The Families in Pembina North Dakota

The Families in Pembina North Dakota Six families moved to Pembina County North Dakota.  Guðmundur Þorðarson and Þórunn Jónsdóttir emigrated in 1878 to Park Township.  Jonathan Arnason emigrated in 1878 and later married and homesteaded in Akra Township.  Arni Arnason emigrated in 1882 and homesteaded in Park Township next to his mother Þórunn Jónsdóttir.  Olafur Johannesson and Guðbjörg Sigridur Jónsdóttir emigrated in 1887 and homesteaded in Akra Township.  John S. Arnason emigrated in 1887 and stayed in Park Township before moving to Marshland MB and Elfros SK.  Kristin Thorgrimsdóttir and Guđvaldur Jónsson emigrated to Akra Township in 1888. They later moved to Roseau MN and then to Elfros SK.

The homesteads are shown outlined in dark borders on the following township maps. (Maps will be included later).

Guðmundur Þorðarson Emigrated 1878 Árni Þorgrímsson died in 1868. His wife, Þórunn Jónsdóttir, remarried to Guðmundur Þorðarsson. Guðmundur was one of 15 children born to Þorður Gudmundsson and Anna Petursdottir who raised them around Vopnafjord. Guðmundur and Þórunn farmed at Fremri Nýpur near Vopnafjord with Guðmundur’s brother Þorður. Þorður married Kristin Þorsteinsdottir in 1876 and they had an infant daughter Sigurbjorg.

Voyage In 1878 Guðmundur and his older brother Þorður decided to emigrate on the ship Cumbrae. However, the hull of the ship was damaged in a collision at Bordeyri in Hrutafjord at the end of June and was taken to Scotland for repairs. Two other ships were sent to pick up the waiting emigrants. The Djupavogur picked up a few passengers at Akureyri and sailed for Scotland on July 14. The Verona picked up Guðmundur (age 40), his wife Þórunn (age 51), her daughter Sigríður (age 22), and her sons Jonathan (age 15) and Benjamin (age 12) and other passengers at Vopnafjordur. Þorður took his wife Kristin Þorsteinsdottir (32), their daughter Sigurbjorg (0), and children by a previous marriage to Kristin Sveinsdottir. The children were Guðmundur Þorðarsson (21), Guðriður Þorðarsdottir (14), and Þorður Þorðarsson (9). It then went to Seydisfjord to pick up other passengers and sailed for Granton Harbour at Edinburgh Scotland on July 17. It arrived at Granton on July 21. The passengers took a train to Glasgow the same day. Both groups immediately boarded the S.S. Waldensian of the Allan Line and arrived at Quebec City on August 1. The ship carried 421 Icelanders and 60 Scots. Three young children and one old man died on the voyage. One baby was born. The passengers were not very satisfied with the service on board. The food was less than plentiful and the Swedish interpreter was not very helpful. A passenger named Gudmundur Gudmundsson had previously visited America and proved to be very helpful by seeing that the emigrants obtained food and maintained order. The next day the passengers continued their journey west under the leadership of Sigtryggur Jonasson, the Canadian government agent who came to meet them. Nine passengers went to Nova Scotia, nearly 100 stayed in Ontario, about 100 traveled to Minnesota, and 220 went to Winnipeg Manitoba. Nearly 200 of those who went to Winnipeg continued on to the colony of New Iceland at Gimli Manitoba. (Framfari, August 30, 1878)

