Hjörtur Þórðarson (Thordarson)

During the Western migration period 1855 – 1914, few Icelandic Western emigrants attracted as much attention as Hjörtur Þórðarson. He was often considered one of the sons of the Icelandic settlement in North Dakota, perhaps naturally because he arrived there at the age of 12 in 1879 at the time when Icelandic settlers began moving there from various parts of Canada, Minnesota, Wisconsin and, of course, also directly from Iceland. Although Hjörtur left the settlement in his early teens, he experienced and participated in a great deal in the community in the settlement, went to school there, was confirmed by an Icelandic priest, and absorbed the attempts of Westerner Icelanders to promote Icelandic heritage in the West. Childhood memories were deeply engraved and Hjörtur always kept the Icelander in him, even though his life’s work was in the American scientific world. His fellow citizens in N. Dakota closely followed his achievements, filled with pride that one of their ranks achieved such a scientific feat that the entire world benefited from. It was therefore not unusual for Þórstína Þorleifsdóttir to dedicate a chapter to him in her book, “Saga Íslendinga í N. Dakota”, which was published in 1926. Her parents came to the settlement in N. Dakota in 1881, and Þorleifur, a historian, did various things that came in handy later on for Þórstína. Perhaps he jotted down something on paper that she used later on about Hjörtur Þórðarson.

The map shows places in Wisconsin that have a lot to do with Hjörtur Þórðarson’s story. Milwaukee, Dane County and Shawano are associated with his childhood in America. Just north of Washington Island is The Rock, where Hjörtur lived for the longest time, it was his shelter throughout his adult life. In the city of Madison is preserved his valuable library.

Westbound – Wisconsin: “In the group of Icelanders who came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1873, was the couple Þórður Árnason from Staður in Hrútafjörður and his wife Guðrún Grímsdóttir from Grímsstaðir in Reykjadal, sister of Steingrímur Grímsson, a settler in Fjallabyggð (Fjalla settlement). Two months after his arrival in Milwaukee, Þórður died, and his widow moved with her children to Dane County, Wisconsin, near the city of Madison. Among her children was a boy, a few years old, named Hjörtur. This little immigrant sought to make life as varied as possible in the jungles where the family settled. One of the first things he remembers doing was making some wooden wheels and turning them in the current of a stream near his mother’s cabin. One day, more often than not, he sat and gazed intently at this toy of his. Then a young girl came to him and asked him who it was that had put those wheels in the stream, and when he admitted it was his doing, she praised him for having thought of this and gave him ten cents. This girl was Ella Wheeler, better known as Ella Wheeler Wilcox, the American writer and women’s rights hero. (She was born on November 5, 1850 in Wisconsin and died on October 30, 1919. Ins Jónas Þór) Some time later, Hjörtur went to a very small school nearby, together with other Icelandic children and children of other nations. The teacher had a problem saying the name Hjörtur, so she called him Chester instead, and it stuck with him from then on. When Christmas drew near this year, the children got together to buy something for the teacher as a Christmas present, and little Hjörtur was one of the main initiators, for the reason that he had ten cents; he had kept them safe. The teacher was given a small bell as a Christmas gift, and recently she gave it to Hjörtur Þórðarson, as a sign that she cared about the group of children she taught that winter. – After staying three years in Dane county, Hjörtur went with his people to Shawano County, in the same state, and stayed there another three years. In the summer of 1879, he and his brother Grímur went to Dakota, and he was one of those who took the livestock from Shawano County to Garðar. The distance was about 900 miles, and they traveled an average of 25 miles a day.

