Sveinn Árnason

Vesturfarar

Sveinn Árnason sent the following information about himself to Davíð Björnsson, secretary of the Íslendingadagurinn Committee.

 

The Íslendingadagurinn Committee decided in 1932 to honor all Icelanders in the West who had lived there for 50 years or more. Honorary members received both a certificate of recognition and a gold coin, which was either handed to the person at the festival in Gimli or sent to the participants by post if they were unable to attend. Every year, an advertisement from the committee appeared in Lögberg and Heimskringla where people were encouraged to send the committee information about themselves to the secretary of the committee in Winnipeg.

Sveinn Árnason sent the secretary the requested information in 1943, which Davíð Björnsson dutifully put in a special book. The document states where Sveinn was born, what year and when he came west across the ocean. A brief overview of his life in the West is presented. He first goes to Winnipeg and from there to the Akra settlement in N. Dakota. He moves north to the Brown settlement in Manitoba and later west to Seattle, Washington. He first had an Icelandic wife and with her four daughters, but later married a Norwegian woman. Furthermore, it can be seen that he mostly did office work. (JÞ)

English version by Thor group.