The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2001, Page 20

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 56 #3
adoptive father asked him, as the only one
he could trust, to travel to Reykjavik and
establish a store there. Richard agreed, and
armed with a large bag of gold, set out for
Iceland. A store was soon established; and
Richard found himself the proprietor of a
thriving trading business.
In due course, the attractive Icelandic
women drew the attention of the prosperous
young merchant. Richard married, and set-
tled down to found a modest Icelandic
dynasty.
By the time Emily Long was born, her
particular branch of this family had fallen on
tougher times. They may have been reason-
ably well-off, but poor health seems to have
been their nemesis. In any case, they were
able to provide Emily with good education,
which seems to have been gained just in the
nick of time.
Emily received training as a nurse at
Sedisfjord on the East Coast of Iceland, dur-
ing three years attendance at a well-known
girl’s school there. (The building is still in
use as a private home.) Her own family in
Iceland were all ill, dying or dead of tuber-
culosis—her brother, for example, had
tuberculosis of the bone & lost several
limbs, one after the other, before death. One
gets the impression that by the time she emi-
grated, there was virtually no one left of the
family but Emily. She was alone in the
world except for relatives in Canada.
Relatives in Manitoba
Emily had relatives in Winnipeg, to
whom she came. Her aunt, ValgerSur
Pallson (in her 2nd marriage) lived at 532
Beverly Street. Valgerdur was my mother's
great-grandmother, on her mother Lizzie's
father's side. Valgerdur was originally a
Long—her father was Richard Long, a
descendant of the original Richard. She also
had a brother Sigmundur Long in
Winnipeg—Emily's uncle who was a noted
writer and poet. He is remembered as being
tall, thin, and with brown-grey hair and
beard (Sigmundur was recently mentioned
as having been the owner of a very recently
discovered ancient Icelandic manuscript
from the 15th century.). Sigmundur had a
daughter Freda, who may be still in
Winnipeg, though likely under a married
name.
After coming to Canada, Emily repeat-
ed her entire nursing training in Neepawa,
Manitoba, graduating in 1910. It may have
been a requirement, or she may have done
it just to learn the terminology in English.
Some of her notebooks from Neepawa are
still around—and they reveal a beautiful
strong handwriting, with margins and cov-
ers inscribed with English Poetry which
she had found inspiring. The verses which
she chose to copy out were invariably calls
to service and urgings to display strength -
service and strength clearly were the
watchwords of her life.
In Manitoba around that time, Emily
became acquainted with Nellie McLung, a
prominent feminist and author who led the
charge to gain the vote for women in
Manitoba. They knew each other well, and
corresponded over the years.
From Neepawa, Emily went to serve as
a doctor's nurse around Wadena. This
would have been influenced by the fact that
her relatives, the Arngrimsons, my moth-
er's family, were twenty miles away at
Elfros and at Mozart. At Wadena Emily
worked with Dr. Rawlins. In those days,
nurses would drive out to the patient's
farm or village home with the doctor, there
to stay in the patient's home till they were
recovered. There were as yet no hospitals
in those communities. Since Elfros was the
location of Emily's closest family, she came
there to rest up at the farm of Sig and
Lizzie Arngrimson when the heavy load of
caring for the sick became too great.
The Great War
At the onset of the Great War, Emily
went over to England representing the
Canadian Red Cross, embarking in 1914.
She was immediately put in charge of a
hospital on Channel Coast. It promptly
filled up (all hospitals in Britain quickly
filled up), so the wealthy and titled people
opened their large homes for use as hospi-
tals and convalescent homes.
One such titled person was Lady