Icelanders In North America: The First Settlers PDF
Preview Icelanders In North America: The First Settlers
Icelanders 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.
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