The Icelandic Canadian - 01.08.2002, Page 36

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 57 #1
nannies, and farm-hands so this is what
they came to do.
When the first group of Icelandic
immigrants arrived at the Red and
Assiniboine Rivers on 11 October 1875,
the government representatives advised
that with winter fast approaching, those
who could get jobs should remain in
Winnipeg and do so. Evidence suggests
that between 35-50 young single men and
women remained. Most young women
received employment as domestic servants.
Many wanted to make money to start a
business, send home to Iceland to relatives,
or to save up to return to Iceland more
prosperous. As immigrant Hrefna
Borgford notes, “. . . my parents (Elsie
Lilliendal and Jon Asgeirsson) had planned
to return to Iceland after making their for-
tune in Canada.” Preacher FriSrik
Bergmann had stated in his lecture, “If
careful and don’t overspend a girl can save
a lot of money and send some home if she
were planning to return.” In a letter to her
brother in Iceland, Rannveig Briem
(Sigtryggur Jonasson’s wife) noted that
“Womenfolk in service in Winnipeg are
paid from $5.00 to $15.00 per month, while
menfolk working for farmers earn as much
as $25.00 a month ...” In his letter to his
father, B. Andresson (who at the time was
a recent immigrant to Winnipeg), mentions
talking to a friend, Sigridur Thorlaksdottir.
He states that she had made $8.00 at first,
then $10.00, and is now making $12.00.
“She has repaid Johann Kristjansson the
$36.00 she borrowed for her fare and she
has also bought a sewing machine for
$20.00.” Although no description of work-
ing life is available for this time, immigrant
Margaret Frederickson describes the hours
involved at her job at the Pauline
Chambers Candy Factory in 1909.
As she recalls, “I made $3.00 per week,
working 8:00am to 5:00pm, six days a
week, with an hour off for lunch and no
coffee breaks.”
Upon their arrival in New Iceland the
Icelanders faced great hardships which
threatened the colony’s survival. The cli-
mate and topography that met the
Icelanders in New Iceland was greatly dif-
ferent from that of home. Brush forest was
difficult to clear, and made land transporta-
tion and cultivation difficult. There were
no tractors or horses the first year, so clear-
ing was done by hand. The Icelandic
women played a major role in overcoming
the hardships and disease that were to
threaten the colonies survival in its first
year. As Frank Hall recalls, “My mother
worked in the field, and so did the chil-
dren.” The initial lack of sanitation, cou-
pled with swamp and swarms of flies saw a
smallpox epidemic of 1876-1877 which
killed over 100 of the Icelandic settlers,
leaving only 10 to 12 households in the
colony unaffected. As a result, the Health
Board in Winnipeg placed New Iceland
under quarantine, which ended up lasting
228 days.
This epidemic of small pox is well-
known in the history of New Iceland, and
Manitoba. What is not as well known is the
courageous undertakings of two women
within this time, who played pivotal roles
in ensuring the survival of the colony. One
of these women, Aldis, Mrs. Grimur
Laxdal, played a critical part in the colony’s
survival through this period. After being
vaccinated, she was permitted to cross the
quarantine line at Netley Creek. As W.J.
Lindal writes of her performance, “During
the winter there was a desperate need of
medical supplies. On three occasions, Aldis
walked all the way to Winnipeg, a distance
close to 60 miles. She would, at least the
first night, have to sleep outside in the
heavy bush.”
Another courageous woman was mid-
wife Snjolaug Johannesdottir, who is
remembered to have entered homes during
the smallpox epidemic, although unvacci-
nated, and nursed the patients.
Once the quarantine was lifted, many
shifted the struggle from fighting disease to
fighting starvation. That most families sur-
vived was a result of tireless work done by
all members of the family, and a frugal
budget administered by the woman of the
household.
Many women had run the family farm
back in Iceland while the men were out
doing various jobs. In an article in
Heimskringla in 1907, immigrant K. Asg.
Benediktsson published this passage of a