The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2003, Blaðsíða 29

Vol. 57 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
165
Letters from Fridjon Fridriksson
Translated by Sigurbjorg Stefansson
The following is a biography of
Fridjon Fridriksson to introduce our read-
ers to the man who has written a series of
letters describing his immigration from
Iceland to North America and the estab-
lishment of his home in Gimli, Manitoba.
More than 30 letters will be printed in this
continuing feature.
These letters were translated by Miss
Sigurbjorg Stefansson, a well-known and
respected school teacher from Gimli. A
feature on Miss Stefansson will also be
printed in a future issue of the Icelandic
Canadian Magazine.
Fridjon Fridriksson was born August
21, 1849, at Holl, Melrakkasletta,
Pingeyarsysla, Iceland, of a sturdy, ener-
getic farm family. As a young man he
became engaged in trading, teaching, and
acting as secretary to two district sheriffs in
Iceland.
In 1873, when newly married, he left
with the first large group of Icelandic emi-
grants to North America, some 165 people
leaving August 5 on “The Queen, ” which
was also a cattle ship. “The Manitoban”
conveyed them from Scotland to Quebec,
where they arrived Aug. 20 - 25. Fridjon
passed through Toronto to Muskoka,
thence to Parry Sound, and soon after to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he became
an interpreter for a doctor. He knew some
English when he left Iceland and soon
became fluent in it, and he also spoke
Danish. He did outdoor work for the doc-
tor and kept his accounts as well. By spring
he had secured work in a store for $7 a
week, then considered good wages. In
August he went to Toronto to work in a
shoe factory, but moved in January 1875,
to Kinmount, Ontario, to take over
Sigtryggur Jonasson’s store. He and his
family accompanied the first group of set-
tler who came to Gimli in October 1875.
He assisted the government commissioner,
John Taylor, in keeping the accounts of the
government loan.
In the spring of 1876 Fridjon set up a
trading business of his own. His combined
house and store was erected immediately
after the government warehouse, which
was the first building in Gimli.
Although he had only $50 in savings,
he had gained enough credit to lay in a
stock worth some $2,000 to $3,000. In
order to make payments he often had to
make the 60-mile journey to Winnipeg on
foot.
He bought two scows (flatboats) in
Winnipeg, tore one apart and used the tim-
ber to reinforce the other, then sailed with
all his merchandise to Gimli. Later he had a
York boat constructed for his trading
goods.
When the Dominion government sent
surveyors in the fall of 1876 to survey and
measure colony lands, and build roads,
Fridriksson was appointed accountant and
paymaster, paying the men half in money
and half in goods from his store. Despite
the extra cost of transportation, he main-
tained the same prices as in Selkirk, so his
business prospered.
The quarantine imposed during the
smallpox epidemic was left on so long that
the settlers were faced with the prospect of
starvation because they could not get sup-
plies for the gardens and crops. When John
Taylor went with the Steamer “Mary
Ellen ” to buy seed potatoes and vegetable
seeds, he was told the quarantine had been
applied and he was turned back. In desper-
ation he went to ask help from Fridjon
Fridriksson.
Fridjon replied that, at all costs, even if
by trickery, a means had to be found to
pass by the quarantine patrols at Netley,
for it was every man’s duty to save his own
life. He had previously passed through the