The Icelandic connection - 01.03.2018, Side 42

40
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 70#!
„Heima f Eyjafirdi"
At Home in Eyjafjordur
by Jon Hjaltason
In October 1856 the blacksmith Jon
Jonsson marries borunn Kristjansdottir.
He is listed as being 28 years of age and
this is his first marriage. Of borunn there
is very little mention in the church register
other than that she is said to have resided in
Akureyri, as had the bridegroom.
They are an unlikely couple. He is
big and strong with coarse features and
temperament. On the other hand, she
is small, delicately built, pretty, friendly
and cheerful. He is a drinker, she is quite
religious and not given to alcohol; in fact it
would have been considered heretical for a
19th century Icelandic woman to be seen
to be under the influence. However, their
opposite personalities appear to suit one
other and borunn and Jon the blacksmith
get along well. Some nine months after they
marry, the 19th of July 1857 a son is born
to them, who is then christened Jon Julius.
Two years later - 7th of April 1859 - they
have another son, Kristjan, named after his
maternal grandfather, and Niels in honour
of his fathers brother, Niels Jonsson. the
Skagafjordur poet.
Both sons are born in Akureyri but by
the time Kristjan Niels sees daylight for
the first time, a restlessness has come upon
his father. He finds it difficult to live in the
home within the crowded town area and
has essentially already made up his mind
to move some time before Kristjan Niels is
born. In January, 1859, Jon the blacksmith
advertises in the newspaper Norclri:
„Because I am not happy here in Akureyri,
I wish to move from here out into a more
rural area.“ He must have been somewhat
successful because he has a house to sell
and asks those interested to contact him to
discuss the sale.
That spring, the family moves across
the bay and Jon becomes the farmer at
Ongulsstodir in that county. He occupies
a half a farmstead which became available
when the previous owner lost his fife
in a blizzard the previous winter. At
Ongulsstadir, they celebrate little Kristjaris
first birthday but a lear later, in May 1861,
Jon the blacksmith has had enough of
the trials of farming. The family packs up
all its belongings and moves back across
EyjafjarSur and resettles at Akureyri.
Kristjan Niels has then just turned two
years of age.
Now the family under borunn
Kristjansdottir og Jon the smiths roof
begins to expand. (Akureyri folk couldn’t
be bothered with such a long word as
blacksmith and shortened his title which
wasn’t considered inappropriate.) There
were the two sons, Jon Julius and Kristjan
Niels. They then acquired a sister. She was
born in early December 1861 and is called
Eleonora Valgerdur. Three years later, in
October 1864, Josep Vilhjalmur is born.
Two years have passed when the midwife,
Hildur Snorradottir, is called to the little
house on the bay shore where the woman of
the house is in labour. Soon there were loud
cries from the little girl who is, a few days
later, given the name Steinunn Cecilia. This
is in September 1866. There re now five
siblings and one more is added to the count;