn to
speak, read and write using the English lan-
guage. In 1895 she married Magnus
Kristjanson, and they settled on a home-
stead in Shoal Lake in the Posen district.
Together they farmed and raised their four
children. Their son, Wilhelm, wnet on to
become a scholar and writer and is refer-
enced throughout this thesis.
Margret’s husband Magnus held the
title of Postmaster of Shoal Lake (later
called Otto) for thirty years, though
Margret was the one known to be fully in
charge of the post office. The post office in
Shoal Lake, like most others, was a lively
community centre on days the mail was
delivered. In addition to sorting and dis-
tributing the much anticipated letters,
newspapers, periodicals and books, the
postmaster, or in this case the postmistress,
also provided conversation and hospitality.
Due to Margret’s English abilities, she was
also often called upon by the community
members to assist them in writing letters in
English. In her role as the unofficial post-
mistress of Shoal Lake, she provided for
many of the needs of her community.
Margret lived a long life, passing away in
1968 at the age of 91 years (Lundar and
District Historical Society, 1980, p 526).
Margret Kristjanson was an active
informal learner. In order to survive when
she arrived in Winnipeg as a fifteen year old
girl, she had to quickly and informally
learn the domestic skills needed to work in
a British-Canadian home. She also learned
informally to gain English literacy skills.
This informal learning of the language has-
tened the assimilation into Canadian soci-
ety of both herself and her children. Her
informal learning continued in her unoffi-
cial role of postmistress. It is probable that
her husband received training from the
Canadian postal service and then showed
her informally the skills needed for the job.
Margret contributed to the informal
learning of her community in Posen
through her role as postmistress.
Facilitating the distribution of correspon-
dence and reading materials played a part in
helping others to learn informally. The
social environment of the post office creat-
ed an informal learning centre for the
Icelandic pioneers that operated regularly
each time the mail was delivered. Her liter-
acy skills, which she used to help others to
write letters, also provided a type of infor-
mal leaning opportunity for those learning
English. Margret Kristjanson’s story
demonstrates several ways that Icelandic
Pioneer women used informal means to
obtain job skills and literacy skills, which
they in turn used to influence the learning
of others in their community.
This concludes the first historical narra-
tive, which has profilied five Icelandic adult
educators: suffragist, Margret Benedictsson,
church leader, Lara Bjarnason, Mother of the
Visir library, Kristrun Fridfinnson, Midwife,
Sigurveig Christopherson, and postmistress,
Margret Kristjanson. They are an impressive
representation of the Icelandic pioneer
women of Manitoba. Many other remarkable
women were revealed in this research, and it
was difficult to choose just five. The individ-
ual Icelandic pioneer women of Manitoba
continue to be a fertile ground for further
research.
To be continued in the next issue