Barði Guðmundsson Photo: SÍND
Barði moved to Mountain, N. Dakota from New Iceland in 1880. There he went to school as Steingrímur Þorláksson, the brother of Páll and their son Þorlák Jónsson from Stórutjörnum in S. Þingeyjarsýsla. Farmers on the farms in the surrounding countryside took care of getting their children to school every morning, which could be difficult in the dead of winter, most of the time they had to walk in the dark. Rev. Rögnvaldur Pétursson describes the first schools in the Icelandic settlement of N. Dakota in Heimskringla’s Christmas issue in 1923: “After schools were established, intrusion on the farms that were closest to the schools increased. If the weather was bad around the time school was dismissed in the evening, the younger children, who had to go a long way home, were not allowed to go home but were sheltered. Sometimes it was cramped in bed, when 4-5 were under one blanket. But worry rarely kept them awake; they usually fell soundly asleep during homework, because then they were no longer allowed to rumble together, but had to calm down during the reading.”
Graduate Studies and Careers in N. Dakota: Barði began studying at the state university in Grand Forks in 1890 and also worked for himself by teaching in the years 1888 – 1895 in the Icelandic settlements, e.g., in Akra, Eyford, Mountain and elsewhere in N. Dakota. He earned a B.A. degree in 1895, the first Icelander in N. Dakota to do so and also earned a teacher’s degree. He got a job at a law firm in Grand Forks and began studying law. He worked in the office of Judge Tempelton and Attorney Tracy R. Bangs there in Grand Forks. In 1897 he was licensed to plead in N. Dakota, was a teacher at the law school of the University of Grand Forks in the years 1900-1909. He also practiced litigation in the company of one O. B. Burtness, who later became a district judge in the state. Together they ran the office of Skulason & Burtness. He graduated in 1907 and became an assistant attorney for Grand Forks County. Barði was always interested in politics, and in 1908 he was elected as a member of the Republican party to the state legislature and served there for a little over a year.
Portland, Oregon: In 1911, Barði had a family and moved with them to Portland, Oregon, where he lived from then on. Soon after arriving there, he began a partnership with attorney Guy C. H. Corliss, but later in partnership with Alfred E. Clark and Malcom H. Clark, and their office was called Clark, Skulason & Clark, but Barði also ran his own law firm for years. Like many of his compatriots in the United States, Barði served in the military during the First World War from 1917 to 1919. He worked at the army’s transport and supply department in Florida. He did a lot of good things, e.g. he established a fund in 1924 at Grand Forks State University in N. Dakota to support poor students. He became Iceland’s vice consul in Portland, Oregon in 1942 and consul in 1952. He was awarded the Grand Knight’s Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon in 1932 and received various western honors, being considered one of the most famous American lawyers of his time.
English version by Thor group.