Dakota: Hjörtur stayed regularly in Dakota from 1879 to 1885. The first winter he was in Stephan G. Stephansson’s house, but the following summer he lived with his brother Grímur who built a house on the land he had acquired. The following year, Hjörtur was engaged in various work; he looked after cows and was considered a poor shepherd; it went so far that Reverend Friðrik even asked him if he was looking after the cows, or the cows him. He went to school there for part of two winters and he was confirmed by Reverend Hans Thorgrimsen. He was the first to own a turkey in the Icelandic settlement, and he raised several of those birds and received 50 cents for each that fall. They usually weighed 12 – 14 pounds each. In the summer of 1885, there was the Indian Rebellion in Western Canada; and then Hjörtur, together with several others, went to Winnipeg on foot, and intended to volunteer for military service, but nothing came of it; and he didn’t get a job either, so he returned to Garðar. While staying in Winnipeg, he wanted to go to church, but his clothes were so poor that he could not show himself in them. He then met an Icelander who kindly lent him clothes for going to church. Hjörtur’s sister Guðrún was currently in Chicago, and he decided to seek his fortune there.

Chicago – Fame and Fortune: He stayed in Chicago for two years and then went to St. Louis, and worked there for two years on streetcars. By that time he had made quite a bit of money, and he was at a loss as to whether he should go to school or travel and see the world. The result was that he bought a 10,000-mile ticket and set off on a trip that lasted 10 weeks. He traveled through the southern and western states, and all the way to Mexico. What he particularly wanted was to see the tropical jungles. Hjörtur believes this was the most enjoyable period of his life. From this trip he went to Chicago and got a job with the Edison Electric Company there. He stayed at that company for two years and got a variety of training. He worked on the operation and construction of electrical machines and was often given special work on new experiments and research. In 1895 he married Júlíana Friðriksdóttir from Eyrarbakki. She strongly encouraged him to start his own company and he agreed. He himself had only $75.00 to begin with, but his wife had considerable money. When he left the Edison Company and started up on his own company, he was in direct competition with his former employer, but the head of the company strongly favored him. He had no credit, but the Edison Company helped him. For the first two years, things were very difficult, but gradually they started to improve. What he was first known for was making various electrical tools to teach the science of electricity at universities. Every university in America has one of his inventions. Through these inventions, Hjörtur has met a number of university professors, and spent a lot of time with them, thus obtaining a higher education outside of the university. He has received over 100 patents from the government in Washington, and in other countries, such as Canada, Sweden, Norway, France, Brazil and England. At the Exhibition in St. Louis in 1904, he was awarded a gold medal by the United States government for his inventions, and another such medal at the World’s Fair in San Francisco in 1915. His workshop in Chicago is two acres in floor area, and employs fifteen hundred men. Recently, he has worked a lot to create various parts for radio, and he sells them to radio companies in America and elsewhere. Certainly, Hjörtur Þórðarson is one of those men whose spirit knows no bounds. His greatest delight is to try new experiments which can be the seeds of new inventions. He has now managed his year so well financially, that he can devote himself mainly to research, and therefore a lot can still be expected of him, because the man is only a little over fifty years old.

Library: For over thirty years, he has worked hard to collect books and there are now 14,000 volumes in his library, many of these books are now unavailable. It is the opinion of people who have a special knowledge of this subject, such as the librarians of Yale University in the United States, that this library is the best private library in America, as far as English books are concerned, which deal with natural sciences and other scientific disciplines. Undoubtedly, he has the best Icelandic library that any private person has. He gets most of his books through London, and he has them all carefully bound in England. Among his books are many that are not in the National Library in Washington, and several that are not in the British Museum in London. He has recently had metal bookcases made for this collection, and they are made of steel and copper with doors made of exquisite glass. The library has over 200 books about traveling in Iceland. There are very rarely seen books from the 16th and 17th centuries. Also, many are illustrated with hand-painted color pictures, but the heyday of that art was from 1780 to 1880. Now that skill has been completely discontinued. Hjörtur Thordarson is a good Icelander, speaks beautiful Icelandic language and Icelandic is spoken in his home. He is of the opinion that he is not a worse American citizen for this, although he retains the benefit he received from his foster country, and his wife agrees with him. They have two sons, Dewey and Tryggvi, very promising and talented men.”