Settlement According to their son Jonathan’s obituary, they stayed in Ontario for about a year before going to Park Township in Pembina County, North Dakota. According to Gudmundur’s homestead pre-emption claim, he worked on the railway in Manitoba before homesteading. In North Dakota on July 15 1880 they settled on SSE of Section 5 and NNE of Section 8, Township 160N Range 55W of the 5th Meridian. The land has a small stream running through it that provided a water supply for livestock. They built a 12 ft. x 16 ft. log house and a 10 ft. x 12 ft. sod stable like the sod house on the postage stamp commemorating the Homestead Act of 1862 that allowed them to settle on their land. Under the Homestead Act, any citizen who is over the age of 21, or is the head of a household, or has served in the army or navy can file a claim on up to 160 acres of surveyed public land for a fee of ten dollars. After residing on and cultivating the land continuously for five years and getting two witnesses to confirm this, the settler can obtain a patent on the land which makes it his own. By September 1, 1881, when Gudmundur paid fourteen dollars to apply for entry to the homestead, they had, with the help of neighboring settlers, broken 15 acres of land on which to seed wheat. Seeding was late and the crop was completely destroyed by an early frost. There was no income available to survive the fall and winter. Thorunn heard that threshing outfits on the Grandin Farms near Fargo needed cooks to serve their crews. Thorunn and Benjamin walked to the Grandin Farm to get a job. The Grandin farm was one of the large corporate “Bonanza Farms” in the southern part of the state. When the Northern Pacific Railroad was about to go through bankruptcy, it offered its creditors land instead of money. The millionaire Grandin Brothers of Tidioute Pennsylvania took advantage of this offer to acquire 95 square miles of the best land in the area. The farm owned its own steamboat, the Grandin, built at Fargo, together with a line of barges, which hauled wheat from the Grandin farm to the railroad at Fargo to be stored in their own elevator complex. Depending on which part of the Grandin Farm they went to, Thorunn and Benjamin, at the ages of 53 and 13, had to walk 150 to 200 km to get there. There were no roads other than poorly marked trails. This was three years after the Custer massacre in Montana and there were rumors of roving Indian bands. She knew no English, but managed to get occasional rides with settlers who were moving. Farmers along the way provided overnight accommodations. Wages during harvest were about two dollars a day. In October, after the harvest was finished, they made their way back the same way. Thorunn made the same journey the following year. In 1882 her son Arni emigrated to homestead on an adjacent farm. In 1884 they built a new house. Jonathan homesteaded on land about five miles northeast next to his Aunt Kristin. Benjamin got a public school education and moved to Los Angeles where he joined the Los Angeles Police Force. Gudmundur Thordarson became a citizen of the United States of America on September 17th 1886 in the District Court of the Third Judicial District of the Territory of Dakota in Pembina County. That automatically gave citizenship to his wife and family. On May 28 1888, Gudmundur applied for a patent on his homestead. He listed the following improvements: Item Value 20 x 16 log house, sided with shingle roof and kitchen addition $150 2 sod stables 16 x 24 20 10 x 16 log granary 15 60 acres of broken land 200 In addition, he owned a seeder, 2 plows, a harrow, a binder, a sled and a wagon. His livestock were a yoke of oxen, two cows, and two steers. The house contained 3 beds, 2 tables, and 8 chairs. Wheat was planted and harvested each year as shown in the following table: Year Acres Bushels Bushels/Acre 1883 15 150 10.0 1884 20 170 8.5 1885 30 200 6.6 1886 30 250 8.3 1887 35 300 8.6 1888 47 Thorunn left an interesting trail of birth dates. The age given when leaving Iceland implies a birth date in 1826. The age given on the arriving passenger list implies birth in 1824. According to the 1900 census, she was born in October 1822. According to her obituary, she was born October 22, 1819. Her actual birth date according to church records was October 14 1826. It is not clear whether this elastic concept of birth dates is due to a poor memory for dates, a desire to prematurely reap the respect accorded to old age, or a mischievous spirit desiring to confound future genealogists. Thorunn lived on the farm with her son Arni until she died on March 25, 1912.

Family Tree Þórunn Jónsdóttir, born OCT 14 1826, Djupilaekur Skeggjastadir, N Mulasyslu, (daughter of Jon Illugason and Vigdis Stefansdottir) married (1) in Hof i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu, Árni Þorgrímsson, born NOV 11 1832, Hámundarstaðir i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu, (son of Þorgrímur Pétursson and Sigridur Arnadóttir Scheving) died 1868, married (2) CIR 1874, Gudmundur Thordarson, born 1839, Vopnafirdi, Iceland, died circa 1890. Þórunn died MAR 25 1912, Hensel, ND. Left for America in 1878 on the ship S.S. Queen to Quebec. Sailed on S.S. Waldensian from Glasgow to Quebec on July 21, 1878 with husband, Daughter Sigridur and sons Jonathan and Benjamin. Children by Árni Þorgrímsson: i Sigríður Arnadóttir born JUN 17 1855, Hámundarstaðir i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu. ii Son Arnason born JUN 17 1855. iii Guðrún Arnadóttir born OCT 02 1856, Hámundarstaðir i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu, died 1898. Was raised by Hallfridur Thorgrimsdottir. Died 1898. iv Þorgrímur Arnason born JAN 09 1858, Hámundarstaðir i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu. v Jón (John S.) Arnason born FEB 20 1859. Died OCT 31 1944 in Elfros SK. vi Arni Arnason born APR 06 1860. Died 1933 in Grand Forks ND. vii Hallfríður Arnadóttir born SEP 02 1861, Hámundarstaðir i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu, died DEC 06 1873. Was raised by Hallfridur Thorgrimsdottir. viii Jonathan Arnason born NOV 24 1862. Died NOV 24 1951 in Akra ND. ix Hoseas Arnason born APR 28 1864, Hámundarstaðir i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu, died young, Hámundarstaðir i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu. x Benjamin Arnason born OCT 30 1865, Hámundarstaðir i Vopnafirði N.Múlasýslu. Worked for the Los Angeles Police Force. Died about 1920 in Los Angeles CA.

