Table Of ContentIcelanders in North America
This page intentionally left blank
ICELANDERS
IN NORTH AMERICA
THE FIRST SETTLERS
J O N AS T H OR
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA PRESS
© Jonas Thor 2002
University of Manitoba Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2
Canada
www.umanitoba.ca/uofmpress
Printed in Canada.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, or stored in a database and retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of the University of Manitoba Press, or, in the case of photocopying or
other reprographic copying, a licence from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright Licensing
Agency), 6 Adelaide Street East, Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1H6.
Cover Design: Kirk Warren
Text Design: Karen Armstrong and Sharon Caseburg
Cover photograph: Icelandic Immigrants Crossing the Atlantic Ocean (Pjodminjasafn
Islands)
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
J6nas bor, 1949-
Icelanders in North America : the first settlers / Jonas Thor.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-88755-661-2
1. Icelanders—North America-History. 2. Iceland—Emigration and
immigration—History— 19th century. I. Title.
E49.2.I3J66 2002 971'.0043961 C2002-911113-7
The University of Manitoba Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for its
publication program provided by the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing
Industry Development Program (BPIDP); the Canada Council for the Arts; the Manitoba
Arts Council; and the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism.
Publication of this book has been made possible by the support of the Icelandic Litera-
ture and Language fund of the Department of Icelandic, University of Manitoba, and of
Dr. T. Kenneth Thorlakson.
To my family
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of Maps and Photographs viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 3
1. Nineteenth-Century Iceland: Early Migration 7
2. Migration to Milwaukee 24
3. The Mood in Milwaukee: Search for a US Settlement Site 43
4. Early Settlement Attempts in Canada 61
5. New Iceland: The First Year 78
6. New Iceland: Growing Population, Increasing Hardship 95
7. New Iceland: A Religious Controversy 110
8. New Iceland: On the Crossroads 130
9. Migration from New Iceland 146
10. Explorations in Dakota 163
11. The Winnipeg Icelanders 180
12. Manitoba Rural Settlements 200
13. Settlements in the Western Provinces 223
14. Assimilation and Icelandic Festivals 251
Conclusion 262
Appendix 267
Endnotes 273
Bibliography 288
Index 297
List of Maps and Photographs
Map of Iceland / 6
Maps and Photographs Following Page 94
Reykjavik, c. 1870
Akureyri,c. 1886
Immigrants Crossing the Atlantic
Oddur Magnusson on Washington Island, 1873
Pall Thorlaksson
Jon Bjarnason
Gudmundur Gudmundsson, 1931
Steamship Ontario
"Icelandic Castle"
Sigtryggur Jonasson and Pall Johannsson, 1874
Women at spinning wheel
Map of Ontario settlements
Map of upper midwestern settlements
Maps and Photographs Following Page 162
Map of Manitoba and Saskatchewan settlements
Map of Alberta and West Coast settlements
Icelandic woodcarving
Stephansson home and family, 1907
Petur Asmundsson, 1905
O.G. Arngrimsson
O.G. Anderson's store, c. 1915
Steamship Manitoba, 1875
Vidir School, c. 1915
Sigurdsson's general store, c. 1915
Icelandic River post office, 1907
Winnipeg, c. 1890s
Steep Rock, Manitoba, c. 1916-1917
Brailing salmon, Point Roberts, c. 1898
West Point Roberts, c. 1890s
Point Roberts school class, c. 1914
Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to thank the Government of Iceland for funding
my research and writing. This book has been published with their assistance.
Special thanks to Einar Benediktsson and Atli Asmundsson, to whom I could
always turn for assistance and advice. I am greatly indebted to Professor Gerald
Friesen at the University of Manitoba, who read and edited the manuscript in the
preliminary stages and whose help during the entire process of writing was
invaluable. I owe thanks to one of Iceland's leading historians, Jon P. Por, who
co-wrote the segment on nineteenth-century Iceland. Thanks to another Icelandic
scholar, ViSar Hreinsson, for sharing important material and valuable information
on the Shawano County settlement. I would like to thank Skarphedinn B.
Steinarsson in Reykjavik, Iceland, for his patience and understanding through
the years.
Special thanks to David Carr of the University of Manitoba Press, who from
the beginning was encouraging and understanding. I also would like to express
my gratitude to Pat Sanders, for her editing, to Sharon Caseburg, assistant editor,
and to Weldon Hiebert, for producing maps.
I owe much to many others for the production of this work. My wife, Anna
Bara, not only stood by me through the entire process, but also was invaluable in
proofreading and indexing. I wish to thank especially Baldvin and Margaret
Juliusson, formerly of Regina, Saskatchewan, Dale Amundson and Dr. Ken
Thorlakson in Winnipeg, Arleen Wagner in Fisher, and John Bergson in Duluth,
Minnesota, John Sand in Elaine, and Pauline Dehaan at Point Roberts, Washing-
ton, John Bjarnason in White Rock, BC, and Jon Olafur Porsteinsson in Reykjavik,
Iceland.
The publishers would like to thank the following people for their valuable and
willing assistance in locating photographs: Frank Josephson, Daren Gislason,
and Ray Olafson of Minneota; Hannes M.Andersen of Washington Island, Arlene
Wagner of Fisher; Dee Anna Grimsrud of the Wisconsin Historical Society; and
Sigrid Johnson, Icelandic Collection, University of Manitoba.