Jonathan Arnason Emigrated 1878

Settlement Jonathan emigrated in 1878 at the age of 16 with his mother, Thorunn Jónsdóttir and stepfather, Gudmundur Thordarson. On March 16 1889 he married Ingibjorg Bjarnadóttir. They went to Duluth MN and lived there for the summer. By the fall of 1889 they moved back to Akra Township and homesteaded on SW of section 23 township 160N range 55W of the 5th meridian. This land was just north of his Aunt Kristin’s home. The soil was sandy and the eastern half was bush so the land was not a source of great wealth. They named it Sandy Heath. Jonathan, always fleet of foot, augmented his income by walking 200 km to get work on a large farm near Fargo ND. They had 13 children: two sons and eleven daughters. Arni, the first child died at 13 and the youngest daughter, Pauline, died at 4 months. Jonathan felt that all of these daughters should learn music so he bought them an organ. They took lessons, but with very little enthusiasm. The organ was eventually given to Freda, the wife of Jonathan’s son Haldor. It was often hauled to different Jonathan Arnason houses for parties using a sleigh or a wagon depending on the weather. It is now on display at the Icelandic State Park north of Hensel ND. Jonathan was an active member of the Vidalin Lutheran Church. His son Haldor, known as Dori, eventually took over the farm. Jonathan and Ingibjorg lived with him until their deaths. Ingibjorg died July 1, 1938 and Jonathan died November 24, 1951 at the age of 89.

Settlement He homesteaded on SNE and ENW of section 8 township Arni Arnason 160N range 55W of the 5th Prime Meridian next to his Gudrun Baldvinsdottir mother Thorunn and stepfather Gudmundur Thordarson. The land is flat with a small stream running through one corner. It was located on the old Indian Trail that led from Pembina to the mountains in Cavalier County. He named the farm “Grun”. Like his mother, he walked to the Grandin Farm to obtain work and get cash to start his farm. Walking was often the only means of travel. When he was getting his citizenship papers in 1889 he ran to Pembina and back in one day. The early pioneers knew very little about machinery. Arni and one of his neighbors purchased a reaper. Neither knew how to run it, but finally got it started. They did not know how to get it out of gear and had to run it in gear all the way home. In 1891 Arni married Gudrun Baldvinsdottir from the Olafur Johanneson farm just south of his Aunt Kristen’s farm. Arni held various positions of trust as school and township clerk and treasurer. He was treasurer of the Vidalin Lutheran Church for 25 years. In 1921, Arni rented the farm to his oldest son, Richard, and he and Gudrun moved to Grand Forks ND. Arni died in 1933 and Gudrun died in 1941.

Family Tree

Olafur Johannesson Emigrated 1887 Guðbjörg Sigridur Jónsdóttir lived at Hólar in Skagafjördur. Hólar, which means hilly, has a long tradition in Iceland. Located on the North Coast, it is where one of the two Catholic bishops of Iceland lived for many centuries. It was the site of a church school and it has been the site of the

Postcard of Hólar after 1900 Agricultural College of Hólar since 1882. A turf farmhouse was built on the site in 1854 and was still used in the mid-1900s. Guðbjörg had children by four different men. Guðbjörg, one of those children, had pleasant memories of her childhood in Hölar, which she shared in reminiscences published in a Christmas newsletter. It describes celebrations, food, and home activities that were common to all Icelanders of the time. “I remember Christmas in Iceland. There were no Christmas trees at the time, but a great many candles were used, made of mutton tallow. Elaborate ones were made for the churches—three candles in a candelabrum signified the wise men from the East. The baking was extensive; doughnuts and round balls were fried in mutton tallow. Rye bread, which took hours to bake, was given to each child. Pancakes, wafer thin, were also a delicacy. They were sprinkled with sugar and then rolled up. They made Jola Cake (Christmas cake) and Vinartorta. The Vinartorta is Iceland’s national cake. It is made of several layers of rich cookie dough with prune filling. On Christmas Eve, the family sang hymns and the Christmas story was read. The gifts were given out, and then supper was served, and how the coffee flowed! The children were given hot chocolate. Christmas Day was a continuation of the celebration. After dinner the family went to church. It was called Hölar in Hjaltadahl. This was one of the oldest and most famous churches in Iceland. It was built in the sixteenth century of red sandstone and had been painted white. The stones were taken from a mountain a mile away. The last bishop who lived there was the famous, but ill-fated, Jon Arason, who was killed in Skalhalt by servants of the Danish Government. He was the last Catholic bishop who lived in Iceland. At Hölar were two large houses, a few hundred yards apart. The larger was called The Netherland, which had the college taught by priests and learned men. The smaller house where my folks lived was called New House. Each house had a drawing room used for parties and receptions. We children used to ski, toboggan, and skate a lot in winter. There is no sunshine in Northern Iceland in December and the first part of January. In the long winter evenings, a reader would sit in the center of the big room and read stories and poetry. The sagas were universal favorites. The reader also read books that had been translated from English or Danish. This shortened the time, as it was dark at three thirty in the afternoon. During the reading, the children knitted, the women spun wool, sewed, or mended, and the men carded wool. One man wove on a big loom. Hymn singing was enjoyed every evening, and one person would read an extract from the Bible. There were men who traveled from place to place entertaining people. Next to Christmas, the first day of summer was the favorite holiday. Presents were exchanged, and feasting was the order of the day. Among other things dried halibut and skyr (a dessert made of milk) were used on this day. Skyr is eaten with sugar and cream. It is the Icelander’s ice cream, although it is not frozen. The first day of summer is usually celebrated on the last Thursday in April. The entertainment took the form of concerts, picnics, and out-door sports. Wrestling was the favorite sport. A dance climaxed the day.” Bishop Jon Arason, the last Catholic bishop in Iceland was an ancestor of Guðbjörg. He and his two sons were executed on November 7, 1550 by order of King Kristján III of Denmark who was anxious to establish the Lutheran Church as the state church. Oddly enough, the first Catholic bishop of Iceland from 1056 to 1080, Ísleifur Gissurarson, was also an ancestor. The installation was bloodless. The first Catholic missionaries converted some leading landowners, which threatened to produce a clash with the followers of the Old Norse religion. The Althing (parliament) asked one of their members (who followed the Norse religion) to decide which religion should prevail. He deliberated for two or three days and then announced that he had chosen Christianity, which became the state religion. There were heavy storms and drift ice in the spring of 1887. Losses in Skagafjordur alone totaled more than 10,000 sheep, 200 horses, and 79 cattle. Financial ruin and possible starvation were imminent. Many saw no alternative than to emigrate to America and start over. Olafur Johannsson and Guðbjörg decided to emigrate from Framnes. They took Olafur’s two sons—Olafur (10) and Johannes (13) —by a previous marriage to Sigridur Bjarnadottir. They also took one child by each of her marriages: Sigurjon Olafsson (1), Sveinbjorn Jonsson (5), Gudbjorg Bjornsdottir (16), and Soffia Baldvinsdottir (20). Voyage They left from Seydisfjordur on the East Coast on the S.S. Miaca bound for Winnipeg MB. At Glasgow they boarded the S.S. Buenos Ayrean on July 17 1887 and arrived at Quebec on July 27. The ship carried 830 Icelanders and 84 Scots. Their train arrived in Winnipeg on August 4. Seven hundred and seventy of the Icelanders went all the way to Winnipeg. Two children died during the trip and one was born. Olafur’s family then went to Akra Township in Pembina County ND.

Settlement

Olafur and Guðbjörg homesteaded on WSW, SWNW, and SESW of Section 26 Township 161N Range 55W of the 5th Prime Meridian. This was immediately south of the land chosen by Gudvaldur Jonsson and his wife Kristin described below. They called their farm Sandhæðar (sandy heath). Olafur received a patent on the land on November 22 1896.

Family Tree 1. Guðbjörg Sigridur Jónsdóttir born NOV 18 1844, Nesi Fljótum Skagafjardarsyslu Systahol, (daughter of Jon Thorvaldsson and Helga Olafsdóttir) married (1) OCT 04 1866, in Bard I Flojotum, Skagafjardarsysla, Baldvin Bjornsson, born MAY 10 1840, (son of Bjorn Bjornsson and Sophia Erlandsdottir) occupation Builder, Farmer, died APR 03 1869, Storu-Thvera, married (2) Björn Nikulásson, born 1826, Vemundarstodum Olafsfirdi Holar, (son of Nikulás Helgason and Sigríður Björnsdóttir) occupation Doctor. They lived at Syðsta-Hóli in Sléttuhlíð 1870-8. Björn died 1879, married (3) Jón Jónsson, occupation Sea Captain, married (4) Olafur and Gudbjorg Johannesson 1886, Ólafur Jóhannsson, born DEC 30 1844, Framnesi i Blonduhlid i Skagafirdi, occupation Farmer at Sviðingi in Kolbeindal 1873-6, Skriðulandi 1876-7, Framnesi in Blönduhlí 1878-87, Ólafur died MAY 11 1936, ND. Guðbjörg died 1927, ND. Children by Baldvin Bjornsson: 2. i Gudrun Baldvinsdóttir born MAY 14 1866. Married Arni Arnason. See his history for further details. 3. ii Sophia Baldvinsdóttir born JUL 06 1867. iii Baldvin Jon Baldvinsson born NOV 04 1869, Storu-Thvera, died SEP 20 1873, Sydra-Holi. Children by Björn Nikulásson: 4. iv Guðbjörg Sigríður Björnsdóttir born AUG 16 1871. Married John S. Arnason. See his history for further details. Children by Jón Jónsson: 5. v Sveinbjörn Jónsson Johnson born JUN 29 1883. Children by Ólafur Jóhannsson: vi Sigurjón Johannsson born 1886, Framnesi Vidvikursveit, died 1890.

Second Generation

3. Sophia Baldvinsdóttir born JUL 06 1867, Storu-Thvera Nesi Fljotum, married Clarence Solberg. Children: i Clarence Solberg. ii Ida Solberg died CIR 1913. 5. Sveinbjörn Johnson born JUN 29 1883, Hólum i Hjartadal, Iceland. Married 1917, Esther Henryetta Slette, born 1894, MN. Sveinbjörn died MAR 19 1946, Champaign Ill. He entered the University of North Dakota preparatory department―similar to a high school― in 1899. He graduated with a Law Degree and practiced in Cavalier, then in Grand Forks ND from 1913 to 1921. He was elected justice of the Supreme Court of North Dakota in 1922 for a 6-year term, but resigned in 1926 to become a legal advisor and professor of law at the University of Illinois. He was appointed by President Hoover a member of the American Commission to Iceland in June 1930 to represent the United States at the parliamentary millennial. He delivered the principal address on behalf of the United States and presented a statue of Leif Ericson to Iceland, pursuant to a resolution of Congress. From 1935 to 1942 he served as Director of the Office of Government Reports for Illinois. He was a member of the American, North Dakota, and Illinois Bar Associations, the Academy of Political Science, the Bokmentafjelag, Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Sigma Rho, Phi Delta Theta, Gamma Eta Gamma, Pi Gamma Mu, Scabbard and Blade, and he was decorated Knight of the Order of the Falcon by the King of Iceland and Denmark in 1939. He was the author of Pioneers of Freedom and A Story of the Icelanders and the Icelandic Free State. He contributed to various legal magazines and was editor of Richards Cases on the Law of Corporations (Third Edition). Children: i Helen Barbara Johnson. 11. ii Paul Sveinbjorn Johnson born NOV 20 1921.

Third Generation

11. Paul Sveinbjorn Johnson born NOV 20 1921, Grand Forks ND, occupation Lawyer, Icelandic Consul, married 1953, Margaret Glenn, born 1920. Received AB from Knox College, Galesburg Illinois in 1943 and LL.B. from University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill. 1946. He was a Captain in the armed forces during World War II. He practiced at Michaels and Johnson, Chicago. Children: i Kathleen Esther Johnson born SEP 25 1955, Chicago IL. ii Knut Sveinbjörn Johnson born SEP 21 1957, Chicago IL.